All language subtitles for The.Art.of.Architecture.S01E09.Episode.9.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-TEPES

af Afrikaans
ak Akan
sq Albanian
am Amharic
ar Arabic
hy Armenian
az Azerbaijani
eu Basque
be Belarusian
bem Bemba
bn Bengali
bh Bihari
bs Bosnian
br Breton
bg Bulgarian
km Cambodian
ca Catalan
chr Cherokee
ny Chichewa
zh-CN Chinese (Simplified)
zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)
co Corsican
hr Croatian
cs Czech
da Danish
nl Dutch
en English
eo Esperanto
et Estonian
ee Ewe
fo Faroese
tl Filipino
fi Finnish
fr French
fy Frisian
gaa Ga
gl Galician
ka Georgian
de German
el Greek
gn Guarani
gu Gujarati
ht Haitian Creole
ha Hausa
haw Hawaiian
iw Hebrew
hi Hindi
hu Hungarian
is Icelandic
ig Igbo
id Indonesian
ia Interlingua
ga Irish
it Italian
ja Japanese
jw Javanese
kn Kannada
kk Kazakh
rw Kinyarwanda
rn Kirundi
kg Kongo
ko Korean
kri Krio (Sierra Leone)
ku Kurdish
ckb Kurdish (Soranî)
ky Kyrgyz
lo Laothian
la Latin
lv Latvian
ln Lingala
lt Lithuanian
loz Lozi
lg Luganda
ach Luo
mk Macedonian
mg Malagasy
ms Malay
ml Malayalam
mt Maltese
mi Maori
mr Marathi
mfe Mauritian Creole
mo Moldavian
mn Mongolian
sr-ME Montenegrin
ne Nepali
pcm Nigerian Pidgin
nso Northern Sotho
no Norwegian
nn Norwegian (Nynorsk)
oc Occitan
or Oriya
om Oromo
ps Pashto
fa Persian
pl Polish
pt-BR Portuguese (Brazil)
pt-PT Portuguese (Portugal)
pa Punjabi
qu Quechua
ro Romanian
rm Romansh
nyn Runyakitara
ru Russian
gd Scots Gaelic
sr Serbian
sh Serbo-Croatian
st Sesotho
tn Setswana
crs Seychellois Creole
sn Shona
sd Sindhi
si Sinhalese
sk Slovak
sl Slovenian
so Somali
es Spanish Download
es-419 Spanish (Latin American)
su Sundanese
sw Swahili
sv Swedish
tg Tajik
ta Tamil
tt Tatar
te Telugu
th Thai
ti Tigrinya
to Tonga
lua Tshiluba
tum Tumbuka
tr Turkish
tk Turkmen
tw Twi
ug Uighur
uk Ukrainian
ur Urdu
uz Uzbek
vi Vietnamese
cy Welsh
wo Wolof
xh Xhosa
yi Yiddish
yo Yoruba
zu Zulu
Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:03,689 --> 00:00:06,965 Narrator: We've become accustomed to steel and glass. 2 00:00:08,862 --> 00:00:12,034 But one man continues to draw, design and build 3 00:00:12,137 --> 00:00:16,517 with older methods and materials in the classical style. 4 00:00:16,620 --> 00:00:18,620 John Simpson, a favourite architect 5 00:00:18,724 --> 00:00:19,896 of the Prince of Wales, 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,206 follows in the footsteps of Palladio, Nash and Adam 7 00:00:23,310 --> 00:00:25,896 to give the world a 'New Classicism' 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,965 which connects the future with the past. 9 00:00:29,068 --> 00:00:31,758 - What needed to happen was actually to update 10 00:00:31,862 --> 00:00:34,586 the tradition and bring it into the 21st century, 11 00:00:34,689 --> 00:00:35,965 to not just meet the needs, 12 00:00:36,068 --> 00:00:39,034 but actually take society forward. 13 00:00:39,137 --> 00:00:42,034 Narrator: And now, after years of designing for others, 14 00:00:42,137 --> 00:00:44,689 John Simpson has made a house for himself. 15 00:00:46,827 --> 00:00:48,655 But, it's not what you might expect. 16 00:00:52,413 --> 00:00:53,482 - It's really a matter 17 00:00:53,586 --> 00:00:54,862 of making the whole thing work, 18 00:00:54,965 --> 00:00:58,758 and finding ways of weaving things into it 19 00:00:58,862 --> 00:00:59,965 and stories into it, 20 00:01:00,068 --> 00:01:02,172 giving it to sort of, much more... 21 00:01:02,275 --> 00:01:03,965 Well, having fun, essentially. 22 00:02:15,724 --> 00:02:17,068 Narrator: Somewhere in England, 23 00:02:17,172 --> 00:02:19,241 and it is very obviously England, 24 00:02:19,344 --> 00:02:23,137 John Simpson has created a house for all ages. 25 00:02:23,241 --> 00:02:25,103 In some senses it's a folly, 26 00:02:25,206 --> 00:02:27,448 a bringing together of architectural styles 27 00:02:27,551 --> 00:02:28,551 down the centuries. 28 00:02:28,655 --> 00:02:30,172 A play on tradition, 29 00:02:30,275 --> 00:02:32,689 but with all the benefits of modern technology. 30 00:02:32,793 --> 00:02:34,827 [upbeat music] 31 00:02:39,482 --> 00:02:42,517 It's an insight into the brain behind a 30-year career 32 00:02:42,620 --> 00:02:45,448 of one of England's foremost classical architects 33 00:02:45,551 --> 00:02:48,034 who long ago rejected modernism, 34 00:02:48,137 --> 00:02:50,793 but recognises that traditional design 35 00:02:50,896 --> 00:02:53,275 can be married with modern convenience. 36 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,310 - It goes on record as one of the prettiest villages 37 00:03:05,413 --> 00:03:07,000 possibly in the whole of England, 38 00:03:07,103 --> 00:03:10,379 and all the buildings are half timbered and thatched. 39 00:03:10,482 --> 00:03:14,206 So clearly if you're going to add a building into there, 40 00:03:14,310 --> 00:03:17,344 that's going to be part of the village, 41 00:03:17,448 --> 00:03:19,965 particularly that it's right on Church Street, 42 00:03:20,068 --> 00:03:22,172 which is the heart of the old village, 43 00:03:22,275 --> 00:03:25,482 that it had to be thatched and half timbered. 44 00:03:25,586 --> 00:03:26,620 [laughs] 45 00:03:30,827 --> 00:03:34,655 Narrator: Research shows that a hall house existed here once 46 00:03:34,758 --> 00:03:37,862 and John Simpson wanted to do justice to that memory 47 00:03:37,965 --> 00:03:40,137 while designing something that fitted in. 48 00:03:43,758 --> 00:03:45,137 Actually, he had to, 49 00:03:45,241 --> 00:03:48,275 because this village is a conservation area. 50 00:03:53,068 --> 00:03:55,068 - Essentially what this building was, 51 00:03:55,172 --> 00:03:59,724 was a building which was 22 metres long 52 00:03:59,827 --> 00:04:03,310 which is about 66 feet 53 00:04:03,413 --> 00:04:06,896 by about six metres wide, 54 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,103 so you get this long sort of half timbred, 55 00:04:10,206 --> 00:04:13,310 thatched building with a double height space 56 00:04:13,413 --> 00:04:14,862 in the middle of it, so you have this huge, 57 00:04:14,965 --> 00:04:16,827 big double height space in the middle of it, 58 00:04:16,931 --> 00:04:20,000 where you can see the hammer beams, 59 00:04:20,103 --> 00:04:25,206 in the green oak, holding the roof up. 60 00:04:25,310 --> 00:04:29,310 With a screen passage across one end 61 00:04:29,413 --> 00:04:32,000 as you would have got in a house of that type, 62 00:04:32,103 --> 00:04:34,068 and an aureole, and of course in those days, 63 00:04:34,172 --> 00:04:36,551 you would have had an open fire in the centre, 64 00:04:36,655 --> 00:04:39,275 which would have vented with the air coming through 65 00:04:39,379 --> 00:04:44,000 the screen passage and then up through a vent in the roof, 66 00:04:44,103 --> 00:04:46,758 which of course we've introduced onto this building. 