WINDING UP THE UK

What are friends for if you can't wind them up a bit?  Sometimes it seem the western world is obsessed with its own doom, when to outsiders it's a beacon of hope.  But let's not get political, religion is a much safer topic.

I had visited a wide range of churches on the trip: Gothic and Classical, Large and small. But they had all been urban. in context and mood. So it was great to see 3 Village churches within walking distance of each other during a weekend retreat with my family. 

They are all slightly different in age and detailing, but simple and rustic, white inside, flint cob with limestone trim outdoors. Wide splayed reveals soften the diffusion of light into the space from narrow pointed windows. All three churches have stubby little wooden spires at the West End, but quite different in size and proportions. It strikes me that “ordinary village builders” knew how to take very simple forms and vary them to bestow unique identity on each building.  And it’s clear that several centuries later, these churches are still welcoming spaces within their communities.  

Do we still know how to build like this?   I don't mean in a technical skills sense … I'm thinking about the ability of local building activities to create simple spaces that tug at the heart strings for generation after generation.  It's a deep question with no simple answers.  We are good at recognising and preserving Heritage these days, but not so good at creating the "Heritage" of tomorrow.  (maybe you disagree, which is fine)

My children live on different continents so gatherings like this are rare events, in this case we coincided almost accidentally. Some high spirits in the pub garden as we waited for our lunch order. Grandsons watching on. Earlier on I met up with Warren Peters who lives nearby, and exchanged thoughts on scan to BIM and the use of Revit for heritage work. 

The whole trip has been a revelation about the power of digital tools to form connections and arrange face-to-face meetings.  Perhaps that is the message for BIM.  Software is there to enhance human interactions, not to replace them.  We are a social species.  That’s where all the good stuff happens. 

Amazing Saxon arch and slightly later wall paintings in one of the churches. How can we visualise the life and times of the villagers who created all this? Drawing and modelling can help I’m sure but when will I have time to work on Saxon village churches?  At the moment, all I have to offer is a barrage of images together with brief notes on my interactions.

Monday morning train to Chichester, roman port-city, overshadowed much later by Portsmouth and Southampton. Roman roads connected Chichester to Reading (Silchester) and London. I was treated to a fascinating tour and some great conversations at Chichester Stoneworks. Time honoured masonry procedures enhanced by electric motors and digital controls. Heartfelt thanks to Chris Gladwell for his hospitality.

Then walk into town to see the fourth Gothic cathedral of my trip. Once again, the access routes caught my attention. And yet again there are isolated colonettes in contrasting material. Polished green stone, almost certainly a variety of the Purbeck “marble” I have seen elsewhere in Blue-Grey.  Half-round Norman arches lining the nave with later work around the edges in other gothic styles, from early English to Perpendicular.   

On to Hastings by late afternoon, the railway looping from town to town along the South Coast. Leaving behind the rainwater channels along the top of flying buttresses which reminded me of Notre Dame. Heading for a regency crescent with top-lit half-round church.

Stimulating convention with old friends Nick and Jane, a heady mix of common interest and divergent views. But underlined by mutual respect and affection. The world needs more of that. 

Nick had a booklet from 1991. Hastings Trust, an admirable project which seems to have run its course. Two things caught my eye. The Net Shops, distinctive black wooden towers with pitched roofs. Storage for fishing nets. There was a neat little kit that allowed school children to make a cardboard model of these.  Yet another simple structure that I would love to explore with my BIM pencil. 

Secondly, yet another church, but very unusual. The cliff face under Hastings Castle collapsed almost 700 years ago, taking half the castle with it. Into the curved cliff face that resulted, the Earl of Chichester built a residential crescent with a half round Chapel in the middle. This was during John Soane’s lifetime, and there are hints of similar classical motifs. Nick arranged access so we could look around. I showed him that it is viewable in Google Earth 3d.  I spent the whole holiday stumbling across aspects of our built heritage that I had not noticed before, then reaching into my pocket and accessing all kinds of contextual information.  Perhaps it’s only on a trip like this (where you are constantly moving into unfamiliar territory) that the power of smart phones to extend our cognitive abilities really becomes apparent. It’s happening all the time, but at a much slower pace.  During this trip, my ability to navigate from A to B (and to understand the buildings and trade skills I encountered) improved noticeably.  We take it for granted, but it’s HUGE.

                                                           

More trains. A meeting with Jack Strongitharm of Unity 3d. Lots of potential there. 

And on to Ian and Jo in Reading. Shared memories from 1956 onwards.  Shared music over the years, and at last I got around to recording a song on my phone and uploading it directly to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN5t-0iA4dw

On the way to their house I took in Reading Town Hall. Gothic Revival by Alfred Waterhouse. History going in spirals and speeding up. He had a very successful practice applying Gothic design principles to “modern” office buildings in the late 1800s.  Studying Notre Dame, (then visiting 4 other gothic cathedrals) has given me new insights into the Gothic Revival, the particulars of a “style” that bookends the classical period in Europe and elsewhere.  That’s something else I would like to explore further with my BIM pencil.

And close by, a fascinating monument by John Soane, triangular to echo the shape of the market “square” Typical Soane with idiosyncratic motifs (pineapple, “fasces”, vestigial Greek key, canopy dome) Commissioned by a local merchant family with political aspirations in the town where Soane originated.  Sadly, I doubt that this monument has much meaning to residents today.  Do we even know how to do monuments anymore?  Do we have a focal centre for our communities that compares to the role that churches used to play?  Clearly we enjoy the ornament on old buildings, often based on stylised foliage.  Do we still know how to translate natural forms into ornamental detail?  There was a time when this task was entrusted to countless artisans on our building sites.

And so to my last weekend and the Watercress Railway. Three stations restored to the age of steam. A living museum? The power of enthusiasts? Does this have similarities to Project Notre Dame? On the one hand you have the geeky thing: people who love the esoteric world of a particular technology. On the other, a general public fascination with cultural history. We love to drift into the ambience of past worlds.

I’m back in Dubai now, adjusting to my day job. What a trip! I glimpsed a possible future: visiting people and places, connecting and comparing, using my “BIM pencil” to analyse, understand, explain.

Is there a future where this kind of activity is a viable career? Will we see a world where running something like the Watercress Line is mainstream? Will we be able to see BIM as a valid tool for examining the human condition and not just a clever way of maximising profit?

And what do I really think about the transition from ancient Rome to Medieval Gothic, to classical revival, then briefly back to Gothic railway stations and town halls before the Modern Movement burst upon us, for better and for worse ?  Will I get to the stage where my "BIM pencil" gives me serious insights into those major fault lines of history ?  (Western History which is extremely influential in terms of the global culture that envelops us now, but by no means the whole story, of course. When I will get back to looking at the African huts and Newari Houses of Kathmandu?  How will I weave those small studies into my story telling?