Thesis Chen - AA Design & Make

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape Continuing the local architectural tradition

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape Continuing the local architectural tradition

Carlos G. Chen V. Masters Degree in Architecture (M. Arch) Design & Make Graduate Dissertation

Architectural Association School of Architecture

Hooke Park Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3PH United Kingdom

February 2014

36 Bedford Square London WC1B 3ES United Kingdom

Continuing the local architectural tradition

Abstract

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his thesis explores the relationship between a model of experimental architectural production and its context: the English countryside. In particular it examines the way the Design & Make programme’s built structures respond to their contextual ties with the Southwest English landscape. Analysing the landscape qualities and decomposing it into specific sub-types, this document strives to find a compromise between a design, research and fabrication method that gains freedom by being completely detached to vernacular building types and one critical enough to discerns between layers of political and natural artefacts that make up the landscape, keeping the project grounded and heavily sustained by its context.

In view of the diverse typologies of the design/ build projects generated at Hooke Park each year, the research expects to shed light into a grey area where a wide range of design experiments can take place without falling into the extremes of ‘experimental’ or ‘vernacular’ architecture using material and techniques as the main research driver, rather than type. The hypothesis for such proposal evolves from research of the landscape and from a subsequent evaluation of the historical, political, and cultural traditions that the southwest English landscape possesses. Political and natural landscapes are defined as two networks of change and regeneration that affect the land even though being opposing forces. These seemingly conflicting features are exposed, through examples, as extremes that drastically affect the landscape that surrounds us in order to establish a base from which the D&M projects can evolve and react to.

Throughout the analysis of the project’s design agendas and briefs we can identify that other than staging daily activities and rituals, they become experimental research vehicles that inform the Hooke Park way of building. A chronological study of each structure establishes the vast research areas and technologies that have been developed at Hooke, always influenced by their context, materials, tools and climatic conditions. Hopefully, these structures could be placed into categories organised by design propositions and intentions that can clearly distinguish two or more types of design/build projects: the technique-oriented and the landscape-oriented. The pseudo-ancient deer park known today as Hooke Park has changed dramatically, both geographically and biologically, throughout the centuries and will continue to evolve while being affected by both natural and political aspects. It is key for the Design & Make programme to define the academic reach and outcomes of these projects while grounding them to its direct context through materiality, traditional techniques and site-specific topographical and climatic ties.

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Origin and evolution of the English landscape Landscape sub-types

Hooke park within the English landscape Origins and evolution Landscape sub-types

On vernacular studies Case studies The Refectory The Workshop Westminster Lodge The Big Shed Student Lodge 1&2 The Caretaker’s House Student Lodge 3 Timber Seasoning Shelter

Continuing the local architectural tradition: Bibliography Figure list Appendix

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Continuing the local architectural tradition

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

Foreword

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his thesis does not pretend to be a manifesto on Design & Make buildings, but a critical review of Hooke Park’s built resources, which examines the research interests, methods and outcomes of each of the buildings; analyses their design processes as well as their fabrication methods and problem solving procedures hoping to understand what is the Hooke Park way of building. Being able to understand how much does the context influences the design/build process is key to define the future goals of Design & Make.

This deep interest in the landscape arises from four distinct reasons. Being born in Panama, a country where diverse and challenging landscapes are abundant and vast generates thoughts - from early age - that questioned the way people chose a place to settle and how to use their land. Continuing that path, I was educated in architecture under a model that advocates for regional modernism and studies in depth the relationship of the buildings with their place and cultures.

The third reason for this constant search of reasons and methods to use the land is embodied in Panamanian architecture as a current challenge: The loss of vernacular traditions and the rapid urbanisation and standardisation of the towns and cities is a plague that is decreasing the value of contemporary architecture and transforming it into simple refrigerated containers of activities. Panamanian contemporary architecture has to take advantage of the country’s prime geographical position and develop an architecture that is local in some aspects and global in others. And most recently, moving to a country as rich in landscape tradition as England has generated new questions and posed new challenges to comprehend vernacular architecture and the way it evolves.

With its picturesque manufactured landscape and thousands of documents written about landscape and vernacular studies, there is no better place to start this research than here.

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figure 1 View of the Jurassic Coast from Beaminster. Colmer's Hill to the right. (C. Chen, 2013)

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

InTroduCTIon

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origin and evolution of the english landscape

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he English landscape has suffered many transformations throughout the past 6000 years. Little is known about the way the land was divided and used before the Middle Ages, but studies show that it was definitely being managed by its inhabitants.

When Neolithic farmers - the first settlers in the British Isles - started dominating the English landscape around 3000 BC a deep transformation begun, mostly impacted by the need to settle, farm and grow cattle. This was a period during which woodlands, moors, fens, marshes and forests turned into grazing meadows, farms and roads - and during which most of Dorset’s woodlands were cleared; since then the aspect of the British Isles changed radically.

To understand the characteristics of the landscape that surrounds us 5000 years later it is key to discern between the multiple layers of natural and artificial artefacts that compose it.

The few geological features that still show us the impact that previous inhabitants had on the

land are burial mounds and remains of ancient hill-forts. The most preserved ones are found on the Wessex Ridgeway trail, a 219 kilometre long footpath over an ancient road used by Neolithic people to move on high and dry terrain.

During this period large tribes started settling in Dorset - known by the Romans as Durotriges. They were probably seeking refuge from the impending and frequent Roman invasions.

Several hill-fort remains can be seen in the Ridgeway Trail such as Hambledon Hill (figure 3) and Lewesdon Hill, which date from the Iron Age. These have deep ditches in its sides and are near V-shaped banks for protection. In 43 AD Roman Emperor Claudius invaded Dorset and built forts on top of hills to protect and dominate the Durotriges. Forts from this period and are also visible. Hod Hill and Maiden Castle (figure 4) date from are well preserved examples. After the Roman fall in 410 AD most of the Dorset inhabitants reverted to farming activities, developing new farming methods such as strip lynchets - terraces made on steep

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figure 2 Map of Roman Britain (Period Paper, 1923)

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

“It increasingly seems likely that, at least since the Iron Age, every inch of the British Isles has belonged to somebody or has been expressly set aside for communal use. Not just main roads but wide areas of fields and lanes are Roman (or earlier) antiquities, and survived the Dark Ages almost intact” (Rackham 1989, XX)

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hill sides to make them easier to farm and control. Eggardon Hill (figure 5), in West Dorset is a very well preserved example of this farming method. In 700 AD these lands were incorporated into the Saxon Kingdom of Wessex and deer parks, like Hooke Park, appear. These are areas of woodland and open grassland enclosed by a ditch and bank to keep the deer inside the property. As a status symbol for aristocracy, similar hunting areas were created by the Crown and known as Royal hunting grounds like Cranborne Chase. They were administered by the Lord of the Chase and all wild beasts within these areas belonged to the monarch.

As Oliver Rackham introduces in The History of the Countryside, recent discoveries have made evident that the version that the Angles and Saxons moved into abandoned land previously inhabited by the Romans is wrong. He tells us that what most likely occurred was a continuity between the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons through the Dark Ages. There is proof that the

rural English landscape, also called the “country” or the “countryside” as we know it has been inhabited since long ago and has changed hands multiple times. The way it is managed also varies according to ever changing policies. The southwest composes, both administratively and geologically, its own entity which is different from other parts of England. Its vernacular architecture as well as its building materials and construction techniques are unique. In the following chapters the reader will be able to notice how different factors affect the way the landscape is perceived, managed and controlled.

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 3 Hambledon Hill and the Blackmore Vale (M. Peddle, 2008)

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figure 4 Maiden Castle (F. Radcliffe, 1991)

figure 5 Eggardon Hill (H. Fenton, 2012)

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figure 6 The Country Twenty-five miles round London (W. Faden, 1790)

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Landscape sub-types

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istinguishing the artefacts that compose the landscape into the recognisable form that we know today requires us to horizontally dissect the land into three sub-types which are fundamentally divergent but as a whole constitute the singularities and complexities of the contemporary English landscape. It is important to note that these three sub-types: political, natural and the inhabited landscapes overlay at all times to yield the environment that surrounds us; from a busy urbanised city-centre to a remote island in the South Pacific, we are always under the influence of these landscape components. These terms, borrowed from Jackson’s Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, are utilised as a useful and generic way to define different types of natural and artificial characteristics of the land.

Comprehending the way these types impact Hooke Park as our immediate study territory is this thesis’ main goal and it will allow us to evaluate the projects designed within the Design & Make programme under those rules.

Hopefully it will help develop a method that analyses the landscape features and that understands the genius loci, which should inform the design and construction of any project. The three landscape sub-types are weaved together to ultimately produce the built and natural environment that surrounds us. Of course, when attempting to describe and define them, as well as when citing examples to represent them, there will be moment when one type of landscape is so intertwined with the other that it becomes difficult to separate them. This is a condition that characterises rich landscapes which have matured and evolved to amalgamate the artefacts that compose it into one cohesive place while retaining its local distinctiveness (Common Ground, 1993). In the following pages they will be described, defined and examples will be given to illustrate their potential impact in the landscape.

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figure 7 Reservation/Suburb, Scottsdale Arizona, USA (Burtynsky, 2011)

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Political landscape

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olitical landscapes affect territories by imposing sets of rules in an attempt to organise the land by dividing it, making it accessible and establishing boundaries between them. Since this type generates the conventional circumstances by which governments and communities work together, it may be the only approach to engender territories deemed useful by contemporary societies. The amount of impact it has on any given territory is of critical importance; it can help protect the boundaries of an old town or limit the growth of any settlement. But when these political decisions are made without a thorough study of the topography, climate and social characteristics of a place, they tilt the balance towards a negative side and create a set of conditions that work in detriment to the society that inhabits them (humans, plants or animals).