67 00:04:46,862 --> 00:04:50,206 Except that the vent is now glazed in 68 00:04:50,310 --> 00:04:51,862 and turned into a lantern. 69 00:04:51,965 --> 00:04:53,379 It's a bit like writing a novel. 70 00:04:53,482 --> 00:04:56,000 You know, a Hillary Mantel novel, 71 00:04:56,103 --> 00:04:59,137 you sort of build up a history to the whole thing 72 00:04:59,241 --> 00:05:01,448 as part of your design. 73 00:05:01,551 --> 00:05:02,689 So it's great fun. [laughs] 74 00:05:02,793 --> 00:05:04,827 [soft piano music] 75 00:05:13,344 --> 00:05:15,275 Narrator: Fun, but, once on site, 76 00:05:15,379 --> 00:05:18,103 the challenges came thick and fast. 77 00:05:18,206 --> 00:05:21,620 How, for instance, do you use traditional materials 78 00:05:21,724 --> 00:05:24,655 and ensure they meet building regulations? 79 00:05:24,758 --> 00:05:27,758 Starting with green oak, and a lot of it. 80 00:05:31,275 --> 00:05:35,448 John: We use the oak, which is young. 81 00:05:35,551 --> 00:05:38,068 Put it together with mortise and tendon joints, 82 00:05:38,172 --> 00:05:41,034 so when the timber dries, 83 00:05:41,137 --> 00:05:42,931 it really tightens all the joints 84 00:05:43,034 --> 00:05:44,000 and works that way. 85 00:05:44,103 --> 00:05:45,793 And as the timber dries, 86 00:05:45,896 --> 00:05:47,241 it also twists 87 00:05:47,344 --> 00:05:49,758 and does all sorts of funny things. 88 00:05:49,862 --> 00:05:50,965 [laughs] 89 00:05:51,068 --> 00:05:52,724 Which of course makes it difficult 90 00:05:52,827 --> 00:05:54,586 to seal the building. 91 00:05:54,689 --> 00:05:59,206 And of course back in the 1490s, 92 00:05:59,310 --> 00:06:02,586 people quite liked having this extra ventilation. 93 00:06:02,689 --> 00:06:08,310 It sort of helped with the fires and it ventilated the building, 94 00:06:08,413 --> 00:06:11,931 and probably they were rather smelly interiors in those days. 95 00:06:12,034 --> 00:06:13,862 [laughs] 96 00:06:13,965 --> 00:06:15,965 With modern regulations, you can't do that. 97 00:06:16,068 --> 00:06:18,655 You actually have to, if you're going to comply 98 00:06:18,758 --> 00:06:21,137 with building regs, you have to seal the building. 99 00:06:21,241 --> 00:06:23,793 So we have to come up with all sorts of clever ways 100 00:06:23,896 --> 00:06:27,482 of being able to incorporate this technology 101 00:06:27,586 --> 00:06:33,551 so you could have a proper, traditional green oak frame. 102 00:06:33,655 --> 00:06:37,275 And at the same time, comply with building regs. 103 00:06:37,379 --> 00:06:40,241 None of this is beyond the wit of man, you know? 104 00:06:40,344 --> 00:06:42,413 You just sit down and you look at it 105 00:06:42,517 --> 00:06:44,413 and you find ways to deal with it. 106 00:06:44,517 --> 00:06:49,241 And in this particular case, we designed the timber frame, 107 00:06:49,344 --> 00:06:52,206 then insulated it all around the outside, 108 00:06:52,310 --> 00:06:55,344 and then built the exterior onto that. 109 00:06:55,448 --> 00:06:56,586 So by doing that, 110 00:06:56,689 --> 00:06:59,793 the exterior's the bit that seals the inside, 111 00:06:59,896 --> 00:07:04,793 and the real technology was in finding a way to connect 112 00:07:04,896 --> 00:07:08,379 the exterior of the building with the timber 113 00:07:08,482 --> 00:07:10,448 so that when the timber moved, 114 00:07:10,551 --> 00:07:14,655 it didn't, it didn't affect the exterior. 115 00:07:14,758 --> 00:07:16,068 And the exterior didn't move. 116 00:07:16,172 --> 00:07:19,241 And it's simple, you know, the heart of the piece of wood, 117 00:07:19,344 --> 00:07:22,448 the outside might move, but the heart doesn't. 118 00:07:22,551 --> 00:07:24,310 So once you know that, you know, 119 00:07:24,413 --> 00:07:26,137 that you can drill right into the middle, 120 00:07:26,241 --> 00:07:27,482 fix into the heart, 121 00:07:27,586 --> 00:07:30,344 and then the timber can move as much as possible, 122 00:07:30,448 --> 00:07:32,551 but your fixing stays put. 123 00:07:32,655 --> 00:07:34,103 [laughs] 124 00:07:34,206 --> 00:07:35,586 Narrator: And what of fire, 125 00:07:35,689 --> 00:07:39,206 the terror that stalks those who own thatched houses? 126 00:07:39,310 --> 00:07:44,206 - Most thatched fires take hold 127 00:07:44,310 --> 00:07:46,241 quite quietly underneath. 128 00:07:46,344 --> 00:07:49,724 So what happens is the thatch just smoulders. 129 00:07:49,827 --> 00:07:52,931 And as it smoulders, it burns the structure, 130 00:07:53,034 --> 00:07:55,137 the timber structure, that's holding it up. 131 00:07:55,241 --> 00:07:57,965 And after two, three days of smouldering, 132 00:07:58,068 --> 00:08:02,655 the structure then gives way and it's when it falls down 133 00:08:02,758 --> 00:08:05,551 that the fire really takes hold and goes whoof. 134 00:08:08,206 --> 00:08:10,931 By putting a fireproof layer 135 00:08:11,034 --> 00:08:15,793 between the structure and the thatch, 136 00:08:15,896 --> 00:08:18,379 the thatch can catch fire, it can smoulder, 137 00:08:18,482 --> 00:08:20,103 but it never affects the structure. 138 00:08:20,206 --> 00:08:22,241 [string music] 139 00:08:41,241 --> 00:08:43,620 Narrator: Many architects start their careers 140 00:08:43,724 --> 00:08:46,000 with a commission from a member of their family. 141 00:08:46,103 --> 00:08:51,241 John Simpson's Ashfold House, in 1991, was for his parents. 142 00:08:51,344 --> 00:08:52,655 It made his name. 143 00:08:53,862 --> 00:08:56,413 But he'd been preaching the new classicism creed 144 00:08:56,517 --> 00:08:58,103 for a decade before that, 145 00:08:58,206 --> 00:09:00,517 influenced by Georgian architecture 146 00:09:00,620 --> 00:09:02,413 and the work of Sir John Soane. 147 00:09:04,517 --> 00:09:07,758 And he found that his appeal for a return to buildings 148 00:09:07,862 --> 00:09:10,310 which respected their neighbours and their settings 149 00:09:10,413 --> 00:09:11,758 was well received. 150 00:09:13,517 --> 00:09:19,482 - If you appeal to the general public, 151 00:09:19,586 --> 00:09:22,655 you're actually getting support. 152 00:09:22,758 --> 00:09:27,517 And what tends to happen with orthodox development 153 00:09:27,620 --> 00:09:29,931 is people immediately think, oh my goodness, 154 00:09:30,034 --> 00:09:31,827 we're going to have something terrible here, 155 00:09:31,931 --> 00:09:34,482 and they turn immediately against it. 156 00:09:34,586 --> 00:09:37,862 Whereas if you first convince them 157 00:09:37,965 --> 00:09:39,137 that this is going to be beautiful, 158 00:09:39,241 --> 00:09:40,862 this is going to be wonderful, 159 00:09:40,965 --> 00:09:43,172 then they take a very different attitude. 