Output details

From Longhouse to Live/Work Unit: Parallel Histories and Absent Narratives

This book contains a collection of articles that derive from the joint 2008 conference of the Vernacular Architecture Group and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. The purpose of the conference was to explore ways of thinking about relationships between vernacular studies and architectural scholarship.

The opening paper forms the basis for this peer-reviewed chapter. It introduces the idea of a neglected building type that combines dwelling and workplace (the ‘workhome’). Recognising this as a ʻtypeʼ enables an architectural re-classification that makes possible the development of a body of knowledge about these buildings. This is important because while they exist in every country in every culture, in every period of time, they have not previously been analysed - despite substantial contemporary significance – and rapidly growing home-based workforce.

It traces parallel histories in vernacular and canonical architectural traditions - establishing the existence of this building type. It identifies a tendency for both fields to focus on the material form of the building, and points out the limitations of this approach in the analysis of the workhome. These buildings often incorporate functions with conflicting programmes - public/ private, dirty/ clean, noisy/ quiet - it is difficult to evaluate their design without information on how they function in daily use. This limits both our understanding of them as buildings and their usefulness as precedents in contemporary practice. A more anthropological approach to the analysis of the built environment would make a positive contribution to the development of architectural knowledge and practice.

Published globally in hardback and paperback, this book reinforces understanding of how building design emerges not just from individual agency, but also from the collective traditions of society.