Settings and Landscapes

Projects at William Green Architects relate to people and place. Places have physical attributes that require understanding. These attributes can be utilised and manipulated by design. The extent of understanding and selection of priorities will influence building design in a manner that enhances and connects the building to its place.

Settings and Landscapes are fundamental elements that need to be considered separately and together, similar but not the same. Setting is a choice, a design decision that has reason and purpose. The result of considered thought that connects peoples ‘needs’ and capitalises on the inherent qualities of place.

Setting is both inward and outward looking. When designing we can make choices that react and align with external influences. These design decisions; tailored to each site, help create the setting.

As Architects we are well practiced at identifying setting and place, it's almost instinctive as we read the ley lines, sightlines and the sun dance. The art can be greatly enhanced by looking beyond the obvious, providing the space for inherent subtilties to shine through. Sometimes the obvious setting is too overt, deliberate and invasive. We search for a timeless connection to a place.

The landscape is inherited as part of a site, it is less a choice, more a constituent part of place influenced by natural elements like topography, materials and weather. It is the physical reality and context for place making. The landscape can be manipulated by design and the extent of this greatly influences the buildings design and setting.

The landscape is ever present, before and after the building is built. How it is manipulated has the potential to enrich a building as this is creating the context. The level of design intervention is specific to the brief, but the clarity of connection between the design of a building and the landscape is paramount in achieving timeless designs.

Both urban and rural landscapes provide a stage upon which a building connects to a place and the seasons play out. Consideration of these connections as part of the design process provides opportunities to celebrate these events. Events as simple as the change in level, in material, direction or aspect, combined they inform the experience. For example, how does one arrive at a building, what does the journey look and feel like, are you arriving off a well-worn pathway smoothed over by the passing of the ages. Or are you sitting in a window seat, watching the rain fall on the pathway and being mesmerised by how the water flows into channels. These are details, layered up to help create a landscape that connects people and place.  

All of us at William Green Architects enjoy bringing these deeply connected solutions to our projects and having like-minded clients, who appreciate architecture and share these goals.