160 00:09:45,310 --> 00:09:47,206 Narrator: After Ashfold House came work 161 00:09:47,310 --> 00:09:48,827 for Cambridge University, 162 00:09:48,931 --> 00:09:50,896 a new dining room for the fellows at Gonville 163 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:52,137 and Caius College, 164 00:09:52,241 --> 00:09:54,068 Simpson even designed the chairs. 165 00:09:55,448 --> 00:09:58,000 And in 1999, he won the competition 166 00:09:58,103 --> 00:10:01,000 to redevelop The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, 167 00:10:01,103 --> 00:10:03,379 following in the footsteps of John Nash. 168 00:10:04,137 --> 00:10:08,620 - Nash, Renn, Law, 169 00:10:08,724 --> 00:10:12,344 and so a whole series of architects. 170 00:10:13,586 --> 00:10:17,724 And that's where you really have to be careful, 171 00:10:17,827 --> 00:10:20,758 because you're, you're adding to a building. 172 00:10:20,862 --> 00:10:21,758 It's a bit like a city. 173 00:10:21,862 --> 00:10:23,000 You're adding to a building, 174 00:10:23,103 --> 00:10:28,241 which is a conglomeration of other people's work. 175 00:10:28,344 --> 00:10:32,724 Each sort of adding to the work of their predecessor. 176 00:10:32,827 --> 00:10:35,344 And you're having to do the same and do so 177 00:10:35,448 --> 00:10:39,241 and at the same time create a whole which works. 178 00:10:40,965 --> 00:10:42,379 Narrator The Queen's Gallery renovation 179 00:10:42,482 --> 00:10:45,000 and extension, completed in 2002, 180 00:10:45,103 --> 00:10:47,413 put John Simpson firmly in the spotlight 181 00:10:47,517 --> 00:10:50,620 but, by then, his principles were fully formed. 182 00:10:52,620 --> 00:10:54,517 Making an addition to Buckingham Palace 183 00:10:54,620 --> 00:10:56,551 was just the kind of project he loved 184 00:10:56,655 --> 00:10:59,241 because it contained the twin challenges 185 00:10:59,344 --> 00:11:01,931 of providing a functioning interior 186 00:11:02,034 --> 00:11:05,827 and an exterior that enhanced the public realm. 187 00:11:05,931 --> 00:11:09,310 - If you're doing something in the public realm, 188 00:11:09,413 --> 00:11:11,793 which of course architecture after all 189 00:11:11,896 --> 00:11:14,655 is all about the public realm as well, 190 00:11:14,758 --> 00:11:16,413 and contributing to the public realm 191 00:11:16,517 --> 00:11:17,827 and creating the public realm, 192 00:11:17,931 --> 00:11:20,241 as well as the private space behind it, 193 00:11:20,344 --> 00:11:23,482 you do have to have something which relates 194 00:11:23,586 --> 00:11:25,068 and something that people can understand. 195 00:11:25,172 --> 00:11:27,344 And you do have to communicate with other people. 196 00:11:27,448 --> 00:11:30,379 And to do that, you need to use a language. 197 00:11:30,482 --> 00:11:31,379 Because after all, 198 00:11:31,482 --> 00:11:35,827 you're not just expressing your own feelings 199 00:11:35,931 --> 00:11:39,344 and your own ideas within the architecture 200 00:11:39,448 --> 00:11:40,586 that you're creating. 201 00:11:40,689 --> 00:11:42,344 But you also need to have buy-in 202 00:11:42,448 --> 00:11:45,862 so that society too can understand that, 203 00:11:45,965 --> 00:11:48,034 and other people too can understand that. 204 00:11:48,137 --> 00:11:51,620 So that what you're building contributes culturally 205 00:11:51,724 --> 00:11:55,482 to the whole of society, and not just for yourself 206 00:11:55,586 --> 00:11:59,758 and your own private aggrandisement or own career. 207 00:12:04,448 --> 00:12:08,034 We as human beings are very social creatures, 208 00:12:08,137 --> 00:12:11,448 and we live in towns, cities, villages, 209 00:12:11,551 --> 00:12:13,827 and each building... 210 00:12:13,931 --> 00:12:16,310 ..together with all the other buildings around it, 211 00:12:16,413 --> 00:12:18,758 creates that public realm. 212 00:12:18,862 --> 00:12:20,758 And because we're social creatures, 213 00:12:20,862 --> 00:12:21,862 and because... 214 00:12:23,655 --> 00:12:26,413 ..to create something that everyone can subscribe to 215 00:12:26,517 --> 00:12:27,724 and everyone can believe in 216 00:12:27,827 --> 00:12:30,068 and everyone can feel belongs to them, 217 00:12:30,172 --> 00:12:33,931 because that public realm belongs to everybody, 218 00:12:34,034 --> 00:12:36,275 you need to have some sort of language 219 00:12:36,379 --> 00:12:39,344 that allows you to be able to add to buildings, 220 00:12:39,448 --> 00:12:41,827 to an existing city. 221 00:12:41,931 --> 00:12:45,344 And do so in a manner which is respectful 222 00:12:45,448 --> 00:12:49,034 and which actually works as far as everybody's concerned, 223 00:12:49,137 --> 00:12:51,517 and also allows future generations to add 224 00:12:51,620 --> 00:12:52,931 to what you've done. 225 00:12:53,034 --> 00:12:55,586 So that you get the sort of places 226 00:12:55,689 --> 00:12:59,034 that we all love in cities, like Trafalgar Square in London 227 00:12:59,137 --> 00:13:03,310 or the Piazzetta in Venice. 228 00:13:03,413 --> 00:13:05,896 And it's that at the end of the day 229 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,172 that we're all after, 230 00:13:07,275 --> 00:13:11,000 creating these wonderful cities that we can all enjoy 231 00:13:11,103 --> 00:13:14,413 and live together harmoniously in these places. 232 00:13:14,517 --> 00:13:15,551 [laughs] 233 00:13:19,758 --> 00:13:24,413 By doing that, you're able to begin to develop something. 234 00:13:24,517 --> 00:13:26,103 It's a bit like writing a novel. 235 00:13:26,206 --> 00:13:29,551 You know, if you didn't do it in English, 236 00:13:29,655 --> 00:13:31,413 how could you write the novel? 237 00:13:31,517 --> 00:13:33,310 And that's why you need that language, 238 00:13:33,413 --> 00:13:36,000 to know how to respond to things. 239 00:13:36,103 --> 00:13:38,068 And respond to things in a manner which is informed 240 00:13:38,172 --> 00:13:40,931 and something that you can then take 241 00:13:41,034 --> 00:13:44,000 and then start fine tuning and composing. 242 00:13:44,103 --> 00:13:47,000 And relating to all the various different things 243 00:13:47,103 --> 00:13:48,413 that you have to relate to. 244 00:13:48,517 --> 00:13:50,724 And you're building a new building on a site, 245 00:13:50,827 --> 00:13:52,965 the building's next door. 246 00:13:53,068 --> 00:13:54,620 Buildings behind. 247 00:13:54,724 --> 00:13:56,482 What it looks like from points of view. 248 00:13:56,586 --> 00:13:58,965 If it's in the city or in a town, 249 00:13:59,068 --> 00:14:00,172 the sort of different, 250 00:14:00,275 --> 00:14:03,068 different context that you see it within, 251 00:14:03,172 --> 00:14:04,448 how you approach it, 252 00:14:04,551 --> 00:14:06,448 all that sort of thing is all to do 253 00:14:06,551 --> 00:14:09,000 with how you're developing the composition. 