One example that clearly shows the deep impact political landscapes may have on a place is that of Milton Abbas (figure 8). The town dates from the late 16th century, when it became the first planned settlement in England. Its history starts in 933 AD, when King Athelstan of Wessex established a church in Dorset, in the valley where the town is now located. During the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 it fell into hands of private owners who kept it for several centuries. The period during which Joseph Damer was the owner is of special importance for the development of the town. Being a wealthy landowner Damer decided to re-establish Middleton, the town near the abbey, a few miles away from where it stood and to rebuild the abbey’s buildings. The new town buildings were planned by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, a well respected landscaper. 36 houses were built in

the newly founded town of Milton Abbas. They were stone cottages with thatch roofs made to resemble other towns, like Shaftesbury (figure 9) located 15 miles away. Each of these units were built flanking a new road, with a front yard and a horse chestnut tree planted between each one. This particular example might have already settled in people’s minds, leading visitors to assume that this is an old town whose houses followed an ad-hoc, spontaneous growth as many of the other towns and hamlets nearby.

But political decisions generated a new planned settlement designed with the architectural intention to resemble an old one. From series of roads connecting villages to efficient field subdivisions, the complexity and impact of politically based decisions can protect the spirit of a place and ensure the permanence of an ancient city or just transform fragments of land into contemporary business models. Nowadays it is more and more common to see new islands being made in the Middle East and new cities sprawling in previously uninhabited places.

Their existence could be backed up by a serious amount of research of the place and its climatic, geographical and topographical properties, but most often it’s not. And its construction can employ local materials wisely - with innovations in local construction techniques that make them sustainable and attractive - but this is not always the case. More often than not, new developments are built without any design considerations and with its interest only laying on the financial side. These are some of the common risks of allowing political landscapes to solely define the way our context evolves. It is encouraged to have a balanced relationship between the man-made decisions and the understanding of natural characteristics of the place.

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Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

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figure 8 Milton Abbas main street

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figure 9 Shaftesbury (E. Bastard and E.F. Adams)

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figure 10 Pivot irrigation in a suburb south of Yuma, Arizona, USA (Burtynsky, 2011)

Above - Two examples of politically driven landscapes.

The division of the land, which follows strict rules based on top-down decisions, is visible in the way plots are divided into perfect geometrical shapes in the farmlands of Arizona (figure 10). The same condition happens in Florida (figure 11), where reclaimed land over marshlands was developed to create residential units. A regular and evenly spaced grid of roads is laid and the remaining spaces are identically distributed among similar-looking houses.

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figure 11 (Burtynsky, 2012) Cape Coral, Florida, USA.

The image at the beginning of this chapter shows the boundary between a suburban development and an Indian reservation in Arizona. It is interesting that the few vegetated areas of the reservation were kept and integrated among parts of the residential complex, therefore impacting its distribution and road layout. However, the strict bold line where one area stops and the other begins doesn’t make an effort to create a transition between the two landscapes.

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“In the last century people (that is, writers) often thought of the country as the world of Nature in contrast to the town… Most articles in such journals as Landscape History deal with the landscape as artefact, and hardly mention the other player in the game. In popular belief this view is simplified into the ‘Enclosure-Act Myth’, the notion that the countryside is not merely an artefact but a very recent one.”

(Rackham 1989, p. 4-5)

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figure 12 Toller Porcorum Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 13 Satellite view of Antartica (Gursky, 2010)

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natural landscape

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pposing the political landscape’s characteristics, the natural one comprises the territories not directly impacted by artificial decisions. The conditions in which this component is found are generally isolated and become more pure as they are separated from human impact, just the way the Antarctic plains are more faithful representations of the natural landscape than some national parks in the United Kingdom. While both of them belong to the natural sub-type, the impact human settlements have on them generates a transition zone that decreases their purity. The degree of sterility these landscapes possess is a quality that conservation groups try to preserve intact. Generally, human impact on any part of the world tends to bring with itself a degree of political constraints that change the way the land is used. There are places where different layers of political and natural landscapes can be perceived after hundreds of years of human and natural erosion processes, such as The Himalayas Mountain Range in Asia. Within the mountain ranges small paths were laid by the

British Armed forces, where distance plaques, rest station huts and a few paths are still visible in this ethereal and seemingly pure landscape.

Some of these influences are inherited by the next users, by tradition or by simply remaining untouched for centuries. In the rural English countryside we can see footpaths, bridleways and public rights of way cutting fields diagonally as a different layer of man-made lines connecting places. Sometimes these do not have a direct relationship with geomorphological features like streams and pockets of wooded areas. Most likely due to subsequent division of fields and hundreds of years of human traffic finding the shortest way between two points dictates the reason they are laid. In the current century it is becoming more and more difficult to identify completely natural landscapes, since the outreach of human intervention and impact is an all encompassing effect.

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figure 14 Brecon Beacons National Park (C. Chen, 2013)

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Inhabited landscape

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nhabited landscapes are dominated by the people who live in them. From aboriginal settlements in the middle of the Amazon jungle to a collection of Inuit igloos in the Greenland tundra to satellite cities outside New Delhi this landscape sub-type is represented everywhere around the world. It constantly navigates between the untouched ‘natural’ landscape and the artificial ‘political’ landscape and abstracts the resources needed to supplement and enhance the quality of life of its inhabitants.

Jackson describe the inhabited landscapes as:

Political landscape

Natural landscape

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“Actually not a law, but a set of habits and customs accumulated over the centuries, each the outcome of a slow adaptation to place - to the local topography and weather and soil, and to the people, the superfamily which lived there: a special accent, a special way of dressing, a special form of greeting; special dances and holidays - all the picturesque idiosyncrasies that are the stuff of tourist folklore, and them some: passwords and gestures, taboos and secrets - secret places and secret events that exclude the outsides more effectively than any boundary.” (Jackson 1984, p. 54)

This definition relies strongly in the relationship that humans have with their own space; which they understand and use in a particular way - but under their own set of rules. The private and secret traditions belonging to each community juxtaposes the set of laws that create the ‘boundary’ that Jackson refers to in the last sentence. The mixture of the local practices and customs, alongside with the legal and political statutes, help generate the appropriate conditions for people to inhabit it successfully.

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

figure 15 Avebury Circle (Microsoft Corp., 2009) 19

Sometimes the balance between the inhabited landscape and either side of the spectrum shifts dangerously towards the political side. At this point, it becomes difficult to distinguish between customs dictated by the people and practices imposed by man’s adaptation to laws and boundaries. The distinction between both of them should be produced by a careful evaluation of the factors that weave them together and by critically evaluating their origins. For example, one view of Avebury (figure 15) as an ancient historical monument could be that its identity has been retained while newer roads and housing developments navigate through and around it. While some purists could label this as a completely manufactured landscape on a place that shows no geological features that justify a reason for this settlement, one in which the newer impacts just add layers of politically generated influence onto the inhabited realm.

Ultimately, it is quite difficult to judge the origin and the better way to use these landscape characteristics due to England’s ever chang-

ing landscape features. Specially since most of the British Isles’ landscape has been modified thoroughly due to waves of invasions, settlements and intensive land use practices. Another example of this shift towards the political landscape side of the spectrum is more common than we can perceive. Housing developments in lands previously uninhabited usually show less relationship with the people’s traditions and practices and more similarity to settlements forcefully generated by the bold and strict hand of the politicians and urban planners. A valley in Burton Bradstock (figure 16) has been subjected to the cold subdivision of plots in which container homes will be planted; with the same amount of land and separation between them - leaving only the colour to be chosen by the owner. The planning rationale for these areas usually disregard reading the landscape as a useful research method and simply lay miles of infrastructure and harsh public/private relationships in the land.

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figure 16 Burton Bradstock Holiday Park (Microsoft Corp., 2009) 20

On the other hand, places like townships rooted in ancient farming traditions within the rural context are closer to the natural landscape in the spectrum. These small settlements learn many things from farming, fishing, and raising cattle. This knowledge affects their customs and shifts their impact on the land into a more subtle, landscape-precedes-human view. These are abundant in the vast English farming plains, which affected by political agents such as the English Heritage, National Trust and the Enclosure Act have guaranteed their intricate and personal relationship to the natural or semi-natural landscape. To sum up, the relationship between these landscape sub-types generates the natural and built environment that surrounds us. Although there are always different views as to what extent does the human influence take part in the control and fabrication of this collective landscape, Jackson clearly states two radical ones: the view of man as a product of its rules and decisions when it comes to dominating the land and opposes it to the more holistic idea of

humans being a product of a landscape. As explained in the introduction to this section, it is imperative that the three sub-types are merged in a balanced environment that abstracts the benefits they provide.

â€œâ€Śman, the political animal, thinks of the landscape as his own creation, as belonging to him; thinks of it as a well-defined territory or domain which confers on him a status totally distinct from that of all other creatures; whereas man the inhabitant sees the landscape as a habitat which was there long before he appeared.

He sees himself as belonging to the landscape in the sense that he is its product.� (Jackson 1984, p. 40)

figure 17 Depiction of a medieval hunting park (The Master of Game, 15c.)

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Hooke PArk wITHIn THe engLIsH LAndsCAPe

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Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

origins and evolution

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t Hooke Park we are presented with a land that appears natural - although it is not. Its ‘natural landscape’ has remained almost intact throughout the last three and a half centuries and it is easy to observe how it has been impacted by political consequences. Being an old deer park, its boundaries are still visible. They are marked by old oak trees which used to form a hedge (figure 21) and by a series of banks and ditches designed to keep deer inside the property (figure 22).

Understanding these features and the evolution of the deer park will allow us to create a unified vision around these 350 acres and comprehend their relationship to the English countryside.

Hooke Park’s history is plagued with a somewhat ironic set of circumstances that separate it - as a place - from the rural Dorset landscape.

