Civic Trust for Wales Bill Davies Essay Simplicity everywhere

Din Lligwy spirit of place, suggesting history, emotion, poetry and delight. The burial chamber dates from 4,000-2,000 BCE; the Romano-British hut group may be 2nd century CE, or a little earlier. Capel Lligwy dates from the12th century.

climate illustration Response to climate
the igloo offers shelter from cold and snow, displaying minimal surface area; the Mediterranean village responds to climate with roof-top living, small window openings and through ventilation. In northern Europe small building volume and low roof pitch enable snow to be retained as insulation. On the western seaboard, with its wet and windy climate, a steeper pitch sheds rain away from the building; land form and tree planting provide shelter.

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ESSAY Simplicity everywhere
Bill Davies suggests that building in Wales should demonstrate respect for land and site; recent development has been weak because it ignores such factors
“To the Greeks, the land was sacred. Their towns and religious sites responded to the land directly, in layout, and in using natural features as part of the composition...”
In an earlier article I discussed the quality and appropriateness of folk building in relation to Wales and the Celtic tradition of the western seaboard. Any culture is open to constant change, particularly now as ever improving communications seem to offer instant awareness. And twentieth-century western culture has had a unifying character, founded on scientific and technological advance, and the seductive dream of increasing wealth and quality of life. In Wales, as elsewhere, sadly this dream is reducing cultural distinctiveness. And while our language, music and poetry are recognised and supported, our built inheritance is virtually dismissed and ignored. While we must appreciate and benefit from our lifestyle improvements and new developments, this should not be incompatible with the retention of our cultural identity. Successful building has through time responded to the people, their culture, the land and its climate. The weakness of much recent development is that it has ignored these factors. Attempts to adapt from elsewhere have frequently produced unsuitable structures – for example through trying to imitate the open-air lifestyle of Mediterranean countries. Far worse has been the proliferation of mass housing estates based on the misguided standards of the volume builders. To an extent the argument that folk building traditions are relevant only in rural areas is true. But due to our land form, nature is in fact ever-present in our environment. Even in our capital, the parks reach to the city centre and one is always aware of the surrounding hills. In responding to place, the Victorian centre of Cardiff with its series of related arcades and sheltered open spaces represents a British city rare in a successful adaptation to a damp climate. This lesson has been little appreciated in the development of Cardiff Bay. next All illustrations © 2004 Bill Davies		Din Lligwy spirit of place, suggesting history, emotion, poetry and delight. The burial chamber dates from 4,000-2,000 BCE; the Romano-British hut group may be 2nd century CE, or a little earlier. Capel Lligwy dates from the12th century. Response to climate the igloo offers shelter from cold and snow, displaying minimal surface area; the Mediterranean village responds to climate with roof-top living, small window openings and through ventilation. In northern Europe small building volume and low roof pitch enable snow to be retained as insulation. On the western seaboard, with its wet and windy climate, a steeper pitch sheds rain away from the building; land form and tree planting provide shelter.