254 00:14:12,448 --> 00:14:16,448 And what's working within a traditional style 255 00:14:16,551 --> 00:14:19,000 that allows you to do is to refine all this 256 00:14:19,103 --> 00:14:22,068 and create something, which is going to be enjoyable, 257 00:14:22,172 --> 00:14:24,620 beautiful and attractive to people. 258 00:14:24,724 --> 00:14:26,448 Because at the end of the day, 259 00:14:26,551 --> 00:14:30,103 you're using the might of everything 260 00:14:30,206 --> 00:14:34,413 that's been developed before you, to your advantage. 261 00:14:34,517 --> 00:14:39,517 You know, why does the entasis of a column feel so nice? 262 00:14:39,620 --> 00:14:41,206 You're not inventing that from nowhere. 263 00:14:41,310 --> 00:14:43,724 You're taking it and putting it there. 264 00:14:43,827 --> 00:14:48,965 Nobody really understands why the volute on an ionic capital 265 00:14:49,068 --> 00:14:52,068 looks so brilliant where it is on the top. 266 00:14:52,172 --> 00:14:54,172 But you can use that. 267 00:14:54,275 --> 00:14:56,034 And you can sort of develop on it 268 00:14:56,137 --> 00:15:01,517 and put it together in a way that uses all this knowledge 269 00:15:01,620 --> 00:15:05,517 and all this invention which has happened 270 00:15:05,620 --> 00:15:09,482 generation after generation, and use that to your advantage. 271 00:15:09,586 --> 00:15:13,793 And then you can get on with the next bit, 272 00:15:13,896 --> 00:15:17,172 rather than developing everything from scratch. 273 00:15:20,310 --> 00:15:22,379 Narrator: Behind all this lies a message, 274 00:15:22,482 --> 00:15:26,827 that classicism can play a part in modern life. 275 00:15:26,931 --> 00:15:29,551 John Simpson even took that message to New York, 276 00:15:29,655 --> 00:15:31,827 knitting in four apartments in a building 277 00:15:31,931 --> 00:15:34,827 that respects the area on the Upper East Side, 278 00:15:34,931 --> 00:15:37,620 said to be the first truly classical building 279 00:15:37,724 --> 00:15:40,965 to be constructed in Manhattan since the 1960s. 280 00:15:41,068 --> 00:15:44,758 And in 2014, his practice won the competition 281 00:15:44,862 --> 00:15:47,206 to design the new School of Architecture 282 00:15:47,310 --> 00:15:50,448 at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, 283 00:15:50,551 --> 00:15:52,689 the world's leading institution 284 00:15:52,793 --> 00:15:54,620 teaching the classical tradition. 285 00:15:56,172 --> 00:15:59,620 In Venice, he's tenderly re-modelled the Palazzo Grimani 286 00:15:59,724 --> 00:16:02,482 where a complete 18th century decorative scheme 287 00:16:02,586 --> 00:16:04,413 was hidden and revealed. 288 00:16:05,517 --> 00:16:06,896 It's in projects like this 289 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,068 that the Simpson attention to detail 290 00:16:09,172 --> 00:16:10,310 comes into its own. 291 00:16:10,413 --> 00:16:12,413 [orchestral music] 292 00:16:16,034 --> 00:16:18,172 - I enjoy designing big things. 293 00:16:18,275 --> 00:16:20,482 I enjoy designing small things, you know. 294 00:16:20,586 --> 00:16:25,137 And we design anything from a city to a candlestick, 295 00:16:25,241 --> 00:16:26,517 so... [laughs] 296 00:16:26,620 --> 00:16:28,793 So that's a nice thing to do. 297 00:16:28,896 --> 00:16:32,758 But actually to do it all in relation to a building 298 00:16:32,862 --> 00:16:36,793 or a specific group of buildings is marvellous, 299 00:16:36,896 --> 00:16:39,172 because you can see the whole thing through 300 00:16:39,275 --> 00:16:41,586 from the large scale to the small scale, 301 00:16:41,689 --> 00:16:44,241 and if you like, 302 00:16:44,344 --> 00:16:46,379 invent a whole world of your own. 303 00:16:46,482 --> 00:16:47,517 [laughs] 304 00:16:49,206 --> 00:16:50,103 And what you do, 305 00:16:50,206 --> 00:16:53,034 is you study the buildings that are there, 306 00:16:53,137 --> 00:16:54,310 and then you work out 307 00:16:54,413 --> 00:16:58,896 what the natural development form is. 308 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,827 And then you start to work within that. 309 00:17:01,931 --> 00:17:03,551 I mean, that's what I mean about a language. 310 00:17:03,655 --> 00:17:05,000 So you're starting with a language 311 00:17:05,103 --> 00:17:07,000 that you understand 312 00:17:07,103 --> 00:17:11,103 And you look at it in particular to that location, 313 00:17:11,206 --> 00:17:16,034 and then develop a design within that. 314 00:17:17,965 --> 00:17:20,206 Narrator: John Simpson feels comfortable in Venice, 315 00:17:20,310 --> 00:17:21,724 the city of Ruskin. 316 00:17:21,827 --> 00:17:25,655 This, after all, is Italy, the home of Andrea Palladio 317 00:17:25,758 --> 00:17:28,379 whose architecture pattern books helped spread his designs 318 00:17:28,482 --> 00:17:30,000 all over Europe. 319 00:17:30,103 --> 00:17:34,379 Then, craftsmen were all working to the same standard. 320 00:17:34,482 --> 00:17:35,517 Not now. 321 00:17:39,620 --> 00:17:41,965 - In the past, this existed. 322 00:17:42,068 --> 00:17:43,068 It always existed. 323 00:17:43,172 --> 00:17:46,827 And, and you didn't have to work with the same craftsmen 324 00:17:46,931 --> 00:17:47,827 all the time. 325 00:17:47,931 --> 00:17:49,068 You could work with any craftsmen, 326 00:17:49,172 --> 00:17:51,827 because they were all educated in that particular way 327 00:17:51,931 --> 00:17:53,655 and knew what you wanted. 328 00:17:53,758 --> 00:17:55,206 And, and when you, 329 00:17:55,310 --> 00:17:57,482 you could speak in shorthand to them. 330 00:17:57,586 --> 00:17:59,862 You didn't have to put so much detail on the drawing, 331 00:17:59,965 --> 00:18:02,344 because they automatically did it. 332 00:18:02,448 --> 00:18:04,517 Now you have to draw absolutely everything, 333 00:18:04,620 --> 00:18:06,620 and you have to make sure it's all there, 334 00:18:06,724 --> 00:18:09,448 because they won't know otherwise. 335 00:18:09,551 --> 00:18:12,068 Unless you're working with somebody 336 00:18:12,172 --> 00:18:13,965 you've done this all before with, 337 00:18:14,068 --> 00:18:17,206 and then that can be carried through. 338 00:18:17,310 --> 00:18:18,413 And the same applies 339 00:18:18,517 --> 00:18:20,103 when you're designing something much smaller, 340 00:18:20,206 --> 00:18:21,448 something you haven't done before. 341 00:18:21,551 --> 00:18:24,034 You just have to research it, find someone who can make it, 342 00:18:24,137 --> 00:18:27,241 discuss things with them, and then work with them. 343 00:18:27,344 --> 00:18:28,896 Architecture is one of those things 344 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,655 when you're working with the builder, 345 00:18:31,758 --> 00:18:33,344 you're working with the client, 346 00:18:33,448 --> 00:18:35,689 you're working with the other engineers, 347 00:18:35,793 --> 00:18:38,620 and you're sort of pulling the whole thing together. 