BDA Field Trip _Lacock Abbey, Wilts
History plays a big part in what we design for today and tomorrow. At BDA we take a look at key design movements through time, how they influence current trends. It is also critical to have a basic understanding of a historical style before we use it as a basis in a contemporary scheme. What are the defining characteristics, as well as differences for example between Art Deco and Art Nouveau, or Memphis Style and De Stijl, a column of the Doric and Corinthian orders...?
Yet sometimes, that's exactly what a client is looking to you, as the design expert, to know. The number of times over the years when I've had a client say "...I want 'this' or 'that' style interior design scheme..." are just too many to mention here. And it can get even more interesting when the client throws in a curved ball, asking that the design also has a "...'this' or 'that' style twist to it...'!
This is why it's so good to get out and about (and inside of) historical spaces, so as to see (and feel) first hand how a particular style and period 'works'. This is the basis for BDA's field trips. Being based in Bath, we are particularly spoiled to have so many beautiful buildings of great historical relevance quite literally on our doorstep (more of that in other BDA posts), as well as within a stone's throw.
One such beauty is Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.
Part of BDA's Resi-Weekender earlier this month, we took a trip out to Lacock village and wandered around the Abbey, House and grounds, sketching, photographing (after all, it also houses the Fox Talbot Museum and is renowned as the place where modern photography was born) and generally taking in the historical details of this stunning location which dates back to the 13th century. The National Trust property has been preserved to showcase several architectural periods and styles: from its early beginnings as an Augustinian abbey and nunnery, to country house and home built in the Gothic Revivalist style of the mid-1700s, and a sprinkling of Tudor and Elizabethan features along the way.
A proper eccentric treasure!
_VH