Some of the fields surrounding Hooke Park seem to belong more to the ‘natural’ side of the balance than to the ‘political’ one. This sentiment of artificiality, revealed through research of this site’s origins, presents an incongruence in the sense of permanence that it evokes in the collective memory of the people who live and work in it.

figure 18 Field outside Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2012)

The first recorded land ownership rights for Hooke Park were in the hands of the Cifrewast family in 1338; also the first recorded date of the park’s existence. John Ogilvy’s 1698 Britannia map collection shows that, at this point in time, Hooke Park was located 11/2 miles north of where it is located today (Poore). At this location it drew water from Park Pond to keep the deer (Harris 2012) (figure 20). Cantor and Wilson’s survey of deer parks for Queen Elizabeth I shows Hooke Park as one of the few containing deer at this point, along with Woodstock, Clarendon and others. Some researchers also state that there it may have existed in a second location almost half-way between Park Pond and the actual location (Harris 2005). These changes occurred as a product of the Civil War, during 1645 when the current owner, John Paulet - 5th Marquis of Winchester - had his land sequestered, including Hooke Park. During this period the properties were administered by the Standing Committee and the lands were abused, probably overlooking the deer fences which caused the deer to escape. Between 1662 and 1664 the Hearth Tax Returns occurred and John Paulet managed to transfer the name Hooke Park to other lands he had enclosed previously.

The Stafford family, Lord Mountjoy, the Earl of Sandwich, the Salt Family and finally the Forestry Commission would gain land rights to Hooke Park later, slowly transforming the landscape and vegetation of the place. In essence, the idea of a deer park, a place meant to be part of the inhabited dominated territories - just like nearby farms - eliminates the possibility of this being a natural landscape. This fact tied with times of political and economic turmoil created the perfect set of conditions to affect and change the woodland.

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figure 19 Britannia Atlas. Journey from Exeter to Dorchester (J. Ogilvy, 1698)

Silviculture and forestry practices also play an important role behind these changes. 95% of its trees have been felled in the last 70 years, the species it contains are mostly non-native and it is being managed as a productive forest rather than conserved as a piece of historic woodland.

At the moment, it is subdivided into compartments to regularise and effectively manage the tree stands that we see from far away as a uniform mass of trees. Its clearly marked boundaries - with its ditches, banks and thick curtain of woodland - separate it from the rural farming context creating a sense of isolation and contrast that drastically changes the typologic, contextual and architectural status quo of building in Hooke Park. This detachment from the outside sea of farms opens the possibility to produce a new genus of architectural fabrication that detaches itself from some constraints found extra moenia - one that could be less related to the form of the ‘picturesque’ and ‘romantic’

farmlands and more engrained in the use of local materials, tools and techniques. This architecture should extract the geological, physical and climatic richness provided to us by the immediate context as well as the research oriented traditions that began shaping Hooke Park as a timber research academic environment.

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figure 20 Map showing sale of Hooke Park. Park Pond can be seen in yellow.

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figure 21 Oak trees which used to be part of the boundary ditch (C. Chen, 2013)

figure 22 Ditch and bank that used to contain deer inside Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2013)

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Landscape sub-types

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o aid in the understanding of these traditions and the way they impact the past, present and future buildings at Hooke Park, the three landscape sub-types defined previously should be identified - as well as their origin. To be able to achieve this it is necessary to abstract Hooke Park from the complex reality that the contemporary English landscape represents and to study it as an island - detached from its surroundings and from traditional landscape studies. We should analyse it in a similar fashion to the way ancient deer parks are depicted in paintings: holding the beasts, nature, and castles inside the impenetrable walls the surround it (figure 17). I insist we let go from the purist view that the wooded areas of Hooke are manufactured landscapes and analyse them in contrast to the inhabited areas that conform the main working and residential areas.

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figure 23 Landscape sub-types represented over the AA’s rural (C. Chen, 2013).

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

The ‘more natural’ landscape

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figure 24 Satellite image of Hooke Park

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ooke Park’s ‘more natural’ landscape is easily discernible form the rest of its parts. Seen in satellite images as a thick mass of trees surrounded by farms, the 350 acres that compose it were replanted several times starting in 1949 when the Forestry Commission acquired possession of the property (figure 25). These lands were clear felled and replanted mostly with beech (Fagus sylvatica) and evergreens with the intention of transforming Hooke Park into a productive forest that could yield the amount of timber necessary for an expanding furniture industry. Some geological and botanical features were kept from the deer park era such as the oak (Quercus robur) trees that used to be part of a hedge that enclosed the property. Some remainders of the banks and ditches can still be found within the park, although they are now well inside the boundaries due to subsequent extensions into neighbouring land. Altogether, these features although completely manufactured by man - are the ones that conform the more natural land-

scape of Hooke Park. That is, when compared to the more inhabited areas like the working yard with and its buildings. This is, in essence, a man-made manicured piece of land made to resemble an untouched forest; the same reality of the traditional English gardens and old towns. The ideology of creating a picturesque landscape contemplated the idea of staging a series of natural conditions to generate others that seem natural. At Hooke Park, its previous use as a deer park led to the manipulation of the existing topography and landscape to ensure the deer would be trapped inside, while the nobility and wealthy users had generated a demand for picturesque and manicured landscapes. In essence, even though Hooke’s landscape is not entirely natural, it was made to look like it; and when compared to the intensive ongoing activities at its core the forest appears static, natural and untouched.

figure 25 Aerial view of Hooke Park circa 1985 (AA Photo lib.)

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figure 26 Bluebells at Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2013)

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figure 27 Hooke Park from the South (C. Chen, 2013)

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Political landscape

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nalysing why this land was chosen as a deer park reveals that its genesis is closely related to its geological conditions. The south part of Hooke Park was originally excluded from the nearby parishes’ boundaries because of its rough topography. It was therefore transformed into a common, referring to pieces of land that were not cultivated or denominated as farmlands. These rough geological and topographical conditions are often favourable for a deer park, inhabited by wild deer and hunters. Its existence as a separate type of landscape is documented in maps as early as 1840 (figure 29), where a Tithe and Apportion map shows it as a wooded area surrounded by several farmlands on the edge of Hooke parish. Within the previously described natural landscape we can see that there are political decisions that inherently shape them. During the years as a productive woodland, under the administration of the Forestry Commission, the park was divided into 13 compartments and subsequently into 50 sub-compartments to enable ease of control and management of the different species and tree stands (figure 28). Several tracks were also laid to divide them, therefore making most profit of the areas accessible to machinery. The small percentage which was not accessible due to rough topography was not even felled. We can see this as a halt of the political landscape due to conditions of the natural landscape that made it difficult to inhabit and control. These remains are labelled as ‘ancient woodland’ according to the Dorset Explorer cartography application by the Dorset County Council. Signs of political influence in the development of Hooke Park can also be seen during the time when the Parnham Trust controlled it. During this period, a series of

figure 28 Hooke Park compartment map

master plans were designed to locate buildings that would serve the furniture school. A total of three master plans were created under the direction of John Makepiece.

The first one was completed in 1983, a year before the construction of the Refectory started (figure 30). This scheme called for two types of buildings: work and accommodation buildings.

The working areas were housed in an elongated workshop building and in a large round communal building which had spaces for lectures, exhibitions, an office and kitchen. The housing units for students were contained in a large arched building south of the working area and in three staff houses, for the principal, forester and tutor. At this point, the current working

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figure 29 Hooke Parish Tithe and Apportion map (1840)

yard was still populated with conifers and the clearings were minimal. The second master plan was developed in the early 1900s, after the construction of the Workshop and the Refectory (figure 31). Developed by Edward Cullinan Architects, it attempted to create a plan that was more related to the context. Titled “House in Tune with the Environment”, this master plan pretended to build a total of 5 houses, of which only one was built: Westminster Lodge.

The third, and last master plan during the John Makepiece era was developed by Fielden Clegg in 1998 (figure 32). This scheme was much more oriented towards potential tourists. It transformed the circular building present in all the previous master plans into a visitor centre.

The need for on-site accommodation persisted,

but this iteration condensed them into a longitudinal bar south of the Workshop.

During the period when the Architectural Association started managing the property in 2001, another master plan was developed. In charge of Carlos Villanueva Brandt, this one was much more radical. In a macro level, three strict zones were established: the working zone, the student zone and the staff zone. These would be respectively located in the yard from west to east, and would be separated by strips of vegetation denominated ‘green fingers’. These would connect the vegetation on the north of the site to that on the south, therefore creating ‘natural’ curtains that would compartmentalise the three zones, while being connected by the road running east

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figure 30 First master plan 35

figure 31 Second master plan

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figure 32 Third master plan 36

to west. In the more specific level, the amount of area to be built per zone and building was also established. The location of the buildings was shown in the master plan as rectangular volumes that represented the built area without any exterior areas or setbacks from each other.

This master plan is a clear example of the bold lines that scar a landscape with paper-based decisions. A sensible study of the place, its natural and artificial features as well as the local distinctiveness and vernacular qualities of living should be made and explored thoroughly. This would allow the inhabited landscape to adopt a reflexive behaviour that takes into account the needs and realities of the inhabitants at the moment of realising the master plan guidelines.

For example, the creation of green areas that disconnect the three zones is a blunt and harsh physical boundary that tries to simulate an environment that is abundant in Hooke Park: areas planted with trees. 347 acres of them already exist around the only clearing in the forest. A lack of study of the physical features present

in the landscape is evident, since water-ways and already vegetated areas are not shown in the master plan, therefore locating buildings in planted and wet areas and wooded areas in clearings. This method nullifies the design attitude that is common of Design & Make by imposing very restraining conditions. Furthermore, it could become impossible to achieve since the available space is not consistent with the locally accepted building tradition.

At the moment, Hooke Park’s built environment roughly follows the rules established by the mater plan; using the more general approved decisions as the main guidelines for the design and fabrication of buildings but modifying and using common sense for the more specific ones. The design process followed with recently built structures show that the master plan guidelines are often changed or reinterpreted by the designers. The spirit and intention of every building will also be something that each Design & Make cohort will decide at their

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figure 33 Fourth master plan

moment, and will be changed depending on numerous circumstances like team dynamics and backgrounds, existing nearby structures and design briefs. At Hooke Park we can see how Student Lodge 1&2 joins two of the planned buildings into a more sensible location which is less wooded and more related to the working yard. Its entrance is located towards the south, with a direct relationship to a clear, flat ground.