348 00:18:38,724 --> 00:18:44,344 It's not sitting in a room just imagining it all. 349 00:18:44,448 --> 00:18:48,310 [laughs] That's only a small part of the whole process, 350 00:18:54,586 --> 00:18:56,482 Narrator: Now, in a Hampshire village, 351 00:18:56,586 --> 00:18:59,689 John Simpson has built a house for himself and his wife 352 00:18:59,793 --> 00:19:03,103 that playfully covers all the architectural traditions 353 00:19:03,206 --> 00:19:04,793 which have made him famous. 354 00:19:37,827 --> 00:19:40,034 Narrator: John Simpson has invited Marcus Binney, 355 00:19:40,137 --> 00:19:41,620 former editor of Country Life, 356 00:19:41,724 --> 00:19:43,827 architecture correspondent of The Times 357 00:19:43,931 --> 00:19:46,793 and Executive President of SAVE Britain's Heritage, 358 00:19:46,896 --> 00:19:50,034 to see his latest project, a house in Hampshire. 359 00:19:52,655 --> 00:19:55,931 It's a building that sums up his approach to architecture, 360 00:19:56,034 --> 00:19:57,551 using classicism 361 00:19:57,655 --> 00:19:59,655 and traditional methods of construction 362 00:19:59,758 --> 00:20:02,655 but not afraid to include all mod cons 363 00:20:02,758 --> 00:20:05,655 to produce a home for him and his wife. 364 00:20:05,758 --> 00:20:08,068 There's even a swimming pool. 365 00:20:08,172 --> 00:20:13,206 And it's a house full of visual and practical tricks. 366 00:20:13,310 --> 00:20:17,758 - Well, to open this, you just move the furniture. 367 00:20:29,689 --> 00:20:31,620 And then do a little dance. 368 00:20:31,724 --> 00:20:32,758 [LAUGH] 369 00:20:36,689 --> 00:20:37,724 Oops. 370 00:20:40,896 --> 00:20:42,586 And there you are. 371 00:20:42,689 --> 00:20:45,758 The floor's up, and you open the watergate. 372 00:20:50,620 --> 00:20:52,241 And you're ready to go into the pool. 373 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,551 If you're building something 374 00:21:00,655 --> 00:21:02,862 which alludes to something quite old, 375 00:21:02,965 --> 00:21:06,034 I mean, we started here with a design 376 00:21:06,137 --> 00:21:09,448 which has, has its roots in 1490s. 377 00:21:09,551 --> 00:21:13,103 So, so it only makes sense, 378 00:21:13,206 --> 00:21:14,448 you wouldn't just build, 379 00:21:14,551 --> 00:21:16,689 it's a bit artificial building a building 380 00:21:16,793 --> 00:21:20,068 which is pure 1490s, 381 00:21:20,172 --> 00:21:22,620 and has, and has never, nothing's happened to it since. 382 00:21:22,724 --> 00:21:23,655 Marcus: Right, yeah. 383 00:21:23,758 --> 00:21:26,172 - So, and anyway, I wanted to get a bit more, 384 00:21:26,275 --> 00:21:28,068 you know, more interest, more classicism. 385 00:21:28,172 --> 00:21:29,103 I couldn't have a building 386 00:21:29,206 --> 00:21:31,068 without anything classical in it anyway. 387 00:21:31,172 --> 00:21:32,103 [laughs] 388 00:21:32,206 --> 00:21:37,034 So the idea of doing something which had a history to it. 389 00:21:37,137 --> 00:21:39,310 You know, starts in 1490 390 00:21:39,413 --> 00:21:40,931 and then has had things added to it 391 00:21:41,034 --> 00:21:42,689 and adjusted from there. 392 00:21:42,793 --> 00:21:47,862 And then you have later, classical bits. 393 00:21:47,965 --> 00:21:49,931 And then of course, contemporary bits 394 00:21:50,034 --> 00:21:51,931 in the way the sort of, the swimming pool works 395 00:21:52,034 --> 00:21:57,103 and all that kind of thing is, is pure 21st century, isn't it? 396 00:22:00,827 --> 00:22:02,310 Narrator: John Simpson has designed 397 00:22:02,413 --> 00:22:04,206 not only the watergate here, 398 00:22:04,310 --> 00:22:07,034 but also much of the Empire furniture, 399 00:22:07,137 --> 00:22:09,931 the classical columns, the wallpaper, 400 00:22:10,034 --> 00:22:12,551 he is the architect's architect. 401 00:22:14,965 --> 00:22:17,586 And, though this is intended to be a hall house, 402 00:22:17,689 --> 00:22:20,655 nodding to what he believes was previously on this site, 403 00:22:20,758 --> 00:22:23,448 it's a hall house that's considerably more comfortable 404 00:22:23,551 --> 00:22:24,655 that the original. 405 00:22:27,793 --> 00:22:28,931 John: To create something like this, 406 00:22:29,034 --> 00:22:30,896 you really have to do it authentically. 407 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,000 So we went to somebody who builds 408 00:22:34,103 --> 00:22:40,586 timber frame buildings, like this, using green oak. 409 00:22:40,689 --> 00:22:43,931 And doing it in the traditional manner. 410 00:22:44,034 --> 00:22:46,413 But of course it's all very well saying you get to do that, 411 00:22:46,517 --> 00:22:51,000 but in the in the 1490s and thereabouts, 412 00:22:51,103 --> 00:22:53,413 of course, people liked quite a lot of ventilation 413 00:22:53,517 --> 00:22:55,896 and kept the smoke down from the fires, 414 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,379 and they sort of kept the smells out of the house. 415 00:22:59,482 --> 00:23:00,413 [laughs] 416 00:23:00,517 --> 00:23:04,413 To fit in with modern day regulations of course. 417 00:23:05,827 --> 00:23:08,517 And where the buildings need to be sealed and all that, 418 00:23:08,620 --> 00:23:10,103 once we really got to adapt all this 419 00:23:10,206 --> 00:23:12,689 and make it work for the modern context. 420 00:23:12,793 --> 00:23:14,724 So yes, a bit of technology 421 00:23:14,827 --> 00:23:17,000 and sort of being clever about it 422 00:23:17,103 --> 00:23:18,206 and detailing the whole thing 423 00:23:18,310 --> 00:23:20,103 so that you can make the thing work. 424 00:23:21,275 --> 00:23:24,655 And make it work within a modern context. 425 00:23:24,758 --> 00:23:25,965 Marcus: The paintings on the ceilings, 426 00:23:26,068 --> 00:23:27,620 how were they done? 427 00:23:27,724 --> 00:23:30,241 - Yes, well, 428 00:23:30,344 --> 00:23:33,448 I certainly couldn't have afforded to have somebody 429 00:23:33,551 --> 00:23:36,931 sitting up there painting it all on. 430 00:23:37,034 --> 00:23:38,275 [laughs] 431 00:23:38,379 --> 00:23:40,827 And of course these days, I mean, which is again, 432 00:23:40,931 --> 00:23:43,689 where the 21st century comes into it, 433 00:23:43,793 --> 00:23:46,172 it's the sort of thing you can do quite easily, 434 00:23:46,275 --> 00:23:50,103 if you use the technology that, that is available today. 435 00:23:50,206 --> 00:23:53,206 I mean, these patterns that were up there, 436 00:23:53,310 --> 00:23:56,758 were really just drawn on a computer digitally 437 00:23:56,862 --> 00:23:59,620 and then, what we did is we... 438 00:23:59,724 --> 00:24:03,310 You can have them sent off and then printed 439 00:24:03,413 --> 00:24:06,344 onto a wallpaper, in effect. 