ThinkTank Research Buildings 1

I’m determined not to let the Covid-19 Pandemic affect my ThinkTank research, unfortunately the restrictions placed by the UK Government has had some impact into the availability of my starting point. Read on to find out more…

As I write this I am sat during my third week of lockdown. We are still not really able or allowed to leave the house unless for essential travel, food shopping or 1 hour of exercise per day. Unfortunately independent research counts as neither work, nor essential and so it is very difficult to collect relevant samples to begin formulating ideas about rural spaces and dwellings. What I am able to do, is to use my daily dog walks as opportunities to get out and find local buildings that can be analysed and put towards a thesis.

From these, I can start to draw some initial ideas and patterns of land use behaviour/ characteristic and chronology of existing rural dwellings, at least from my immediate surroundings. I can then begin to translate this into online research and investigate the opinions and work of the wider community.

My thinking before starting any of the field research is simple: we are not doing enough to re-use and retain sites or buildings previously built and re-imagining them as something of potential use. I am not suggesting that people should immediately start turning their old cow-sheds into 3 bedroom properties but I would at least hope to find evidence of the attitude needed to do something like that.

The bottom line is I think it is a real shame that people leave rural buildings to be abandoned. I do not mean ghost towns or abandoned settlements, but rather your everyday farm buildings, sheds, warehouses etc that are more commonly seen reclaimed by nature or in a state of disrepair. They are of course, utilitarian in their design and construction and that philosophy is the overriding characteristic of their personality. Utilitarian design by definition means that it is constructed to be of use, to be functional in some way and when these buildings are no longer doing this then what are they good for? why do they still stand? Are they salvageable as rural dwellings with a purpose similar to their original one or do they take on a new relationship within their environment?

I want to know if there is a case for architecture to grab this by the scruff of the neck and lead the way with the repurposing of these buildings, or at least the sites and space they occupy. Land is not an infinite resource and currently the situation hasn’t reached a critical point where people can finance restoring many rural dwellings. There will come a point in the future however where ideology shifts and people begin to take on these projects. It may likely turn out that many of these buildings are beyond repair or in no fit state to become habitable. Even if they are converted from a crumbling barn into a space used for storage, managing livestock or a wildlife habitat, is that a job for an architect is not?

Within these questions there is a lot of what ifs and circumstantial unknowns. Accessible information on millions of small rural buildings erected in the UK were never produced and so these questions require a lot of digging around in the dirt outside to go out and find some varied examples of rural buildings that can be examined first hand.

And so over the past couple of weeks I have been doing just that. Below are some galleries showcasing a few buildings I have been able to access whilst out with my dogs. Each set of images is accompanied by text explaining what the building is, its location and what the future may hold for the structure.

CISSWOOD BARN

My first Gallery is of a cattle barn, located in a small field just off a public footpath. The field is part of a larger expanse of grass that is used to graze both sheep and cattle on occasions. In design it is fairly unremarkable. It has a metal open gabled roof and a variety of construction materials including stone, timber and corrugated metal. It has a variety of textures and is currently in a condition fit for its purpose.

What makes it interesting to me, is that because of its unremarkable nature and its accepted appearance within rural architecture, it is the perfect candidate to break stereotypical conclusions about what functionality and appearance, certainly within rural dwellings. I regularly see design TV shows that show people looking to build or design a barn inspired house but very rarely do they actually end up with a barn – they still look like house with agricultural design features.

I think if there was movement and support towards converting these sorts of structures towards agricultural versions of pandora’s box architecturally, then that would be very exciting indeed.

PRIVATE GARAGE

The garage is a simple building. Built to house automobiles when they were not as weather resistant as they are today, they have morphed into storage sheds/ workshops where people commonly keep excess clutter. They too are unremarkable and are accepted into rural communities within the vernacular language.

However I feel it offers the same architectural conclusion that transforming the functionality of barns do.

They are both spaces that people have started to renovate from their original purposes but I think there is still a lot of unexplored and new things to be done with both these typologies.

