Instagram Story Viewer

Out now - LEARNING FROM THE LOCAL: ARCHITECT PIERS TAYLOR’S NEW BOOK

From @Designboom: “An exploration of context-specific, locally sourced, and sustainable architecture, Learning From the Local is the new book by British architect and broadcaster Piers Taylor. As the world questions the sustainability of globalised design, a new architectural movement is gaining momentum—one that seeks not to replicate tradition but to reimagine the ‘local’ in radically contemporary ways.

Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture, a new publication written by celebrated architect and broadcaster Dr Piers Taylor, and published by RIBA Publishing, brings together over 30 of the world’s most compelling architectural case studies to investigate this powerful shift. Far from nostalgic calls to restore lost traditions or imitate the vernacular, Learning from the Local explodes the myth that identity in architecture must be rooted in style. Instead, it focuses on how geography, geology, waste, ecology, community engagement and local making processes are shaping a new era of low-carbon, place-responsive design. These case studies, which span countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Japan, Greece, Pakistan and Australia, represent some of the most innovative and best-resolved architectural responses to context and culture from across the globe. Featured architects include globally-recognised figures such as Frank Gehry, Glenn Murcutt, Kéré Architecture and Lina Ghotmeh, alongside a host of rising talents whose work champions new definitions of localism.”

Out now - LEARNING FROM THE LOCAL: ARCHITECT PIERS TAYLOR’S NEW BOOK

From @Designboom: “An exploration of context-specific, locally sourced, and sustainable architecture, Learning From the Local is the new book by British architect and broadcaster Piers Taylor. As the world questions the sustainability of globalised design, a new architectural movement is gaining momentum—one that seeks not to replicate tradition but to reimagine the ‘local’ in radically contemporary ways.

Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture, a new publication written by celebrated architect and broadcaster Dr Piers Taylor, and published by RIBA Publishing, brings together over 30 of the world’s most compelling architectural case studies to investigate this powerful shift. Far from nostalgic calls to restore lost traditions or imitate the vernacular, Learning from the Local explodes the myth that identity in architecture must be rooted in style. Instead, it focuses on how geography, geology, waste, ecology, community engagement and local making processes are shaping a new era of low-carbon, place-responsive design. These case studies, which span countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Japan, Greece, Pakistan and Australia, represent some of the most innovative and best-resolved architectural responses to context and culture from across the globe. Featured architects include globally-recognised figures such as Frank Gehry, Glenn Murcutt, Kéré Architecture and Lina Ghotmeh, alongside a host of rising talents whose work champions new definitions of localism.”

Out now - LEARNING FROM THE LOCAL: ARCHITECT PIERS TAYLOR’S NEW BOOK

From @Designboom: “An exploration of context-specific, locally sourced, and sustainable architecture, Learning From the Local is the new book by British architect and broadcaster Piers Taylor. As the world questions the sustainability of globalised design, a new architectural movement is gaining momentum—one that seeks not to replicate tradition but to reimagine the ‘local’ in radically contemporary ways.

Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture, a new publication written by celebrated architect and broadcaster Dr Piers Taylor, and published by RIBA Publishing, brings together over 30 of the world’s most compelling architectural case studies to investigate this powerful shift. Far from nostalgic calls to restore lost traditions or imitate the vernacular, Learning from the Local explodes the myth that identity in architecture must be rooted in style. Instead, it focuses on how geography, geology, waste, ecology, community engagement and local making processes are shaping a new era of low-carbon, place-responsive design. These case studies, which span countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Japan, Greece, Pakistan and Australia, represent some of the most innovative and best-resolved architectural responses to context and culture from across the globe. Featured architects include globally-recognised figures such as Frank Gehry, Glenn Murcutt, Kéré Architecture and Lina Ghotmeh, alongside a host of rising talents whose work champions new definitions of localism.”