While Student Lodge 3 attains a more detached and separated relationship with the public bridal way and opens itself up to the north of the site, relating itself to the area where the entrance of SL1&2 faces to, therefore reinforcing the student gathering zone. SL3 takes advantage of its proximity to the permanently open bridal way and directs the main openings towards the south, gaining as much sun exposure as possible in between of the Caretaker’s House and the Refectory and varying slightly the location shown in the master plan. In essence, all these rules impact the way that the natural landscape is understood in comparison to the inhabited

one and lay a set of invisible conditions that the inhabitants of a place follow, for better or for worse.

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Inhabited landscape

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ooke Park’s inhabited landscape is lodged within a clearing in the forest where most of the production activities take place. This is where the working yard buildings and student accommodation units are starting to appear, product of each year’s Design & Make cohort. The area was densely vegetated with conifers planted by the Forestry Commission during the 1950s and 1960s.

Later, during The Great Storm of 25th January 1990 - also known as the Burns Day Storm - the clearing of approximately 1 hectare was created by the collapse of hundreds of small diameter trees succumbing to gales of 70-80 knots (Met Office). This clearly defined area is tightly surrounded by deciduous, hardwood trees that could withstand strong winds better. The appropriate series of conditions, both spatial and material to start developing Hooke Park as a research facility were generated by the storm.

Local small diameter timbers which were already felled and labelled as waste could be used for further research that could take place in the

figure 34 HookeParkaftertheGreatStormof1990(AAPL)

vast area cleared by the storm. Suddenly interest in this type of material started appearing and would grow to be represented in every building constructed at Hooke Park. A few common strands of information were replicated and further studied in every subsequent building like the use of timber in its round form, experiments with timber working in tension and compression, and research into its durability when treated as soon as it was felled became the interest of designers and builders. Just as today, they were foreigners that came to Hooke Park with clear interests and backgrounds. Architects and engineers with a research interest complemented the material and spatial wealth available at Hooke Park with an intellectual attitude and structural expertise. As Jackson defined, these traditions and cultures delineate a working area with natural boundaries that contain the amount of human impact on the surrounding woodland. This first row of trees starts acting as the ‘natural’ boundary that makes more difficult the appropriation by humans. Specially when

Continuing the local architectural tradition

there is such a great expanse of land to be used, there is no need to go into the thick forest, which simulated the fences of a deer park - containing humans inside this bubble. The dialogue between the inhabited landscape (the working yard) and the political and natural landscapes is articulated clearly when the rigid and bold natural elements isolate the inhabited space.

figure 35 1990 Great Storm (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, 1990)

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figure 36 Hooke Park after the Great Storm of 1990 (AAPL)

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figure 37 Farm surrounded by forest near Spokane, Washington, USA

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on vernACuLAr sTudIes

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tudies regarding vernacular architecture appeared in the map of the academic field in the late nineteenth century. Ever since, an enormous effort has been dedicated to define its meaning and extent into the practical world.

Related to architecture, Jackson defines the vernacular dwelling as one that is: “…designed by a craftsman, not an architect, that it is built with local techniques, local materials, and with the local environment in mind: its climate, its traditions, its economy - predominantly agricultural. Such a dwelling does not pretend to stylistic sophistication. It is loyal to local forms and rarely accepts innovations from outside the region. It is not subject to fashion and it little influenced by history in its wider sense.” (Jackson 1984, p. 85)

while Asquith and Vellinga believe that: “…for anything to be considered vernacular, it

figure 38 Dorset thatch cottage (C. Chen, 2012) has always been assumed that it must be native or unique to a specific place, produced without the need for imported components and processes, and possibly built by the individuals who occupy it.”

(Asquith and Vellinga 2006, xviii)

The two definitions have several points in common: the relationship to local materials, techniques, components, processes and environment are of extreme importance when defining a piece as vernacular architecture. Within the study of vernacular expression, in this case architecture, there are usual stereotypes that categorise this craft. The notion that vernacular architecture is usually built by the user and/ or that it is designed by a craftsman and not an architect unintentionally evokes in the reader’s minds the idea that quality will be mediocre - that the result will be no more than a utilitarian envelope that does not pretend to find any major architectural achievements.

Continuing the local architectural tradition

“We should no longer assume that vernacular builders are unskilled, illiterate, technologically ignorant or isolated from the world of global communication.“ (Asquith and Vellinga 2006, xviii)

In the twenty-first century we live in a globalised world where technologies, expertise and discoveries are shared in a matter of seconds through digital means. They are also translated into almost every language and are easily accessible even in remote areas. The context in which we fabricate the structures we design is an immense container of knowledge that should impact the way they are designed and built - one that should use local materials and

techniques to their fullest extent. Every place has access local materials whose properties remained unchanged despite technological changes, so responsibility relies on the maker to research about them and understand the way they perform. The study of vernacular architecture as a source of tangible information that contains all the answers and practically dictates how buildings should look is a blindsided view that disregards the natural evolution architectural history. In fact, it is only an accumulation of knowledge that should and will keep evolving as more research - in the form of building - is fabricated. The laziness involved in copying ‘traditional’ building types needs to end and should

figure 39 Quarry in Portland.

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figure 40 Simon Velez bamboo architecture (Simón Vélez, Crosswater Ecolodge, China)

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be enabled to expand the knowledge of vernacular architecture, which show only a static representation of the past rather than a constant evolution on the knowledge of local materials, techniques and their use in contemporary architecture. Hopefully, vernacular studies can provide a series of methods and approaches to a design problem that will allow us to keep expanding the field by design; while abstracting the material, tool and technical knowledge that can create a cycle of continuous reinvention.

The contemporary reinvention of vernacular techniques is categorised by Özkan into practices and architects that take more, or less, part in understanding the locality issues and the opportunities for contemporary architecture to be influenced by its context. Stating that Modernism is one of the more prevalent currents followed by contemporary architects, he creates seven groups of architects. The first one consists of the strict modernists that follow minimalist principles like Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.

He states that this strict current became widely

criticised since it ignored and tried to reform cultural and climatic aspects with its strict formal and aesthetic rules. The second group is one that directly relates to the premise of this thesis. Being one that follows the paradigms of modern regionalism, architects like Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Luis Barragan, Geoffrey Bawa, Alvaro Siza and Charles Correa clearly developed site-specific architecture that understood cultural and climatic particularities of their places while understanding local materials and techniques particular of each place. Of the rest, the group that directly opposes the views stated on this thesis would be the seventh one, which is comprised of more conservative architects that keep looking at past formal expressions and accomplishments as inspiration for their work.

Architects like Quinlan Terry and Leon Krier, along with the support of Prince Charles strive to replicate past architectural forms and styles and to ‘preserve’ the architectural heritage by replicating it incessantly (Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century 2006, 102-103).

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“Local councils and planning departments have not done enough to stop these ‘damaging’ developments by allowing property developers to built estates filled with bungalows and semi-detached houses, while not fully recognizing, let alone enforcing the importance of maintaining architectural connections with the local vernacular.” (Vellinga 2006, 82)

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The conditions of the second group of architects can be directly applied to the projects being built at Hooke Park since the 1980’s. Within Hooke Park’s invisible walls the Refectory (1985), the Workshop (1989) and Westminster Lodge (1996) were built as the first set of experimental buildings that took the surrounding landscape as a source of material knowledge.

Ignoring the formal background of the pre-existing architecture in the Dorset fields allowed them to import new technical knowledge to generate a truly contemporary vernacular architecture. This has been followed by projects fabricated as part of the Design & Make programme, which strive to gain material, technical, and climatic knowledge from their context.

CAse sTudIes

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n the last decade of the twentieth century Britain was importing over 90% of its timber demand. The native British woodlands were not in the construction sector’s interest since they were mostly composed of small diameter softwood lumber. Moreover, they usually fell into disdain since the amount of energy needed for forestry operations is much higher than that required for farming. This lead to most of the forests being neglected and not managed properly. By the middle of the century, the recently created Forestry Commission had plans to incentivise the management of small woodlands in Britain.

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One of the main strategies to manage overgrown woodlands is to extract the lower quality trees (thinning) in order to clear space around the better quality ones, enabling them to grow bigger and taller. This process, estimated to take around 20 to 150 years, generated an opportunity and a research interest in Hooke Park which used small sections of wood to produce furniture. This timber had the ability to curve more easily than seasoned lumber and it increased the financial potential of all these trees that would otherwise go to waste since they were too small to use as firewood.

The extraction process of these materials as firewood produced immense costs for the woodlands’ managers. The cost of machinery and manpower generated required for this operation produced in 30 years enough to match 1 year of cereals production (Makepiece). This initiative led to the creation of a furniture school by John Makepiece and the Parnham Trust where craftsman were trained in the use of local thinning, generating a wide range of possible uses for wood previously deemed as waste. Through research in the properties of green timber, a financially viable use for this material was found in a way that it generated enough revenue to make the conservation effort a sustainable one. The skills developed at Hooke Park also took advantage of figure 41 Main gate by A. Goldsworthy (AAPL)

the natural properties of the timber available.

Having a high moisture content, green timber bends more easily than seasoned timber. This properties were understood by the school and used to inform the furniture.

Since then, Hooke Park has been researching the use of local materials; understanding and experimenting in order to learn its properties and possible uses. New technologies have been developed in order to generate a fabrication method that takes advantage of the many possibilities of having that much amount of material instantly available and at a very low cost. This ensures a huge economic surplus that backs up the research and development endeavour. The following are large scale examples of the way this research interest has developed along 30 years of testing, experimenting and research. figure 42 Beech archway made by A. Goldsworthy at Hooke Park (AAPL)

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figure 43 Roof structure (AAPL)

Built: 1984-1986 Design: Ahrends, Burton, Koralek (ABK) with Frei Otto Engineering: Büro Happold Construction: Ernest Ireland Const. Ltd. Area: 95 m2

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 44 A-frames in central axis of the Refectory (AAPL)

The refectory

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uilt in 1985 as a prototype student housing building, The Refectory is Hooke Park’s first experimental structure.