440 00:24:06,448 --> 00:24:08,413 Which in the past would have been quite expensive. 441 00:24:08,517 --> 00:24:10,896 But these days with, with digital technology, 442 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,448 it's quite easy to do. 443 00:24:12,551 --> 00:24:14,275 And very economic. 444 00:24:14,379 --> 00:24:15,862 And then it's just... 445 00:24:17,068 --> 00:24:19,241 ..you put it up there and stick it up there. 446 00:24:19,344 --> 00:24:21,034 Marcus: But as well as the oak hammer beams 447 00:24:21,137 --> 00:24:24,758 and roof we see, you've got this beautiful screen here 448 00:24:24,862 --> 00:24:27,689 with these classical columns, these Roman Doric columns. 449 00:24:27,793 --> 00:24:29,827 John: Uh-huh. That's right. Marcus: So how are they made? 450 00:24:29,931 --> 00:24:32,206 Are they single shafts or what are they? 451 00:24:32,310 --> 00:24:33,517 John: Oh, they, they were made, 452 00:24:33,620 --> 00:24:37,000 I mean, they were made in the traditional manner, 453 00:24:37,103 --> 00:24:38,620 rather like a barrel. 454 00:24:38,724 --> 00:24:40,310 Where it's all made in segments. 455 00:24:40,413 --> 00:24:41,965 And they're all fixed together. 456 00:24:42,068 --> 00:24:45,310 And then, and then it's turned. 457 00:24:45,413 --> 00:24:47,103 And if you turn so you then get it 458 00:24:47,206 --> 00:24:50,793 to the right sort of emphasis and make the whole thing work. 459 00:24:50,896 --> 00:24:55,379 These skills are still around and that people can do this, 460 00:24:55,482 --> 00:24:57,000 and know exactly how to do it, 461 00:24:57,103 --> 00:24:59,000 and of course with modern technology, 462 00:24:59,103 --> 00:25:01,896 it's actually a lot easier than it was in the past. 463 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:02,931 [laughs] 464 00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:07,310 - All around us are these delightful conceits. 465 00:25:07,413 --> 00:25:10,068 And you can't resist using mirrors. 466 00:25:10,172 --> 00:25:12,862 - Well, it's something that I've done on many projects. 467 00:25:12,965 --> 00:25:16,000 It's one of those things that's, I suppose, 468 00:25:16,103 --> 00:25:17,896 it's a preoccupation of mine, 469 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:19,965 trying to make the most of the place 470 00:25:20,068 --> 00:25:23,517 by, by, by, and the light as well, 471 00:25:23,620 --> 00:25:26,241 by using mirrors reflecting things 472 00:25:26,344 --> 00:25:27,620 and making things look bigger 473 00:25:27,724 --> 00:25:29,551 and giving the illusion to some extent 474 00:25:29,655 --> 00:25:32,724 of something which, which, which in this particular case 475 00:25:32,827 --> 00:25:33,793 was fairly significant. 476 00:25:33,896 --> 00:25:37,689 Because at some point, when the building was going up, 477 00:25:37,793 --> 00:25:40,413 I came in and thought, oh my goodness, 478 00:25:40,517 --> 00:25:42,793 I should have made this a bay bigger. 479 00:25:42,896 --> 00:25:44,275 It's really too small. 480 00:25:44,379 --> 00:25:45,827 [laughs] 481 00:25:45,931 --> 00:25:48,034 But of course on the other hand, 482 00:25:48,137 --> 00:25:51,758 it, it, it's, despite that I didn't want 483 00:25:51,862 --> 00:25:53,448 to make it just into a big hall. 484 00:25:53,551 --> 00:25:56,517 I mean, this this is a house, it's got to be comfortable. 485 00:25:56,620 --> 00:25:58,310 And to some extent, although this is a hall, 486 00:25:58,413 --> 00:26:03,103 it's also rather comfortable drawing room to some extent, 487 00:26:03,206 --> 00:26:05,068 or dining room. 488 00:26:05,172 --> 00:26:07,655 So this was a way of getting both things, actually. 489 00:26:07,758 --> 00:26:09,931 Getting something which is nice and comfortable 490 00:26:10,034 --> 00:26:12,724 and enjoyable to live in on a day-to-day basis 491 00:26:12,827 --> 00:26:14,206 and yet having that illusion 492 00:26:14,310 --> 00:26:17,965 of the grand, large, medieval hall. 493 00:26:18,068 --> 00:26:19,068 [laughs] 494 00:26:22,517 --> 00:26:24,620 Narrator: Under a thatched roof there's a library, 495 00:26:24,724 --> 00:26:28,965 four bedrooms, a modern kitchen, drawing room, pool room 496 00:26:29,068 --> 00:26:32,034 and that double-height hall complete with lantern, 497 00:26:32,137 --> 00:26:33,206 and weathervane. 498 00:26:35,689 --> 00:26:39,172 John: The lantern, which, of course, sits centrally 499 00:26:39,275 --> 00:26:41,068 over the great hall, 500 00:26:41,172 --> 00:26:42,310 and of course, historically 501 00:26:42,413 --> 00:26:44,793 would have been where the fire was, the brazier, 502 00:26:44,896 --> 00:26:48,034 which would have sort of vented up at the top, 503 00:26:48,137 --> 00:26:51,310 and of course, that's been, historically would have been 504 00:26:51,413 --> 00:26:56,551 replaced sometime later with a, a lantern 505 00:26:56,655 --> 00:26:59,137 for, to let the light in. 506 00:26:59,241 --> 00:27:02,344 I rather fancied the idea, of being able to tell 507 00:27:02,448 --> 00:27:05,655 which way the wind was blowing before I went out 508 00:27:05,758 --> 00:27:08,551 into the cold winter air. 509 00:27:08,655 --> 00:27:09,793 [laughs] 510 00:27:09,896 --> 00:27:14,310 So we actually connected the arrow on the underside, 511 00:27:14,413 --> 00:27:17,034 so when the weather vane turns around, 512 00:27:17,137 --> 00:27:19,758 it actually operates the arrow on the inside 513 00:27:19,862 --> 00:27:22,034 so you can see which way the wind is blowing. 514 00:27:22,137 --> 00:27:23,137 [laughs] 515 00:27:26,137 --> 00:27:27,034 Narrator: And here, 516 00:27:27,137 --> 00:27:29,379 after nearly 40 years in practice, 517 00:27:29,482 --> 00:27:32,896 John Simpson, whose father was an architect before him, 518 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:34,896 has stamped his mark on something 519 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,896 that is entirely his. 520 00:27:38,689 --> 00:27:40,517 - What I had to do here, 521 00:27:40,620 --> 00:27:44,068 having decided to have an oriel window like this, 522 00:27:44,172 --> 00:27:46,965 which of course has to have some stained glass in it, 523 00:27:47,068 --> 00:27:49,517 I had to sort of work out something 524 00:27:49,620 --> 00:27:52,586 that I could put in there which actually was relevant. 525 00:27:52,689 --> 00:27:55,137 So on the one hand, you've got on the left, 526 00:27:55,241 --> 00:27:57,275 my father's heraldic achievement, 527 00:27:57,379 --> 00:28:01,586 with his, with the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, 528 00:28:01,689 --> 00:28:05,241 the Hospital of Jerusalem, which he designed and built. 