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Addressing the Climate in Modern Age's Construction History pp 131–145Cite as

Tradition and Science: The Evolution of Environmental Architecture in Britain from 16th to 19th Century

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Abstract

This contribution traces the evolution of ‘environmental architecture’ in Britain in the four centuries from the end of the 16th century to the threshold of the 20th. That period witnessed profound developments in the applied sciences and in its later part in the technologies of environmental management in buildings. The essay proposes that these developments may be characterised as an encounter between reference to tradition as a source of architectural knowledge and the application of science and its cousin technology in the production of designs for buildings. The argument is illustrated with ‘case studies’ of six significant buildings.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The New Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.

  2. 2.

    The author has explored this question in previous essays Hawkes (1996).

  3. 3.

    For a comprehensive study of Smythson’s works see Girouard (1983).

  4. 4.

    A more extended analysis is at Hawkes (2012).

  5. 5.

    See Middleton (1969) for an account of the development of climate measurement.

  6. 6.

    This is discussed at Hawkes (2012, 2014).

  7. 7.

    This illustrated in Summerson (1632).

  8. 8.

    This is described in Wren (1750).

  9. 9.

    The respective dates of the presentations were, Sheldonian Theatre, 29 April 1663, Weather Clock, 9 December 1663. This was the only occasion in his life-long membership of the Society that Wren presented an architectural project.

  10. 10.

    See Hopkinson (1964) for a comprehensive account of the fundamentals of the science of daylighting.

  11. 11.

    The text of the first English edition was translated by Nicholas Dubois with illustrations by Giacomo Leoni. Other editions were published by Edward Hoppus, 1736, and Isaac Ware, 1737.

  12. 12.

    For example Tredgold (1824, Richardson 1837, Bernan 1845, Reid 1844).

  13. 13.

    At the end of the 20th century Robert Venturi acknowledged the precedent of Dulwich upon his design for the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery in London. See Hawkes (1996).

  14. 14.

    A comprehensive account of the Dulwich heating is Willmert (1993).

  15. 15.

    Ibid.

  16. 16.

    This is discussed at length in Brimblecombe (1987).

  17. 17.

    For an extensive description see Olley (1985). The building is also discussed in a wider context in Hawkes (2012).

  18. 18.

    See also Lawrence (2014) for a detailed recent study of the building.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Darwin College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Dean Hawkes

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  1. Dean Hawkes
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Correspondence to Dean Hawkes .

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  1. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Carlo Manfredi

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Hawkes, D. (2019). Tradition and Science: The Evolution of Environmental Architecture in Britain from 16th to 19th Century. In: Manfredi, C. (eds) Addressing the Climate in Modern Age's Construction History. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04465-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04465-7_6

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