The programme consisted of three bedrooms, living, dining, kitchen and a study room. ABK (Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) the main designer partnered with Büro Happold and Frei Otto to study the usage of small sections of green round-wood as structural elements. During the design and prototyping process, tools had to be developed to be able to achieve complex connections between low quality materials.

Since most of the timber used in the United Kingdom at the time was imported and dried, there was no need for these technologies to be available locally. The building’s main structure is composed of round-wood A-frames that sit on the central axis of the Refectory. These frames have a cable spanning between them longitudinally, which serves as the high point onto which the roof rafters are hung. This can be seen in the model, which simulates the main structural elements (rafters) cables which are

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kept in tension by a main set of cables spanning the A-frames. The rafters had to be pre-stressed in order to achieve the curvature desired for the roof membrane. They were temporarily tied to the floor rafters with ropes and easily bent due to their ‘fresh’ condition. On the outside faces of the building, the rafters are connected with a cable that restrains movement and keeps the rafters in tension (figure 50).

figure 45 Burton, Makepiece and Otto with a model of the Refectory (AAPL)

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figure 46 Ring connections at each end of the rafters (AAPL)

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figure 47 Stepped hole in each rafter (AAPL)

figure 48 Pre-stressing the roof rafters (AAPL)

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figure 49 Refectory roof structure exposed (AAPL)

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figure 50 Cable connection (AAPL)

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he formal characteristics of the Refectory clearly show some input by Frei Otto in the design process. The structural behaviour of the roof members creates a tent-like surface similar to the ones seem in his previous projects. In this case, the timber elements are acting as cables holding the roof membrane.

The placement of the building in the terrain is a very sensible one. Its location overlooking at the lower grounds to the south and the intention of being able to descend to it by a staircase that was not built demonstrate the deep understanding of the land that the designers had at the time. figure 51 Exterior view of the Refectory (AAPL)

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figure 52 Workshop crown pieces being installed (AAPL)

Built: 1989-1990 Design: Ahrends, Burton, Koralek (ABK) with Frei Otto Engineering: BĂźro Happold Construction: Ernest Ireland Const. Ltd. Area: 600 m2

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 53 Interior view of the Workshop under construction (AAPL)

The workshop

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fter the construction of the Refectory, the Great Storm of 1990 changed the land availability conditions for Hooke Park. Vast amounts of naturally felled material were generated to use in experiments like the one started with the Refectory. During the design and fabrication process of this building, innovative timber preservation techniques were developed. Boron salts were used to preserve the small sections of timber. They were applied to freshly cut logs by submerging them into a tub (figure 54). Research found that the freshly cut timber’s sap canals were still open and active, allowing preservatives to be distributed through the timber’s internal structures without incurring in expensive, more complicated methods of preservation that would have been used in dry, seasoned timber. To preserve the flexibility of the wood, it had to be covered with a polythene sheet to ensure its moisture content remained high enough to allow them to be bend properly (figure 56).

The design and fabrication methods employed to build the Workshop are not much different to the strategies used today by Design & Make students. Its original design was developed with the aid of computer software that simulated the bending stress each member of the 54 arches would have to sustain and the final geometry of each component. During the fabrication stage, a work-flow to source the timber at the right season and stage of the project proved key to keep the timber dry between felling and erection. As the three shells were constructed, a high degree of expertise was obtained by the contractor team regarding the most efficient method to bend each piece. A decrease in the overall time required to complete tasks was noted at the end of the project. The time it took to fell, debark, treat, wrap and install each component diminished to only two days at the end of the construction process. The technique used initially to bend the timbers was a slow, progressive application of stresses to the timber which was substituted by a more extreme, quicker tech-

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figure 54 Application of boron salts (AAPL)

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figure 55 Application of boron salts (AAPL)

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figure 57 Arch breakage (AAPL)

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figure 56 Wrapping arch members (AAPL)

figure 58 Crown member connection (AAPL)

nique that involved over bending the timber and then releasing it slowly to its final position.

This represented a decrease in breakages from 60% to only 10% (figure 57). A total of 100 trees were used to enclose the 600 square metres inside the Workshop, proving that small trees that would not even be sold as firewood could provide enormous possibilities for the building industry thus creating endless possibilities for the many previously unmanaged woodlands around Britain.

process many changes were made to the initial, planned construction sequence. Solutions had to be found on-site when the drawing ceased to be useful due to unforeseen material and technical failures. It is here where the Hooke Park building tradition has excelled: innovating and developing experimental solutions to tackle non-conventional problems. It is these solutions the ones that set a precedent and add to the vast amount of structural solutions being developed every day.

During the design process it was planned to join both sides of the arches at the crown, but the small diameter at the end of the log did not pass the structural calculation and a different solution had to be found. A crown piece made of a third piece of timber was incorporated, bolted to the arch members and glued with an epoxy resin to the members on each side of the arch, therefore reducing the stresses for each component and increasing the area of the joint (figure 58). During the fabrication

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figure 59 Arch members (AAPL)

figure 60 The completed roof structure (AAPL)

figure 61 West end of the Workshop (AAPL)

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figure 62 East facade of the Workshop (AAPL)

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figure 63 The Workshop (AAPL)

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figure 64 Side view of the Lodge (AAPL)

Built: 1984-1986 Design: Edward Cullinan Architects Engineering: BĂźro Happold Construction: The Parnham Trust and Team Area: 160 m2

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 65 Westminster Lodge green roof (AAPL)

westminster Lodge

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his is an accommodation unit proposed by the second edition of the Hooke Park master plan, created by Edward Cullinan as a replacement to ABK’s master plan.

This iteration envisioned five residential units of which Westminster Lodge was the only one built. The concept behind these placement of these buildings was its close relationship to the sustainable and natural aspects present at the site. The chosen site - tucked away between the trees south of the Workshop - demonstrates this concept, with its deep views into the forest and the serene sense of privacy felt inside each of the eight rooms of the Lodge. Again, the site analysis and comprehension proves an essential step in the design of a building. The structural concept for the building used roundwood as all the structural members. A set of evenly spaced concrete foundations raise the building from the wet forest floor. A cross shaped floor plan is created with round beams supported over three points per foundation pad. The wall and roof

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supporting structure is made of round pieces of timber that are glued to the floor beams. At this point we can notice that there as a growing interest for glued connections and for the use of timber in the round. These techniques avoided expensive and time consuming machining of the natural material and kept a greater percentage of its section to receive loads and decrease the amount of structural members required.

figure 66 Model showing structural logic (AAPL)

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figure 67 Thinnings used in the construction of the Lodge (AAPL)

The roof structural logic was a roundwood timber lattice that was composed of several layers.

This gave the structural rigidity and load capacity for the proposed turf roof. Very long thinnings were required for this roof structure, but that was one material that Hooke Park had in excess (figure 67). Fast growing softwood grew very straight at Hooke, providing the appropriate material for the building’s roof. The ability of these small sections to be bent as a dome is remarkable, and proved used to the advantage of the design of the Lodge.

1:1 prototypes The bending properties of the material was tested extensively through 1:1 prototypes developed on-site (figure 68). This allowed the design/build team to test the bending strength of the pieces and the connections between the elements. Other prototypes developed for the building tested the glued joints, which had to withstand significant loads throughout the structure. Some of these joints required the development and new tools, like a drill bit that would create stepped joints. This generated more surface area for the glue to be in contact with the timber, generating a stronger connection.

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figure 68 Roof structure prototype (AAPL)

figure 69 Orthogonal lattice on the roof of the Lodge (AAPL)

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figure 70 Westminster Lodge (AAPL)

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figure 71 Southeast corner of Westminster Lodge (AAPL)

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figure 72 Joint prototypes and tests (AAPL)

figure 73 Glued joints prototypes (AAPL)

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 74 Prototype joints (AAPL)

figure 75 Stepped joint (AAPL)

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figure 76 Scarf joint tests (AAPL)

figure 77 Failed scarf joints (AAPL)

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 78 Composite floor panels (AAPL)

figure 79 Composite floor panel test (AAPL)

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figure 80 Trusses in position (H. Williams, 2011)

Built: 2011-2012 Design: Design + Make 2010-2011 + Diploma 19 + Mitchell Taylor Workshop Engineering: Atelier One + BĂźro Happold Construction: Charley Brentnall and Team Area: 500 m2

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 81 Main structure completed (H. Williams, 2011)

The Big shed

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he Big Shed is the first structure built by the Design & Make programme as part of the Make Studio. It is a 500 square metre covered fabrication space as featured in the fourth edition of the Hooke Park master plan. The brief for the first year of the programme called for a very functional building that was urgently needed due to change in scale of the objects that were starting to be fabricated at Hooke. The initial ideas explored the opportunities to span large areas with very small lengths of timber. The site was also very clear since the beginning, at the site’s entrance it would serve as a striking feature to showcase the new changes happening at Hooke Park. Larch sourced from a nearby woodland was chosen as the main structural material, since the timber available at the campus did not comply with the specifications, bending, and stress capacities requested by the engineers. One of the main requirements is that it had to be very straight since it would be used in the round to avoid extensive machining processes and increasing

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amounts of waste material. One of the main disadvantages of working with round timber is the difficulty when marking and finding the working faces of the material (figure 82). Large amounts of time were spent developing tools and methods to achieve the correct marking strategy and to precisely locate the fixing, node points and flitch plates that would hold the pieces of timber together.

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figure 82 Marking truss nodes (H. Williams, 2011)

The experimental nature of the structure, which tries to reduce the amount of timber as much as possible called for very specific and thorough structural calculations. In turn, they required a very exact position of each component within the main structure. Steel flitch plates would be the connection method for each of the main truss pieces; their marking, drilling and installation required perfection. Mock-ups of these steel elements were fabricated in plywood with the help of a CNC machine and helped determine the cuts required in each piece of timber (figure 83 and figure 84).