529 00:28:05,344 --> 00:28:09,620 In the centre is my maternal grandmother's coat of arms, 530 00:28:09,724 --> 00:28:11,344 which goes back to... 531 00:28:12,448 --> 00:28:13,862 ..ancient Constantinople. 532 00:28:13,965 --> 00:28:15,000 [laughs] 533 00:28:17,275 --> 00:28:21,034 And on the right, of course, is my own coat of arms. 534 00:28:21,137 --> 00:28:25,000 I suppose it's a bit like writing a book. 535 00:28:25,103 --> 00:28:27,310 you know, you sort of... 536 00:28:30,103 --> 00:28:36,689 ..build in all the things that, that you find interesting. 537 00:28:36,793 --> 00:28:38,310 And then you have to find ways to do this. 538 00:28:38,413 --> 00:28:41,482 You know, and ways to build in, 539 00:28:41,586 --> 00:28:43,896 and this here in particular, 540 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:45,206 because we have had, 541 00:28:45,310 --> 00:28:47,137 I was building something I'm not quite used to, 542 00:28:47,241 --> 00:28:50,827 sort of building a thatched, medieval house. 543 00:28:50,931 --> 00:28:55,310 I needed to bring in some of the things 544 00:28:55,413 --> 00:28:58,206 that I find very interesting. 545 00:28:58,310 --> 00:29:01,793 You know, having to do with classical tradition 546 00:29:01,896 --> 00:29:05,275 and all that, and sort of the idea of actually finding 547 00:29:05,379 --> 00:29:10,172 a rustic way of introducing that into the whole context 548 00:29:10,275 --> 00:29:14,103 of a thatched medieval house like this, 549 00:29:14,206 --> 00:29:15,793 I found rather interesting. 550 00:29:18,241 --> 00:29:20,448 It's really a matter of making the whole thing work, 551 00:29:20,551 --> 00:29:23,965 and finding ways of, of weaving things into it 552 00:29:24,068 --> 00:29:25,275 and stories into it, 553 00:29:25,379 --> 00:29:27,620 and giving it a sort of, much more, 554 00:29:27,724 --> 00:29:28,896 well, having fun, essentially. 555 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,000 [soft music] 556 00:29:56,655 --> 00:29:58,068 Narrator: John Simpson has never felt 557 00:29:58,172 --> 00:30:01,586 the odd man out in a profession that is overwhelmingly attracted 558 00:30:01,689 --> 00:30:03,310 to modernism. 559 00:30:03,413 --> 00:30:06,827 His new classicism is admired not only by the Prince of Wales 560 00:30:06,931 --> 00:30:09,551 but also by dozens of clients all over the world, 561 00:30:09,655 --> 00:30:12,482 private and institutional. 562 00:30:12,586 --> 00:30:16,275 He keeps alive the old methods, including sketching and drawing, 563 00:30:16,379 --> 00:30:18,517 keeps artisans in business, 564 00:30:18,620 --> 00:30:22,172 and worries that traditional skills are being lost. 565 00:30:23,517 --> 00:30:26,793 - They don't draw now, unfortunately. 566 00:30:26,896 --> 00:30:30,724 And that I think is, is a great tragedy, 567 00:30:30,827 --> 00:30:34,206 because they end up sitting before computers 568 00:30:34,310 --> 00:30:36,068 and before these screens 569 00:30:36,172 --> 00:30:38,206 and they spend all these hours 570 00:30:38,310 --> 00:30:41,000 sort of sitting there, sort of clicking on a mouse. 571 00:30:42,517 --> 00:30:46,793 And it is nowhere near as instructive or as enjoyable 572 00:30:46,896 --> 00:30:47,827 as it used to be 573 00:30:47,931 --> 00:30:50,689 when I would be sitting there and drawing with a pencil 574 00:30:50,793 --> 00:30:52,413 or a pen, 575 00:30:52,517 --> 00:30:56,103 because you can actually feel the building a lot more 576 00:30:56,206 --> 00:30:58,068 as you draw it by hand. 577 00:30:58,172 --> 00:31:01,241 And I hope technology is going to develop, 578 00:31:01,344 --> 00:31:04,000 because I think we're probably in the early days 579 00:31:04,103 --> 00:31:07,275 of electronic technology and I'm sure it's not long 580 00:31:07,379 --> 00:31:09,896 before people will be drawing with a stylus again. 581 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,310 And it might be picked up on a computer 582 00:31:12,413 --> 00:31:14,448 because there are lots of brilliant things 583 00:31:14,551 --> 00:31:15,482 about a computer. 584 00:31:15,586 --> 00:31:18,241 You know, it records all this information accurately, 585 00:31:18,344 --> 00:31:19,620 carries it through. 586 00:31:19,724 --> 00:31:23,310 So I mean, it's not, we use them all the time, 587 00:31:23,413 --> 00:31:25,689 because there's this great benefit in doing that. 588 00:31:25,793 --> 00:31:29,275 But at the moment, there is a great disadvantage 589 00:31:29,379 --> 00:31:33,793 for the poor human being who's having to interact with it. 590 00:31:33,896 --> 00:31:37,448 And I hope that will all put itself right 591 00:31:37,551 --> 00:31:40,758 over the next 10 or 20 years. 592 00:31:41,862 --> 00:31:43,000 Narrator: What of the future? 593 00:31:43,103 --> 00:31:44,862 John Simpson can't go on forever. 594 00:31:44,965 --> 00:31:46,241 That he knows, 595 00:31:46,344 --> 00:31:49,034 and apart from the architects in his own practice, 596 00:31:49,137 --> 00:31:51,517 to whom he gives credit for his success, 597 00:31:51,620 --> 00:31:54,379 he's keen to pass on his style. 598 00:31:54,482 --> 00:31:57,344 So, he's establishing a new School of Architecture 599 00:31:57,448 --> 00:31:59,000 at the University of Buckingham 600 00:31:59,103 --> 00:32:01,724 which will teach traditional architecture 601 00:32:01,827 --> 00:32:06,137 but use 21st century technology, computers and robotics 602 00:32:06,241 --> 00:32:08,965 to put that architecture into practice. 603 00:32:09,068 --> 00:32:10,827 John: What's really essential 604 00:32:10,931 --> 00:32:12,931 and what really needs to be done at the moment, 605 00:32:13,034 --> 00:32:15,482 is actually to have a school of architecture 606 00:32:15,586 --> 00:32:20,586 which gives you the whole basis 607 00:32:20,689 --> 00:32:22,000 of what architecture is all about, 608 00:32:22,103 --> 00:32:23,655 so you understand it. 609 00:32:23,758 --> 00:32:27,206 And then for the students to decide 610 00:32:27,310 --> 00:32:29,068 what they want to do from there. 611 00:32:30,448 --> 00:32:32,344 Narrator: The Simpsons are settling in 612 00:32:32,448 --> 00:32:35,034 and unpacking in their new, old house. 613 00:32:37,275 --> 00:32:39,379 John Simpson is taking time out 614 00:32:39,482 --> 00:32:41,517 to think about what his long career 615 00:32:41,620 --> 00:32:43,724 in new classicism means 616 00:32:43,827 --> 00:32:46,448 and how, consciously and sub-consciously, 617 00:32:46,551 --> 00:32:48,517 he's brought all his ideas together 618 00:32:48,620 --> 00:32:50,068 in a thatched house 619 00:32:50,172 --> 00:32:52,724 that those who pass by may think was built 620 00:32:52,827 --> 00:32:54,551 in the fifteenth century 621 00:32:54,655 --> 00:32:58,724 but which was, in fact, designed in the twenty-first. 