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Quietly Strange Interventions: Heritage Craft Revitalisation in Bothal

Part 1 Project 2021
Lewis Endersby
Northumbria University Newcastle | UK
Heritage crafts are in decline in the UK. Due to an increased demand for mass-produced goods, as well as a lack of proper training/investment, important knowledge is being lost. Today, over 100 crafts are categorised ‘at risk’ or ‘endangered’. As the construction industry accepts its role in addressing climate change, the preservation of craft is crucial if we are to successfully maintain and extend the life of our existing buildings, as well source new products locally.

Local planning guidance in the UK often has detrimental effects on the growth and long-term sustainability of our rural villages. Strict restrictions based on reductive notions of ‘conservation’ either deter new developments or limit architectural potential, resulting in derivative ‘copies’ of the existing.

In response to these themes, six strategic interventions are proposed to be made within Bothal Village, Northumberland. The locations of the new buildings are carefully chosen to draw-out and intensify the existing qualities of place. Collectively, they form a heritage crafts campus at the scale of the village, where young apprentices are trained in traditional crafts and trades through practical and theoretical classes. The new buildings also serve several civic functions that reinvigorate the village, contributing to its long-term viability.

Lewis Endersby

Tutor(s)

2021
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