Sanderson, L., Lee, S.J., Stone, S.H., 2017.

The Way We Live Now

Continuity in Architecture and Bakewell Town Hall are pleased to present "The Way We Live Now" an exhibition showcasing work undertaken in Bakewell by more than 15 postgraduate architecture students at the Manchester School of Architecture.
Continuity in Architecture is a postgraduate atelier, which has been established at the Manchester School of Architecture for more than 20 years. The atelier runs programmes for the design of new buildings and public spaces within the existing urban environment. The emphasis is on the importance of place and the idea that design of architecture can be influenced by the experience and analysis of particular situations. This interpretation of place can provide a contemporary layer of built meaning within the continuity of the evolving town or city.
For the past few months, the atelier has been working in Bakewell. The aim of the project was to investigate the nature of home and its application in the local context of this town.
"The Way We Live Now" will include the work from two projects. The first project is a research book which interrogates the essence of the home. It examines the way we live now, they way we have lived, and looks at ideas for how we may live tomorrow : the project has bought together many theories about how homes may be designed in the future. The project considers many aspects of living, society and culture, the intimate investigation of the function and character of individual rooms, and the controlling factors of legislation.
The second project asked students to design a theoretical home in Bakewell on a small complicated site on the edge of the town centre. Each design questions the type of home which is needed in the twenty first century, drawing upon the earlier research. Solutions include family homes, live work units, starter homes, multi generational housing, business start-ups and homes with shared facilities. Each house considers the surrounding vernacular traditions and history of the site. These proposals will not be built, but are simple ideas generated by the students.
High quality models and drawings complete the exhibition. Each project examines the home through an intricately detailed sectional drawing or model.
Continuity in Architecture is inspired by the efforts of architects working within the existing urban fabric to produce a responsive architecture of narrative, space, intervention, and detail. We aim to show that the ideas and methods we examine in the studio have real and profitable applications. The main source of our architecture is the place itself. We reflect upon the persistence, usefulness and emotional resonance of particular places and structures. We are interested in the qualities of places that have persisted and we prefer a reading of history that stresses the permanence of tradition as the subject of architecture. Tradition in architecture in this context is the embodied meaning of buildings and cities produced by centuries of lived experience. Embodied meaning can be interpreted through building. Discovery and recognition are a vital part of the design process - we presume that we have a duty to analyse and describe a place before we can alter it.