Communication between the engineers, fabricators, designers and builders required managing simultaneous tasks like drawing submissions, available materials, tools and management of the decision making process. In this case, the designer plays a key role to supervise, document and make decisions about a design that changed every day. Playing an important role in the building tradition at Hooke Park, material

research is an indispensable skill key to demonstrate the ability to innovate, test and perform building solutions. Through the design and construction of the Big Shed, the structural qualities of the timber used will be tested. This will culminate in a deeper knowledge about the capabilities of green larch for building complex structures.

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figure 85 Big Shed, Truss A1 geometry plan (Big Shed Team)

figure 83 Node connection (H. Williams, 2011)

figure 84 Flitch plate mock-up (H. Williams, 2011)

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

figure 86 Determining working face of the beam (H. Williams, 2011)

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figure 87 Measuring node intersection (H. Williams, 2011)

figure 88 Connection fixing (H. Williams, 2011)

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figure 89 Truss erection (H. Williams, 2011)

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figure 90 Night view of the Big Shed (V. Bennett, 2012)

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figure 91 East faรงade of the Big Shed (V. Bennett, 2012)

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figure 92 Students installing the timber-frame (M. Self, 2011)

Built: 2012-2013 Design: Design + Make 2011-2012 Engineering: BĂźro Happold Construction: Design + Make 2011-2012 Area: 90 m2

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 93 Student Lodge 1&2 under construction (V. Bennett, 2012)

student Lodge 1&2

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tudent Lodge 1 & 2 is the second building developed by the Design & Make programme and the first house of the master plan. It is located in the far north side of the student accommodation area, nestled between trees and in a very muddy area of the site. The precarious terrain conditions that the team encountered in this site forced a change in the design of the house, originally conceived in a very traditional way. The main design issues that were targeted by the team was the growing need for uniquely designed spaces for students within the campus. Being a very open place with few private spaces - specially in the student zone the site selection decision and the way the house became a private, non-permeable structure started shaping the design of the building.

Site particularities like the close proximity to the working yard and its closeness to many trees started shaping the structure when the foundations were poured on-site. The damp conditions of the site and a particularly wet summer

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hindered the accurate pour of the pads, leading to a re-think in the strategy and floor plan of the house.

The team recurred to a solution visited during the design of previous building at Hooke Park.

A 1:1 mock-up of the foundation pad’s position and elevation was made in the Big Shed, allowing the team to accurately develop the design of the building relating it to pre-existing conditions (figure 94). The simulation of the major site conditions in a controlled environment like the Big Shed allowed the team to freely explore the spatial qualities and to prototype the position of important aspects for their design agenda. But there were others that had to be tested on-site to demonstrate their feasibility, like window placement and the performance of the façade designed by the students. Some preservation methods for the cladding elements were also explored by the students, which had a specific area of interest within the project. The cladding timber was burnt in order to preserve

Hooke Park: Locality and Landscape

figure 94 1:1 prototype in the Big Shed (T. Barros, 2012)

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the material and protect it from decay (figure 98). It also gave it a blackened aspect that resembles the treatment of the cladding of the Refectory.

Other site particularities that were explored by the team were the placement of the windows (figure 97). The protected site allowed to have unique experiences within the nearby forest.

These experiments resolved in many hours and models testing the selected views and the relationship Student Lodge 1&2 would have with the rest of the campus. On the sides facing the east and west, translucent polycarbonate sheets were used to allow natural light inside the building but without compromising the privacy of the main living spaces. The tradition of use of these materials started appearing and it is clearly visible when some elements that make Hooke Park distinctively unique are being installed in current buildings due to their proved performance and economic viability.

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 95 Main structure surrounded by scaffolding (V. Bennett, 2012)

figure 96 Cladding, massing and site models (V. Bennett, 2012)

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figure 97 Strategically placed windows and heating system (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 98 SL 1&2 facade (V. Bennett, 2013)

figure 99 West faรงade from the mezzanine (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 100 South facing windows (V. Bennett, 2012)

Built: 2011-2012 Design: Intermediate 2 + Invisible Studio Engineering: Büro Happold Construction: Greenhart Sustainable Construction Area: 120 m2

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figure 101 The Caretaker's House (V. Bennett, 2013)

The Caretaker’s House

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he Caretaker’s House was built to replace the temporary structure in which Charlie Corry-Wright and his family were living for the past 10 years. Its design was chosen through a competition in which AA students from Intermediate Unit 2, directed

by Charles Walker and Martin Self, developed proposals for a new housing unit at Hooke Park. The winning proposal was chosen and then developed by the students with the help of Invisible Studio, leaded by Piers Taylor (former Design & Make tutor).

Event though the construction of the house was developed through a more traditional method, several experimental strands were present in execution of the design. The structure is based on local green timber stud walls. Several timber species were extracted from Hooke Park and placed in the building depending on the properties of each species. The house was developed with a Passivhaus standard, which attempts to reduce energy consumption to a minimum

during the lifespan of the building.

Other design aspects like the large terrace facing to the south (figure 102)of the property are non-traditional spaces which take full advantage of the natural conditions of the site.

The front of the house has a very closed façade due to the proximity to the nearby road. The north orientation of this façade represented a minimal loss in natural light, and was greatly supplemented by the large openings to the south. The main living area is placed upstairs, where it takes advantage of the low surrounding topography and allows for view to the English Channel in the winter (figure 100). The programmatic relationship of the building, which separated the private and public areas of the house while taking advantage of the natural aspects of the site transform this structure into a responsible construction which reduces energy consumption through a deep understanding of the site.

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figure 102 South facing terrace (V. Bennett, 2012)

figure 103 Framing the south terrace (V. Bennett, 2012)

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figure 104 Covered entrance linking nortn and south areas of the site (P. Taylor, 2012)

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figure 105 Timber cladding and reclaimed floorboard ceiling (S. Cramer, 2013)

Built: 2013-2014 Design: Design + Make 2012-2013 Structural Engineering: ARUP Infrastructure Consultancy: Büro Happold Environmental Consultancy: Brooks Devlin Material testing: Dr. Andy Shea (Univ. Of Bath) Construction: Design + Make 2012-2013 Area: 60 m2

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figure 106 SL3 under construction (V. Bennett, 2013)

student Lodge 3

S

tudent lodge 3 is the second student accommodation unit built in the master plan’s student zone and one of the two building designed by the 2012/2013 group of Design & Make students. Located on the Caretaker’s House previous site, the brief is to develop a low-cost housing unit. To achieve this, the use of recycled and reclaimed materials was introduced in order to transform the economic constraints into material ones. From disassembling the Caretaker’s House while freeing the site for the new building to acquiring discarded glazing units from local suppliers and sheets of aluminium from the nearby Rampisham transmitter station, SL3 incorporates materials that would have been shipped around the world to be recycled or discarded. The communication and interaction process with the local community aided in the acquisition of a wide range of materials as well as strengthen the relationship and role that Hooke Park plays within the local context. Several glass suppliers, window joiners as well as a former BBC short wave transmis-

sion station were involved in the process; opening the possibility to acquire a hundred square meters of glass, reclaimed floor boards, pieces of galvanised steel and aluminium and thousands of reused slates.

The design process evolved through the execution of this main driver, which led the team to track and collect material through a period of six months and through a hands-on 1:1 prototyping process on-site, as has happened before in the design of Hooke Park’s buildings. This prototyping process enabled the team to make decisions on massing, proportion, location and orientation while learning from the site’s particularities. These decisions directly impacted the design process while creating a framework onto which more decisions could be made as the project evolved. For instance, the location of the main views was determined and openings on the walls were determined before hand, while the specific design of the windows was left until the glazing was acquired, measured and

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figure 107 Reclaimed materials being transported to site (S. Da Costa Gomez, 2013)

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figure 108 Recycled material inventory (S. Cramer, 2013)

a window construction technique was decided (figure 113 and figure 114). Simultaneously, a careful inventory and cataloguing process was used to keep track of the many types of materials acquired (figure 108). The extensive amount and diversity of materials informed some of the design decisions, at different points of the design process. This is when the ‘patchwork’ design of the windows evolved through the recombination of pieces of glass with predetermined sizes and thicknesses. A spruce frame from locally sourced wood was developed to allow variations in the glass dimensions. Similarly, the exterior cladding design was delayed

until all of the main framework, insulation and waterproofing components were installed, while constant design meetings and discussions were had along the initial construction period (figure 112).

Finally, in the interest of utilising material wisely and efficiently, a timber cladding which used 100% of each tree was decided. With the edge pieces placed on-edge, these create depth and an interesting arrangement of shadows on the façade. The rest of the tree kept its natural, tree-specific taper to avoid the generation offcuts and unnecessary waste (figure 105).

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figure 109 1:1 site analysis (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 110 1:1 prototypes on-site (V. Bennett, 2013)

figure 111 1:1 prototypes on-site (I. Dakoronias-Marina, 2013)

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figure 112 Cladding mock-up on-site (S. Da Costa Gomez, 2013)

Overall, the need to work under a low budget transformed the main design agenda into a material conscious one that eliminated the use of imported materials like plywood and replaced them with timber acquired from Hooke Park. The use of recycled pieces allowed the design team to experiment with the use of materials other than timber, some of which get an opportunity to extend their useful life as part of the collective memory of Hooke village and that, being sourced locally, enhances the building’s sense of locality and enables it to fit into the context of the new vernacular architecture being built at Hooke Park.

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figure 113 Bedroom 1 west view towards the Workshop (E. Lawrence, 2013)

figure 114 Bedroom 2 south opening (E. Lawrence, 2013)

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figure 116 Bedroom 1 and 2 looking south over the ditch and road (V. Bennett, 2013)

figure 115 Bedroom windows to the west, facing the Workshop (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 118 Bedroom windows facing south (V. Bennett, 2013)

figure 117 Bedroom windows facing south (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 119 Lift of the building segments (V. Bennett, 2013)

Built: 2013-2014 Design: Design + Make 2012-2012 Engineering: ARUP Construction: Design + Make 2012-2013 Area: 150 m2

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figure 120 TSS under construction (V. Bennett, 2013)

Timber seasoning shelter

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esigned at the same time as Student Lodge 3, the Timber Seasoning Shelter was designed and built by the other half of the 2012/2013 Design & Make Cohort.

