DESIGNED TO ENDURE

For the past 25 years, my career has involved working with structures of all scales from the past. My first experience was working in antique furniture restoration & conservation. This was my first exposure to quality materials and build techniques. Following on from this I worked for a decade in historic building conservation. Like with the furniture, the materiality and construction quality stood apart. Whether replicating material ‘like for like’ or reconstructing old joinery, there was always a sense of permanence to what we accomplished. I have never before had this sense of fulfillment in any other line of work. In a world where most things today are measured by turnover and disposability I have learned more about endurance and durability.

At the age of 40, I returned to education and studied Architecture for 4 years. The course focused almost exclusively on the incorporation of existing buildings, most of which had some level of historic significance. Many historic structures are not utilized today the way that they were initially intended. In too many cases, this often means an under utilization……almost as if the structures are being ‘moth balled’ due to a lack of imagination. These structures sit on the periphery of society as relics of the past because little has been done to promote re-invention. Relevancy is key, otherwise we’re merely ‘saving’ things for the sake of it or,worse, because we’re afraid not to.

SENTRIES OF NAVIGATION is my opportunity to showcase structures whose relevancy has remained largely in tact despite many,if not all, being ‘antiques’. They reliably stand their post……majestically yet quietly. Perhaps this is where their mystique and even sense romance are born from as they sit on the edge of isolated headlands or in the middle of seas miles off shore. We enjoy them as a ‘whole’……a complete article with little or no knowledge of their constituent parts. This portfolio is my attempt to peel back the ‘skin’ of these structures to reveal the craft and quality of their design and construct.