“Even if the family occasionally finds evidence that mountain goats have been in the kitchen, being so connected to the land is worth it. “The intensity of the light, the smells of the plants, the noise of the cicadas — it’s like everything is turned up to 11,” he said. “There’s something completely cathartic about being there.”
.
.
Thanks Tim Mckeough and @officedavesharp for this piece up on @nytimes today. Link in bio. Pics by @clickclickjim

“Even if the family occasionally finds evidence that mountain goats have been in the kitchen, being so connected to the land is worth it. “The intensity of the light, the smells of the plants, the noise of the cicadas — it’s like everything is turned up to 11,” he said. “There’s something completely cathartic about being there.”
.
.
Thanks Tim Mckeough and @officedavesharp for this piece up on @nytimes today. Link in bio. Pics by @clickclickjim

INTRODUCTION

Here, I read from the Introduction of my forthcoming book, being published by the RIBA in October 2025

Architecture’s struggles with the ‘local’.

As the move towards globalisation falters, the question of how a building might relate to its place in a meaningful manner has never been more pressing.

The sourcing and use of local materials has increasingly become an expectation in contemporary architecture. But what does local mean in this context? Should we use Cotswold stone in the Cotswolds forever – even if this necessitates using imitation stone? In rural areas, must we design traditional barns or farms with pitched roofs regardless of their sustainability?

Learning from the Local explodes the myth that vernacular style and national identity are the only design routes for place-specific architecture. The book is not a plea to return to pre-industrial times, but an attempt to understand the origins of the local in a global culture. Through a myriad of global case studies, it explores how geology, geography, material experimentation, waste, ecology, social issues, self-build and community engagement are heralding a new age. This sets the stage for a rich and evolving era of locally responsive architecture that is both low carbon and a true reflection of the circumstances of its production.

Features:
- Over 30 case studies illustrated with full-colour photography, drawings and plans.
- Architecture from across the world, spanning Spain, Greece, Australia, Costa Rica, China, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Japan, USA, UK, Chile, Beirut, Netherlands, India and Italy.
- Work from renowned architects, including Clancy Moore, Frank Gehry, Gianni Botsford, Glenn Murcutt, Jørn Utzon, Kéré Architecture, Lacol, Lina Ghotmeh, Mole Architects, Sarah Wigglesworth, Terunobu Fujimori and Yasmeen Lari.

#book written by #pierstaylor

Timber model testing a steam bent component system for a bridge with @pearce_plus
.
.
#model #architecturalmodel

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

May scenes and a collection of stories. A bit of fog, lots of sun and incredible wild flowers and fireflies.

Out / In

Out / In

Back in the Big Shed / Assembly Workshop at Hooke where we are running this years Studio in the Woods - the building was conceived 15 years after it was conceived as the first building from the then new @aadesignandmake programme and the first from the new masters which was a Design & Make / AA Dip 19 combined unit. Lots of find memories of that time… beautifully drawn for planning by @snelsontypestudio and then developed for contract and construction by us working with Charley Brentnall with engineers Atelier 1, using javelins Larch thinnings. Charley then built it with a team he’d assembled specifically for this project. Atelier 1 were key to the truss design - I remember when they saw the initial space frame proposal they said - why are you trying to be so clever…? It could be so much simpler as a set of linear trusses… which is how we then designed it, carrying out deflection and pull out tests which allowed us to (largely) screw it together with heco screws, minimising steel. Still a crazy expensive and complex way to make a building, but interesting now that we’re trying to work out how to democratise this type of construction, and try and solve how to use thinnings in a simple and mass market manner as a research project with @jezralph @fcbstudios @pearce_plus and others. Also - 20th anniversary of @studiointhewoods_official this year.