Its design approach was followed a different agenda; a critical study of the available local materials, crafts and tools identifies the most abundant material at Hooke Park, beech (Fagus Sylvatica) as a suitable medium to follow steam bending techniques. This is one of the areas of expertise of local furniture maker Petter Southall and one that reminisces of one of the processes previously used at Hooke Park when it was called Hooke Furniture College. The bending properties of beech were studied and determined to be more than suitable for bending in sections big enough to become structural members.

used to store and dry timber. The availability of only short lengths of material, paired with the limitations of steam bending large and long sections of timber, led to the development of a reciprocal structure that distributed the loads evenly throughout the structure while using short lengths of timber. As it happened during the construction of the Workshop, these are techniques that had never been used before for the construction of large scale structures, let alone using beech: a material that is not approved as a suitable building material by British structural codes - at least in theory. The overall geometry of the canopy as well as the local geometry of each component was constantly tracked, labelled and adjusted according to the digital model, which generated 2d drawings of each member as the output.

The brief for the project called for a canopy covering 150 square metres, which would be

A wide range of bending jigs were developed in order to achieve consistent and accurate

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figure 122 Design development 3d model (TSS Team, 2013) 109

results, which would have to be adaptable to bend unique curvatures for each component of the building. Once again, experimenting with local material and developing tools that are consistent with the actions required led the change in processes and actively impacted the design of the building. In a fashion similar to the construction of the Workshop, the material knowledge at the end the fabrication process allowed the team to reduce the time needed to achieve tasks and expertise was gained in each different area of the fabrication process.

Overall, the fabrication process took over most of the experimentation and design adjustment process, leaving the erection process as a more seamless set of events. TSS revisits the historical and traditional making process of Hooke Park, using the available local materials and learning to work with its inconsistencies and constraints, but ultimately generating clever solutions to design problems that are faces throughout the process.

figure 121 Removing a piece from the steamer (C. Chen, 2013)

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figure 123 Bending jig (V. Bennett, 2013) 110

figure 124 Material selection (V. Bennett, 2013)

figure 125 Material selection (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 126 Assembly process (V. Bennett, 2013)

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figure 127 TSS assembly process (C. Chen, 2013)

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ConTInuIng THe LoCAL ArCHITeCTurAL TrAdITIon: 113

The Hooke Park way of building

H

ooke Park’s building tradition has always been grounded on the use of local, inexpensive and honest materials which are intricately related to experimental and prototype based design processes. While some critics and writers relate the former qualities with boorish and unrefined vernacular architecture, I believe that an objective analysis of the merits and maturity of local architecture can, in fact, inform new architectural practices through simple, consistent and reliable design methods. Understanding the context and landscape qualities can make us aware of the impact that any structure has on its context; therefore perpetuating and increasing the value that vernacular architecture plays in contemporary architectural studies. Let’s update Jackson’s definition of vernacular architecture and replace constraints by open possibilities that enable to understand what the vernacular knowledge can represent for current design methods and practices.

“…designed by a craftsman, not an architect, that it is built with local techniques, local materials, and with the local environment in mind: its climate, its traditions, its economy - predominantly agricultural. Such a dwelling does not pretend to stylistic sophistication. It is loyal to local forms materials and techniques and , but rarely accepts innovations from outside the region. It is not subject to fashion and it is little influenced by history in its wider sense.” (Jackson 1984, p. 85)

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figure 128 Workshop under construction. Test piece seen in foreground (AAPL)

In Hooke Park’s particular case, the separation gained by the thick wooded curtain that conform its natural landscape segregates the development of its inhabited landscape. This separation grants it freedom, independence and objectiveness from the outside rural Dorset context, encouraging the continuous development of the Hooke Park way of building. The distance gained not only protects but also detaches us from the need to follow the formal vernacular traditions of building. This is something we can learn from what surrounds us, from the thatch cottages that are naturally insulated with its thick roof and stone walls, from the barns whose permeable cladding and sensible location against the wind keep them ventilated but protected, by the items that conform the genius loci of a place - with its sensibilities and particularities, which should inform the way we live.

While globalisation attempts to make the entire world a single ‘local’ market where building materials, styles and solutions become universal

and standardisation tries to dissolve the complexity of local customs and traditions, studies on vernacular architecture are considered less relevant each day. We must remember that the idiosyncratic characteristics that a place has is what makes it appealing to visitors. It is this junction between three sub-types of landscape the ones that creates - often romanticised versions of the local and the unique, with its customs, rules and natural features.

In an attempt to produce sustainable architecture, a term so fashionable lately, let’s look back into the origins of the architecture that preceded us; not to copy the way they did it or their form but to learn from the centuries of trial and error, experimentation and accumulated material knowledge. And it is here where the Design & Make programme excels: generating architecture that dwells between the extremes of vernacular and experimental architecture, drawing the material knowledge, tradition, craft and sense of locality from the former one, and

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figure 129 Fallen tree creating a catenary curve

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new techniques, tools, technologies and design and manufacturing processes from the latter.

The case studies presented earlier demonstrate truly open design methods that not only benefit from the available materials and take advantage of unfortunate situations like the Great Storm of 1990 and the decommissioning of the Rampisham transmitters but also attempt to generate meaningful architecture through experiments and prototypes that involve making as a research tool. The overall design process deals with uncertainties, failures and constantly evolving design processes and becomes the vehicle of experimentation of a research facility like Hooke Park. Since John Makepiece started developing Hooke Park as a school that could use forest thinnings as its main construction material, the buildings added later have inadvertently perpetuated this relaxed yet all encompassing design tradition that includes lightweight as well as large span structures, the use of firewood as building material, buildings

that use reclaimed and recycled materials and several other experiments that enrich and dwell in the area of impact of vernacular architecture.

Willingly, or not, the experiments made at Hooke Park in the last 30 years have understood the particularities of the surrounding landscape and generated an inhabited landscape that travels through a very well balanced platform between the political and the natural landscape. Abstracting from each of them the most important aspects and using them to inform the development of the new Hooke vernacular. This new vernacular adopts contemporary techniques and processes that seek to understand the available materials and crafts while reviving them and lifting their generally negative connotations within the global architectural sphere.

Most of these achievements are owed to Hooke’s privileged geographical position, nestled in an environment as rich as Dorset, but separated by thick historical and natural layers.

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DESIGN & MAKE: Hooke Park

MATERIALS TRADITION CRAFT

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

TECHNIQUE TOOLS TECHNOLOGY PROCESS

EXPERIMENTAL ARCHITECTURE

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“It seems, then, that what is needed at the beginning of the new millennium is an architectural perspective in which valuable vernacular knowledge is integrated with equally valuable modern knowledge, so as to enable the development of settlements and buildings that are contemporary and modern, yet which build upon the characteristics of local vernacular traditions and as such fit within their cultural and ecological contexts. It is only in this way that the creation of a truly sustainable future built environment can be achieved. Whether one could, or indeed would want to call such a built environment ‘vernacular’ remains open to debate for now.” (Asquith and Vellinga 2006, 18-19)

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figure 130 Hooke Park students in the 1990s (AAPL)

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figure 131 Hooke Park students in 2013 (V. Bennett, 2013)

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BIBLIogrAPHy 1.

Asquith, L. and M. Vellinga (2006). Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory, education and practice. London, New York, Taylor & Francis.

2.

Brunskill, R. W., (2000). Vernacular Architecture: An Illustrated Handbook. London, Faber and Faber.

3.

Clark, G. and Harding Thompson, W. (1935). The County Landscapes: The Dorset Landscape.

London, A. & C. Black, Ltd.

4.

Clifford, S. and A. King (ed.) (1993). Local Distinctiveness: Place, Particularity and Identity.

London, Common Ground.

5.

Cook, O (1968). The English House Through Seven Centuries. Frome, Somerset, Great Britain, Penguin Books.

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6.

Darley, G. (1993). Local Distinctiveness: an architectural conundrum. London, Common Ground.

7.

Harris, D. (2005). Paupers, Dukes and a Prince. Beaminster, Barnes Publishers.

8.

Harris, D. (2012). Hooke: The Second Millennium.

9.

Harris, D. (2012). Hooke: The Second Millennium.

10. Hoskins, W.G. (1988). The Making of the English Landscape. London, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto, Hodder and Stoughton.

11. Jackson, J. B. (1984). Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. New Haven and London, Yale University Press.

12. McElhinney, Robbie (ed.) (1991). Patterns 8. London, Buro Happold Consulting Enginners.

13. Ă–zkan, S. (2006). Traditionalism and vernacular architecture in the twenty-first century.

Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory, education and practice. L. A. M. Vellinga. London, New York, Taylor & Francis.

14. Pevsner, Nikolaus and Newman, John. (1972). The Buildings of England: Dorset. New Haven, Yale University Press.

15. Poore A. (1989). Hooke Park/Horsemoor Coppice Working Plan. Beaminster, The Parnham Trust.

16. Poore, A. Hooke Park Forestry Report.

17. Pratt, Kevin (2004). Hooke Park: Teaching Sustainability. London, The Architectural Association. Energy and Environment Studies MA Dissertation.

18. Rackham, O. (1989). The History of the Countryside. London, Melbourne, J.M. Dent & Sons

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Ltd. 19. Schama, S. (1995). Landscape and Memory. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 20. Shepheard, P. (1997). The Cultivated Wilderness: Or, What is Landscape? Cambridge and London, The MIT Press.

21. Stenning, D.F. and Andrews, D.D (ed.). (2012). Regional Variation in Timber-framed Building in England and Wales down to 1550. Suffolk, Essex County Council.

