Arts and Crafts Architecture: Local Visionaries & Modern Interpretations

Heritage buildings are important assets to cities. More than just their physical presence they embody values of the society, economy and the time which they are from. The Arts and Crafts movement was an international movement originating in Britain in the mid nineteenth century. It manifested in many forms, including the architecture of the period. The movement had among other foci a desire to produce beautiful objects and expressed discontent at the industrial progress of modern civilisation. Infill development can pose risks to heritage values by being unsympathetic to context and buildings around. This research analyses and assesses the effects on the values of heritage buildings caused by infill development and design styles. The main explorative area is the replication of historical architectural styles. The Arts and Crafts movement and its architectural style are used as a framework of values upon which the research is based. This is done using two case studies: Laneway houses in Vancouver, Canada and infill development in Dunedin, New Zealand. Lessons from the Vancouver study are used to develop factors to be included in design guidelines for Dunedin’s heritage areas. While quite different in terms of spatial size, rates of change, economic development and population growth, the heritage challenges experienced in both study locations are similar. The research uses a critical realist approach to understand these differences. This research has affirmed that replication of architectural styles cannot simply be labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in terms of heritage values. Context and factors such as the real estate market and community preference are also important in determining appropriateness. Regardless of style, unsympathetic architecture risks degrading heritage values. As a result of this research, it is recommended that a site by site assessment is needed to determine what factors and design features should be taken into account in new infill design. This research has also contributed to an understanding of how Arts and Crafts values are reflected within built form and planning today. The research shows these values are to an extent reflected within laneway houses in Vancouver through their design and development process as well as in the ethos of the developers who built them. It is argued that modern technologies such as the Passivhaus movement, energy efficiency and the production system of prefabrication are in essence ‘new’ Arts and Crafts values. Managing the effects of infill development, and managing change will lead to much more beneficial outcomes for both heritage values and the streetscape. It is suggested the overarching goal of any new insertion should be to enable the best (contemporary) notions of liveability possible, while not detracting from the potency and validity of heritage examples representative of their time