an architectural journal

Autonomous house is a generic term, referring to a building that functions entirely on the resources it can draw from its immediate site and which is not connected to any mains services (electricity, gas, water and sewerage). Many autonomous houses have been imagined as part of a Utopian vision, and some have been built as practical examples. The most well-known built example is probably The Autonomous House built by Robert and Brenda Vale in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1993. I have leafed through their book of the same name many times and feel I know the house as if I had lived in it, but when I first heard about it, at a  lecture given by Robert Vale at the RAIA in Sydney in the mid 90's, I knew nothing about it. I shall always remember the start of that lecture. This was in the days of slides (as opposed to PowerPoint presentations) and the lecture hall at Tusculum was darkened so that the slides took all ones visual focus. Robert must have talked for at least 5 minutes wit...

John Claudius Loudon was a prolific writer on gardens and architecture in the early nineteenth century, and his works were hugely influential on these subjects at the time. Country Life described Loudon as an “eminent Victorian” stating that he “personified that moral force, thoroughness and desire to fill every moment with useful productivity that seem to us the hallmark of the 19th-century man of distinction”. Yet his name is little known today, even within those professions. However, the more I find out about Loudon, the more intrigued I become by the man, both professionally and personally. John Claudius Loudon Loudon was born at Cambuslang in southern Scotland , not far from where I find myself now living. Like me, he was a farmer’s son, my birthplace being the Hunter Valley in Australia . For whatever reason, we were both destined not to continue in the family farming tradition, but to work with the land in other ways. Loudon studied botany, biology and agricultu...

Welcome to my architectural journal, in modern terms my "blog ". I am a practicing a rchitect, having trained and worked in both the UK and my native Australia, currently based in the Scottish Borders. These are my personal musings and ramblings on people, places and issues that influence and inspire my approach to architecture and the environment. They include architects and other designers from past and present, buildings I have visited, books I have read, and people who have spoken out with a strong vision of how we should interact with our environment.  There is an emphasis on sustainability and on heritage - the conservation of the natural world and of the man-made world. I believe these share common principles that are essential to the maintenance of a healthy and civilised society, and must be at the core of all design. Country houses and life in the countryside are also regular themes, reflecting my own life experience growing up in rural Australia, and the se...