THE IMPORTANCE OF MATERIALS
traditional materials; they simply take the view that a knowledge of how to do traditional details, especially for awkward locations, is a great preparation for working out how to detail the manufactured products with which most modern buildings are assembled. Although the architects are
well-versed in theory, this is not just about book-learning. For many of the office, including the directors, have hands-on craft experience in such fields as straight construction labouring and boat-building. Working for months on a site with a demanding foreman, and slowly assembling long pieces of material to create the complex three-dimensional shapes of racing boats, provides an insight quite removed from manipulating vectors on a computer screen. ArchitecturePLB director
Andrew Lowe explains: ‘For us, choosing materials comes out of an enjoyment of crafting things – there is a collective visceral pleasure in making things. Knowing what a material can do enables you to achieve better and sharper details. Knowledge of how things work lies at the heart of buildability.’
At the same time, the practice
reckons that real value can be derived from working with specialists to cut out extraneous material and enhance details. Modern contracting protocols permit early collaboration with potential future specialist contractors. At the Temperate House and Restaurant at Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa, sub-contractors were brought in at an early stage to work on the design of both steelwork and glass. Meanwhile, at the Aston Martin Owners’ Club at Drayton St Leonard, there was the self-imposed problem of cladding an elliptical structure with 12mm-thick oak planks. As a solution, it was soon realised that a basic failing of green oak, its extreme floppiness, could be an advantage here. The planks could be secured at their mid-points, the two ends simply wrapped around the curve and then fixed. ArchitecturePLB is known for selecting a palette that revolves around timber, brick and glass with zinc and copper cladding and roofing. The practice has a hands-on history of using zinc. In the formative years, director Mike Skilton worked on a project that involved a pair of Danish
© JONATHAN MOORE
© DUCCIO MALAGAMBA
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