Poundbury Building, Prince Charles Dorchester Architecture, English Town Architects, Award

Poundbury Buildings, Dorset, England

Traditional Community in Dorset devise by Prince Charles in southwest England, UK

post updated 28 Mar 2021 ; 23 Sep 2008

Poundbury Buildings – New Dorset Village

Location: Dorset, south west England, UK
Date: 1993-
Masterplan: Leon Krier
Developed for Prince Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall Estate

Poundbury Market Hall, Dorchester
–
Design: John Simpson

23rd of September 2008 SUPERCRIT #6

Poundbury buildings, taken 25 April 2015:

photograph : Alex Liivet from Chester, United Kingdom, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Leon Krier presents Poundbury

Superstar architects are used to giving lectures. They can present to their ego’s content their projects and achievements with only the politest of a Q&A to follow. Supercrit is different. Here the world’s greatest architects present their greatest projects to a panel of international critics, experts and the public in an intimate environment in the style of a university design crit.

Devised by EXP, the Research Centre for Experimental Practice at the University of Westminster, and presented with The Architecture Foundation, Supercrit #6 turns to one of the most controversial projects of our times. Leon Krier will present his 1980s master plan for Poundbury in Dorset to a panel of critics and supporters including Jules Lubbock (Professor of Art, University of Essex), Michael Wilford (Michael Wilford architects), Sean Griffiths (FAT), James Woudhuysen (Professor of Forecasting and Innovation, de Montfort University) and Sarah Wigglesworth (Sarah Wigglesworth Architects).

Poundbury buildings, Dorset, England:

photo : Alex Liivet from Chester, United Kingdom, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The panel will be chaired by Charles Jencks, architectural theorist and designer. The debate will be extended to involve the audience at large.

Leon Krier’s commission from the Prince of Wales in 1988 to design a master plan for Poundbury – a ‘new village’ on the outskirts of Dorchester in Dorset – has provided enough fuel for the debate about postwar town planning to burn several villages. Twenty years on, Poundbury’s second phase of development is almost complete, and further expansion is planned.

It is visited by town planning delegates from around the world and is an influential model for house builders, urban designers and transport engineers across the UK, yet the model for what some have called the perfect village raises vexed questions of authenticity and historicism; the major influence of the Prince of Wales on architecture after his famous carbuncle speech.

It is still arguably in the explosive shadow of Post Modernism, whilst pursuing the ideals of social integration and sustainable living. The project remains one of the most contentious of the last thirty years.

Poundbury raises vexed questions of authenticity and historicism; the major influence of the Prince of Wales on architecture after his famous ‘carbuncle’ speech, and still arguably in the explosive shadow of Post Modernism, whilst pursuing the ideals of social integration and sustainable living. The project remains one of the most contentious of the last thirty years.

Neoclassical English house architect : Robert Adam

Quinlan Terry Architect

Date: Friday 31 October 2008 Time: Admission from 9.30am; doors close at 9.50am. Supercrit runs from 10am-12.30pm sharp. Venue: Room M421, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS, opposite Madame Tussauds. Transport: Baker Street Underground Tickets:. Supercrits are free and open to all, but places are limited to maintain the studio atmosphere and possibilities for audience debate, as such advanced booking is essential. Please register online at www.architecturefoundation.org.uk

AF Members booking now open / General booking from 1 October

Past Supercrits: Supercrit #1: Cedric Price, The Potteries Thinkbelt (05.11.03) Supercrit #2: Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Learning from Las Vegas (16.06.04) Supercrit #3: Richard Rogers: The Pompidou Centre (22.04.05) Supercrit #4: Bernard Tschumi: The Parc de la Villette (14.11.05) Supercrit #5: Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York (05.05.06).

Supercrits: Books in print Supercrit #1: Cedric Price, The Potteries Thinkbelt, Samantha Hardingham and Kester Rattenbury, Routledge 2007 Supercrit #2: Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Learning from Las Vegas, Kester Rattenbury and Samantha Hardingham, Routledge 2007

Books forthcoming in 2009
Supercrit #3: Richard Rogers: The Pompidou Centre
Supercrit #4: Bernard Tschumi: The Parc de la Villette

The Architecture Foundation promotes and encourages the best in contemporary architecture and brings it to a wide public. It runs a rich programme comprising talks, events, exhibitions, films, design initiatives and competitions, research, policy work and films. Established in 1991 as Britain’s first independent architecture centre, The Architecture Foundation actively bridges the gap between decision-makers, design professionals and the public. www.architecturefoundation.org.uk

Experimental Practice (EXP) at the Department of Architecture, University of Westminster, aims to generate, promote, support and document experimental forms of architectural practice. Run by Samantha Hardingham and Kester Rattenbury, who concocted the Supercrit series in 2003 and wrote the first two books in the series, published by Routledge in 2007.

Other projects include L.A.W.u.N. projects #19 and #20 with David Greene, and the Archigram Archival Project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. www.wmin.ac.uk/sabe/page-467

The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.

Mulalley and Company provides construction services and is this year’s sponsor of the Supercrit series.

More photos and comments on this Poundbury buildings post are welcome.

Location: Poundbury, Dorset, south west England, UK