Former TAG Chairman, Jan Maciag, talks about his work on the redevelopment of a disused farmyard in the small village of Great Gidding, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.
The farmyard was redeveloped as a joint project by the owners and Jan (and his heroically patient wife Margaret). The owners would retain part of the site and get a house for rental and the architect would design and build a house for himself.
Both buildings are experimental houses that focuses on several key issues in rural development.
• The reacquisition of a renewed vernacular architectural style and a veracity of construction.
• The reconciliation of a more casual ‘Arts & Crafts’ approach with the diminishing availability of either ‘Art’ or ‘Craft’ in the everyday construction industry.
• The nature of vernacular ornament within a return to constructional robustness.
• The fundamental challenge of constructing a modern, airtight, highly insulated and serviced new house that nevertheless looks, feels and behaves like a timeless traditional building. All within a mid-range budget.
The talk will focus on the material construction of the building and the difficulties encountered, compromises made and lessons learnt over several years of work and hardship.
Jan studied architecture at the University of Westminster and the University of Toronto, Canada.
Following graduation he worked as an assistant to Leon Krier and John Simpson before spending 3 years as an assistant architect to Quinlan Terry. He has been in his own practice, now known as Folium Architects, since 1994 and is based near Huntingdon. Project work is scattered throughout England and much is concerned with heritage repairs, alterations and additions.
As a traditionalist designer, Jan first exhibited his work at the 1987 exhibition ‘Real Architecture’ In 1989 he received an honourable mention for his entry in the Rue de Laeken, Brussels, design competition. He won 2nd Prize in the 1996 Marsham Street Urban Design Competition and is a contributing architect for the proposed reconstruction of the Neumarkt in Dresden.
As well as working in his own practice, he has been a tutor at the Prince’s Foundation in London and is a past-Chairman of the Traditional Architecture Group.
To watch the recording of this talk, please click here.