22. Vellinga M. and Asquith, L. (ed.) (2006). Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory, education and practice. London and New York, Taylor & Francis.

23. Vellinga M. (2006). Engaging the future: vernacular architecture studies in the twenty-first century. Vernacular Architecture in the Twenty-First Century: Theory, education and practice.

L. A. M. Vellinga. London, New York, Taylor & Francis.

24. Watkin, D. (1982). The English Vision: The Picturesque in Architecture, Landscape & Garden Design. London, John Murray Ltd.

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FIgure LIsT figure 1 View of the Jurassic Coast from Beaminster. Colmer’s Hill to the right. (C. Chen, 2013)

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figure 2 Map of Roman Britain (Period Paper, 1923) figure 3 Hambledon Hill and the Blackmore Vale (M. Peddle, 2008) figure 4 Maiden Castle (F. Radcliffe, 1991) figure 5 Eggardon Hill (H. Fenton, 2012) figure 6 The Country Twenty-five miles round London (W. Faden, 1790) figure 7 Reservation/Suburb, Scottsdale Arizona, USA (Burtynsky, 2011) figure 8 Milton Abbas main street figure 9 Shaftesbury (XXXX, XXXX) figure 10 Pivot irrigation in a suburb south of Yuma, Arizona, USA (Burtynsky, 2011) figure 11 (Burtynsky, 2012) Cape Coral, Florida, USA. figure 12 Toller Porcorum Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 13 Satellite view of Antartica (Gursky, 2010) figure 14 Brecon Beacons National Park (C. Chen, 2013) figure 15 Avebury Circle (Microsoft Corp., 2009) figure 16 Burton Bradstock Holiday Park (Microsoft Corp., 2009) figure 17 Depiction of a medieval hunting park (The Master of Game, 15c.) figure 18 Field outside Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2012) figure 19 Britannia Atlas. Journey from Exeter to Dorchester (J. Ogilvy, 1698) figure 20 Map showing sale of Hooke Park. Park Pond can be seen in yellow. figure 21 Oak trees which used to be part of the boundary ditch (C. Chen, 2013) figure 22 Ditch and bank that used to contain deer inside Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2013) figure 23 Landscape sub-types represented over the AA’s rural (C. Chen, 2013). figure 24 Satellite image of Hooke Park figure 25 Aerial view of Hooke Park circa 1985 (AA Photo lib.) figure 26 Bluebells at Hooke Park (C. Chen, 2013) figure 27 Hooke Park from the South (C. Chen, 2013) figure 28 Hooke Park compartment map figure 29 Hooke Parish Tithe and Apportion map (1840) figure 30 First master plan figure 31 Second master plan figure 32 Third master plan figure 33 Fourth master plan figure 34 Hooke Park after the Great Storm of 1990 (AAPL) figure 35 1990 Great Storm (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, 1990) figure 36 Hooke Park after the Great Storm of 1990 (AAPL) figure 37 Farm surrounded by forest near Spokane, Washington, USA figure 38 Dorset thatch cottage (C. Chen, 2012) figure 39 Quarry in Portland.

ii 2 4 4 4 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15 17 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 35 36 37 39 40 41 42 43 44

Continuing the local architectural tradition

figure 40 Simon Velez bamboo architecture (Sim贸n V茅lez, Crosswater Ecolodge, China) figure 41 Main gate by A. Goldsworthy (AAPL) figure 42 Beech archway made by A. Goldsworthy at Hooke Park (AAPL) figure 43 Roof structure (AAPL) figure 44 A-frames in central axis of the Refectory (AAPL) figure 45 Burton, Makepiece and Otto with a model of the Refectory (AAPL) figure 46 Ring connections at each end of the rafters (AAPL) figure 47 Stepped hole in each rafter (AAPL) figure 48 Pre-stressing the roof rafters (AAPL) figure 49 Refectory roof structure exposed (AAPL) figure 50 Cable connection (AAPL) figure 51 Exterior view of the Refectory (AAPL) figure 52 Workshop crown pieces being installed (AAPL) figure 53 Interior view of the Workshop under construction (AAPL) figure 54 Application of boron salts (AAPL) figure 55 Application of boron salts (AAPL) figure 56 Wrapping arch members (AAPL) figure 57 Arch breakage (AAPL) figure 58 Crown member connection (AAPL) figure 59 Arch members (AAPL) figure 60 The completed roof structure (AAPL) figure 61 West end of the Workshop (AAPL) figure 62 East facade of the Workshop (AAPL) figure 63 The Workshop (AAPL) figure 64 Side view of the Lodge (AAPL) figure 65 Westminster Lodge green roof (AAPL) figure 66 Model showing structural logic (AAPL) figure 67 Thinnings used in the construction of the Lodge (AAPL) figure 69 Orthogonal lattice on the roof of the Lodge (AAPL) figure 68 Roof structure prototype (AAPL) figure 70 Westminster Lodge (AAPL) figure 71 Southeast corner of Westminster Lodge (AAPL) figure 72 Joint prototypes and tests (AAPL) figure 73 Glued joints prototypes (AAPL) figure 74 Prototype joints (AAPL) figure 75 Stepped joint (AAPL) figure 76 Scarf joint tests (AAPL) figure 77 Failed scarf joints (AAPL) figure 78 Composite floor panels (AAPL)

45 47 49 51 52 52 53 54 54 55 56 57 59 60 61 62 63 63 63 64 64 64 65 66 67 68 68 69 70 70 72 73 75 75 76 76 77 77 78

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figure 79 Composite floor panel test (AAPL) figure 80 Trusses in position (H. Williams, 2011) figure 81 Main structure completed (H. Williams, 2011) figure 82 Marking truss nodes (H. Williams, 2011) figure 85 Big Shed, Truss A1 geometry plan (Big Shed Team) figure 83 Node connection (H. Williams, 2011) figure 84 Flitch plate mock-up (H. Williams, 2011) figure 86 Determining working face of the beam (H. Williams, 2011) figure 87 Measuring node intersection (H. Williams, 2011) figure 88 Connection fixing (H. Williams, 2011) figure 89 Truss erection (H. Williams, 2011) figure 90 Night view of the Big Shed (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 91 East façade of the Big Shed (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 92 Students installing the timber-frame (M. Self, 2011) figure 93 Student Lodge 1&2 under construction (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 94 1:1 prototype in the Big Shed (T. Barros, 2012) figure 95 Main structure surrounded by scaffolding (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 96 Cladding, massing and site models (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 97 Strategically placed windows and heating system (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 98 SL 1&2 facade (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 99 West façade from the mezzanine (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 100 South facing windows (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 101 The Caretaker’s House (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 103 Framing the south terrace (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 102 South facing terrace (V. Bennett, 2012) figure 104 Covered entrance linking nortn and south areas of the site (P. Taylor, 2012) figure 105 Timber cladding and reclaimed floorboard ceiling (S. Cramer, 2013) figure 106 SL3 under construction (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 107 Reclaimed materials being transported to site (S. Da Costa Gomez, 2013) figure 108 Recycled material inventory (S. Cramer, 2013) figure 109 1:1 site analysis (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 111 1:1 prototypes on-site (I. Dakoronias-Marina, 2013) figure 110 1:1 prototypes on-site (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 112 Cladding mock-up on-site (S. Da Costa Gomez, 2013) figure 113 Bedroom 1 west view towards the Workshop (E. Lawrence, 2013) figure 114 Bedroom 2 south opening (E. Lawrence, 2013) figure 116 Bedroom 1 and 2 looking south over the ditch and road (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 115 Bedroom windows to the west, facing the Workshop (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 118 Bedroom windows facing south (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 117 Bedroom windows facing south (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 119 Lift of the building segments (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 120 TSS under construction (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 122 Design development 3d model (TSS Team, 2013) figure 121 Removing a piece from the steamer (C. Chen, 2013) figure 123 Bending jig (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 124 Material selection (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 125 Material selection (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 126 Assembly process (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 127 TSS assembly process (C. Chen, 2013)

78 79 80 81 82 82 82 83 83 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 92 93 94 94 95 96 97 97 98 99 100 101 101 102 102 102 103 104 104 105 105 106 106 107 108 109 109 110 110 110 111 112

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figure 128 Workshop under construction. Test piece seen in foreground (AAPL) figure 129 Fallen tree creating a catenary curve figure 130 Hooke Park students in the 1990s (AAPL) figure 131 Hooke Park students in 2013 (V. Bennett, 2013) figure 132 1880-1940 Ordnance Survey Map figure 133 1945-1947 Ordnance Survey Map figure 134 Dorset map illustrating landmarks figure 135 UK Revised New Series Maps (1896-1904) figure 136 Mapperton Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 137 North Poorton Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 138 Lyme Regis Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 139 Corfe Castle Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 140 Bridport Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 141 Bradpole Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 142 Beaminster Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 143 Beaminster Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850) figure 144 Post Office Map of Dorsetshire (1849) figure 145 Kelly’s Directories Map of Dorsetshire figure 146 Dorsetshire Map figure 147 Dorsetshire Map by Rob Morden figure 148 John Seller’s Dorsetshire Map (1783)

114 115 117 118 130 132 133 135 138 139 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 149 151 153 155 126

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APPendIx

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figure 132 1880-1940 Ordnance Survey Map

figure 133 1945-1947 Ordnance Survey Map

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figure 134 Dorset map illustrating landmarks

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figure 135 UK Revised New Series Maps (1896-1904)

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figure 136 Mapperton Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 137 North Poorton Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 138 Lyme Regis Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 139 Corfe Castle Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 140 Bridport Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 141 Bradpole Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 142 Beaminster Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 143 Beaminster Parish Tithe and Apportion Map (1835-1850)

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figure 144 Post Office Map of Dorsetshire (1849)

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figure 145 Kelly's Directories Map of Dorsetshire

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figure 146 Dorsetshire Map

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figure 147 Dorsetshire Map by Rob Morden

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figure 148 John Seller's Dorsetshire Map (1783)