Lighting and modern buildings - Trust Annual Report 1975
While on the subject of the influence of daylight on building plans the King's Walk building provides an instructive example. If proof is needed that square feet are the predominant influence in designing buildings today, here it is.
Traditionally, the larger the area the higher the room, so that the windows could be tall enough to illuminate the back wall. Now standard roof heights are used, whatever the area to be covered. This necessitates constant artificial lighting throughout the year. The low ceilings give rise to the long horizontal windows giving a somewhat compressed appearance emphasized by the long runs of hanging tiles projecting like cream squeezed from a sandwich cake.
Inside the central courtyard, however, we have a new attractive feature for Winchester and we can particularly applaud the incorporation Of the Old warehouse as an antique hypermarket. This lends dignity, and .quality to the whole scheme.
The lesson to be derived from this is, that the constraints of natural forces, of hills and valleys, of rivers arid daylight, have in the past been highly beneficial for planning on a human scale, and making Winchester the attractive Place that it is.
The trouble starts when we come along with pile drivers, steel frames, reinforced concrete giant cranes, artificial light, and standardised techniques, It can be supposed that this advanced technology could produce a better environment than the old methods. If this is true in theory It is seldom demonstrated in, practice. All the evidence shows that the application of these techniques in historic city, generally produces only stereotyped results indistinguishable froth the mediocre developments in towns throughout the country which have no claim to any kind of distinction.