EASTLANDS HORSE SHED

A former Farm barn on a wealthy country estate, this barn has seen better days. It is now used solely as a shelter for horses placed in a large paddock behind the main farm complex. It is similar in dimensions to the Cisswood Barn and in similar condition.

However it does occupy a fantastic location within a picturesque rural landscape and has huge potential if the space or structure was developed into any sort of substantial dwelling.

EASTLANDS WAREHOUSE

A much newer warehouse also found within the Eastlands Estate, this much more modern building offers an insight into the progression of simple rural construction. It is an open gable design, around a steel frame but is green and clad in metal panels as apposed to wooden slats or corrugated Iron. It is situated in a dip in the landscape, which is more befitting of newer buildings built after tighter planning restrictions within areas of natural beauty/ wealds/ etc and offers a much more discreet finished article than a typical barn. They are not exciting buildings at all, but architecturally the beauty comes in the way they interact with their surroundings and how that relationships changes and alters itself as time moves on.

This warehouse is designed to be quiet and sympathetic towards nature, whereas barns are a more obvious statement of a farmer or landowners’ control over their land. To me this signifies a respect and a balance to nature, working with it rather than overpowering and dominating it. It utilises the natural features into the design and uses them to enhance the buildings success.

The warehouse itself is (I think) used for vehicle storage for the gamekeepers of the estate and is very tucked away within the grounds. To me, it is the most successful of all the structures I have documented as it respects its surroundings, works with them in design and aesthetic and does not let its current function dictate anything about what its future might hold – in other words, it could easily be made into something else and still be just as if not more successful architecturally.

ABANDONED SHED

This small shed it also tucked away in the grounds of a (former) large estate and has clearly seen better days. It is again of simple design, but opens itself out using a large set of gates onto a junction of a set of wide tracks that are today public footpaths.

Architecturally, though overgrown and not used it could be argued that the basic design principle of opening itself as an extension of the junction, enlarging that space and providing a sheltered and enclosed workspace to be beautifully modern in its simplicity.

I see similarities between this and domestic Californian Modernism, though applied in very different circumstances. The principles of this design are incredibly strong and it the way it positions itself at the track junction is actually means it commands itself within the space incredibly well. Whether by accident or design, proportionally it is also rather pleasing and the surrounding undergrowth that has grown up around it provides just enough distortion to the symmetry to be aesthetic.

I am most excited by this structure, as for me it offers the most potential in terms of how the qualities of rural buildings can be applied to modern interpretations. It suggests that with a creative eye, a bit of inspiration and a relatively formulated business plan that some of these old structures can be reborn into incredibly successful buildings – which is a large part of the aim of this project.

To Conclude..

So now that I’ve showcased a selection of the buildings, I’ve documented over the last fortnight I hope that gives you readers some insight into the aims of this projects. I desperately want to prove that success of rural structures is just as important as success for any large commercial construction. it may not have the same impact on as many people or be as important to the economy, but they are important as a true architectural response to form and function.

They are never going to masterpieces, but I would love to see rural buildings be given the chance to at least be considered as something other than functional sheds or warehouse. The space they occupy and the way their their construction alters the site is fundamental to architectural theory and I believe will give me a better understanding of potential and vision.

The research will continue further as I delve into the history of construction, cost, function and planning laws governing these structures and that will be filtered out in snippets of future blog posts. I will continue to gather research first-hand where I can, given the global situation and will continue working on ‘ThinkTank’ whenever the time presents itself.

Stay tuned for more in the upcoming weeks where blog posts may be more focused on the events of the lockdown and revisiting some of my older posts. I am currently drafting a second part to ‘Animal Architecture’, focused around more literal interpretations of animals forms, natural substances and processes so do stay tuned for when that is published.

As ever, please stay safe and wherever you all are please do stay positive and look forward to the times ahead. The world will change and we must hope that it will be for the better.

Until next time,

RK