On Materiality

Tim Ingold: “To understand materiality, it seems, we need to get as far away from materials as possible. For me, the problem came to a head when I attended a session at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association. The session was entitled ‘Materiality’, and included presentations on such topics as ‘Immateriality’, ‘For a materialist semiotics’, ‘Materiality and cognition’, and ‘Praxeology in a material world’. These presentations were overflowing with references to the works of currently fashionable social and cultural theorists, and expounded in a language of grotesque impenetrability on the relations between materiality and a host of other, similarly unfathomable qualities, including agency, intentionality, functionality, sociality, spatiality, semiosis, spirituality and embodiment. Not one of the presenters, however, was able to say what materiality actually means, nor did any of them even mention materials or their properties. As anthropologists, I thought, might we not learn more about the material composition of the inhabited world by engaging quite directly with the stuff we want to understand? What academic perversion leads us to speak not of materials and their properties but of the materiality of objects? It seemed to me that the concept of materiality, whatever it might mean, has become a real obstacle to sensible enquiry into materials, their transformations and affordances.”

Me: I try and forbid my students using the word ‘materiality’ . It doesn’t, for me, suggest any observation that has any substance: more, it implies an entirely superficial reading of material - as a paper thin aesthetic immaterial veneer plastered onto a substrate of nothingness.

Anyway, here are two buildings of ours with material qualities, and no materiality. Both with materials that have emerged from the circumstances of their production - with, in the second image - no ‘finishing’, no sanitising and no curation.

BTW comments off as previously people have taken this as an anti intellectual or anti theorising stance. It isn’t. It’s an anti materiality stance, about which I’d love to theorise.

On Materiality

Tim Ingold: “To understand materiality, it seems, we need to get as far away from materials as possible. For me, the problem came to a head when I attended a session at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association. The session was entitled ‘Materiality’, and included presentations on such topics as ‘Immateriality’, ‘For a materialist semiotics’, ‘Materiality and cognition’, and ‘Praxeology in a material world’. These presentations were overflowing with references to the works of currently fashionable social and cultural theorists, and expounded in a language of grotesque impenetrability on the relations between materiality and a host of other, similarly unfathomable qualities, including agency, intentionality, functionality, sociality, spatiality, semiosis, spirituality and embodiment. Not one of the presenters, however, was able to say what materiality actually means, nor did any of them even mention materials or their properties. As anthropologists, I thought, might we not learn more about the material composition of the inhabited world by engaging quite directly with the stuff we want to understand? What academic perversion leads us to speak not of materials and their properties but of the materiality of objects? It seemed to me that the concept of materiality, whatever it might mean, has become a real obstacle to sensible enquiry into materials, their transformations and affordances.”

Me: I try and forbid my students using the word ‘materiality’ . It doesn’t, for me, suggest any observation that has any substance: more, it implies an entirely superficial reading of material - as a paper thin aesthetic immaterial veneer plastered onto a substrate of nothingness.

Anyway, here are two buildings of ours with material qualities, and no materiality. Both with materials that have emerged from the circumstances of their production - with, in the second image - no ‘finishing’, no sanitising and no curation.

BTW comments off as previously people have taken this as an anti intellectual or anti theorising stance. It isn’t. It’s an anti materiality stance, about which I’d love to theorise.

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows feels especially relevant here. The imperfection of raw timber, alongside moments concealed in shade, makes this a landscape of exploration, where beauty lies not in the object itself but in the shifting patterns created through the interplay of light and darkness. The project centres on screening, on being seen and unseen, and on fleeting glimpses as people move through the spaces. Thanks for capturing it so well @joseph_horton .

In collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian and @invisible_studio
#PlayLandscape #NaturalPlay #TimberArchitecture #LandscapeArchitecture #shadows

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows feels especially relevant here. The imperfection of raw timber, alongside moments concealed in shade, makes this a landscape of exploration, where beauty lies not in the object itself but in the shifting patterns created through the interplay of light and darkness. The project centres on screening, on being seen and unseen, and on fleeting glimpses as people move through the spaces. Thanks for capturing it so well @joseph_horton .

In collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian and @invisible_studio
#PlayLandscape #NaturalPlay #TimberArchitecture #LandscapeArchitecture #shadows

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows feels especially relevant here. The imperfection of raw timber, alongside moments concealed in shade, makes this a landscape of exploration, where beauty lies not in the object itself but in the shifting patterns created through the interplay of light and darkness. The project centres on screening, on being seen and unseen, and on fleeting glimpses as people move through the spaces. Thanks for capturing it so well @joseph_horton .

In collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian and @invisible_studio
#PlayLandscape #NaturalPlay #TimberArchitecture #LandscapeArchitecture #shadows

The playscape at the National Arboretum Westonbirt is a play landscape designed for all ages, encouraging open-ended exploration, movement, and imagination. Constructed from timber sourced directly from the arboretum, the project highlights the natural beauty of its materials, with exposed bark, knots, and irregular edges that enhance the connection between play and the surrounding landscape.

Featuring a series of hide-and-seek walls, lookout tower, and log scrambles set within a contoured terrain, the playscape offers opportunities for climbing, hiding, balancing, and observing. Instead of outlining a specific route or method of play, it invites visitors to create their own journeys, discovering thresholds, elevated viewpoints, and surprising moments along the way.

Collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian @invisible_studio @timlyddon

Photography by @joseph_horton

#Westonbirt #NationalArboretum #WestonbirtArboretum #Playscape #PlayLandscape

The playscape at the National Arboretum Westonbirt is a play landscape designed for all ages, encouraging open-ended exploration, movement, and imagination. Constructed from timber sourced directly from the arboretum, the project highlights the natural beauty of its materials, with exposed bark, knots, and irregular edges that enhance the connection between play and the surrounding landscape.

Featuring a series of hide-and-seek walls, lookout tower, and log scrambles set within a contoured terrain, the playscape offers opportunities for climbing, hiding, balancing, and observing. Instead of outlining a specific route or method of play, it invites visitors to create their own journeys, discovering thresholds, elevated viewpoints, and surprising moments along the way.

Collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian @invisible_studio @timlyddon

Photography by @joseph_horton

#Westonbirt #NationalArboretum #WestonbirtArboretum #Playscape #PlayLandscape

The playscape at the National Arboretum Westonbirt is a play landscape designed for all ages, encouraging open-ended exploration, movement, and imagination. Constructed from timber sourced directly from the arboretum, the project highlights the natural beauty of its materials, with exposed bark, knots, and irregular edges that enhance the connection between play and the surrounding landscape.

Featuring a series of hide-and-seek walls, lookout tower, and log scrambles set within a contoured terrain, the playscape offers opportunities for climbing, hiding, balancing, and observing. Instead of outlining a specific route or method of play, it invites visitors to create their own journeys, discovering thresholds, elevated viewpoints, and surprising moments along the way.

Collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian @invisible_studio @timlyddon

Photography by @joseph_horton

#Westonbirt #NationalArboretum #WestonbirtArboretum #Playscape #PlayLandscape

The playscape at the National Arboretum Westonbirt is a play landscape designed for all ages, encouraging open-ended exploration, movement, and imagination. Constructed from timber sourced directly from the arboretum, the project highlights the natural beauty of its materials, with exposed bark, knots, and irregular edges that enhance the connection between play and the surrounding landscape.

Featuring a series of hide-and-seek walls, lookout tower, and log scrambles set within a contoured terrain, the playscape offers opportunities for climbing, hiding, balancing, and observing. Instead of outlining a specific route or method of play, it invites visitors to create their own journeys, discovering thresholds, elevated viewpoints, and surprising moments along the way.

Collaboration with @lean_structures , @shahe_gregorian @invisible_studio @timlyddon

Photography by @joseph_horton

#Westonbirt #NationalArboretum #WestonbirtArboretum #Playscape #PlayLandscape

Sketch model testing for a new educational productive growing facility #WIP