622 00:32:58,827 --> 00:33:02,413 It's back to that idea of architecture as a language. 623 00:33:03,620 --> 00:33:06,103 John: Just like, say, spelling in English. 624 00:33:06,206 --> 00:33:07,931 Why do we use a 'T' in often? 625 00:33:09,068 --> 00:33:11,034 We've forgotten. We don't know why. 626 00:33:11,137 --> 00:33:13,137 But we, we do it. 627 00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:14,965 And it's all part of the language. 628 00:33:15,068 --> 00:33:17,551 And part of the grammar in the sense that 629 00:33:17,655 --> 00:33:19,344 if that capital on an ionic column 630 00:33:19,448 --> 00:33:21,000 wasn't used at the top but at the bottom, 631 00:33:21,103 --> 00:33:23,586 everyone would know, what's he up to there? 632 00:33:23,689 --> 00:33:25,000 [laughs] 633 00:33:25,103 --> 00:33:28,344 When you're dealing with a half timbered house... 634 00:33:28,448 --> 00:33:30,793 ..you don't have such a developed language 635 00:33:30,896 --> 00:33:31,896 to deal with, 636 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:37,172 and it's not quite like working with classical ornament. 637 00:33:37,275 --> 00:33:39,931 So if you do add any ornament to the building, 638 00:33:40,034 --> 00:33:41,896 it tends to mean more. 639 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,206 And of course if you're putting up 640 00:33:43,310 --> 00:33:45,000 a great, big oriel window 641 00:33:45,103 --> 00:33:47,275 you have to put some stained glass in it. 642 00:33:47,379 --> 00:33:50,344 And if you put the stained glass in this oriel... 643 00:33:50,448 --> 00:33:52,827 ..you do have to invent some sort of reason 644 00:33:52,931 --> 00:33:54,413 as to why you're putting it there, 645 00:33:54,517 --> 00:33:55,655 what it's all about, 646 00:33:55,758 --> 00:33:57,137 and what it means, 647 00:33:57,241 --> 00:33:58,655 because traditionally, 648 00:33:58,758 --> 00:34:00,827 you would have had your coat of arms up there 649 00:34:00,931 --> 00:34:02,758 and it would have meant, you know, it was, 650 00:34:02,862 --> 00:34:06,448 a celebration of the owner and who the owner was 651 00:34:06,551 --> 00:34:07,965 and all that kind of thing. 652 00:34:08,068 --> 00:34:12,965 So you do need to sort of build up a sort of history, 653 00:34:13,068 --> 00:34:14,793 if you like, 654 00:34:14,896 --> 00:34:17,551 because the, the, all the decoration 655 00:34:17,655 --> 00:34:23,379 is so much more iconographic, and less just a language. 656 00:34:57,517 --> 00:34:58,620 Narrator: For Marcus Binney, 657 00:34:58,724 --> 00:35:00,586 himself educated in the classics, 658 00:35:00,689 --> 00:35:02,517 the visit to John Simpson's house 659 00:35:02,620 --> 00:35:06,931 has proved to him that classicism is not dead. 660 00:35:13,034 --> 00:35:15,344 Marcus: You're a torchbearer for classical architecture. 661 00:35:15,448 --> 00:35:19,586 Greek Revival, Roman Revival, Regency, Empire. 662 00:35:19,689 --> 00:35:22,241 But here, we're in a different world. 663 00:35:22,344 --> 00:35:24,551 - Well, yes, but it's all part of a tradition. 664 00:35:24,655 --> 00:35:26,000 And of course the basis 665 00:35:26,103 --> 00:35:28,793 of what classicism and tradition is all about, 666 00:35:28,896 --> 00:35:30,620 is that you're not just building a building 667 00:35:30,724 --> 00:35:32,793 as an entity in itself. 668 00:35:32,896 --> 00:35:35,896 You're actually building it so as to contribute 669 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,103 and create a village or a city or a whole neighbourhood 670 00:35:40,206 --> 00:35:42,241 that the building needs to relate to. 671 00:35:42,344 --> 00:35:44,655 Here, of course, we've got a village 672 00:35:44,758 --> 00:35:49,172 which is full of thatched, half-timbred houses. 673 00:35:49,275 --> 00:35:51,310 So that was the place to start. 674 00:35:51,413 --> 00:35:54,758 It just made sense to start there. 675 00:35:54,862 --> 00:35:56,827 Because that thing adds to the whole village 676 00:35:56,931 --> 00:35:59,103 and it becomes part of the whole thing. 677 00:35:59,206 --> 00:36:03,517 And it builds on the history, so it's, and the identity. 678 00:36:03,620 --> 00:36:04,965 Which is what it's all about. 679 00:36:05,068 --> 00:36:08,206 And that's really having that flexibility, 680 00:36:08,310 --> 00:36:10,517 ability to work with all that, 681 00:36:10,620 --> 00:36:12,000 which is what tradition 682 00:36:12,103 --> 00:36:14,379 and classicism is really all about. 683 00:36:31,724 --> 00:36:33,034 Narrator: So, what's the verdict? 684 00:36:33,137 --> 00:36:35,413 What would the architecture writer 685 00:36:35,517 --> 00:36:38,379 write about John Simpson's latest creation? 686 00:36:40,965 --> 00:36:44,241 - All his life, he's designed wonderful houses and buildings 687 00:36:44,344 --> 00:36:45,517 for other people. 688 00:36:45,620 --> 00:36:47,827 But here, this is his own house 689 00:36:47,931 --> 00:36:50,275 and he has been able to do what he wants 690 00:36:50,379 --> 00:36:53,482 and bring together a whole lifetime of ideas 691 00:36:53,586 --> 00:36:55,103 in microcosm, 692 00:36:55,206 --> 00:36:58,206 but with a sense of surprise wherever you turn. 693 00:37:00,482 --> 00:37:02,827 It looks like a traditional thatched house 694 00:37:02,931 --> 00:37:05,379 in a lovely unspoiled village. 695 00:37:05,482 --> 00:37:08,862 And I had no idea what was going to be inside 696 00:37:08,965 --> 00:37:12,137 in terms of the sense of space and style. 697 00:37:14,862 --> 00:37:17,310 He's been able to do what he wants 698 00:37:17,413 --> 00:37:19,724 to exercise his own imagination, 699 00:37:19,827 --> 00:37:24,896 to introduce conceits, tricks, wonderful use of materials. 700 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,310 You know, every idea, 701 00:37:26,413 --> 00:37:28,758 he hasn't had another client he's had to convince. 702 00:37:28,862 --> 00:37:32,896 He's only letting his own imagination develop. 703 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,310 Because this is the architect's house. 704 00:39:23,206 --> 00:39:25,206 Narrator: Next time... 705 00:39:25,310 --> 00:39:28,344 Opened in May 1873, Alexandra Palace 706 00:39:28,448 --> 00:39:31,000 was hailed as the 'people's palace'. 707 00:39:31,103 --> 00:39:33,896 Two weeks later, it burned down. 708 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,344 Rebuilt, it became famous as the first home 709 00:39:36,448 --> 00:39:38,827 of BBC television in 1936, 710 00:39:38,931 --> 00:39:40,517 and the mast which transmitted 711 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:43,275 the world's first fully electronic television pictures 712 00:39:43,379 --> 00:39:44,448 survives. 713 00:39:45,517 --> 00:39:48,241 The theatre wasn't so lucky. 714 00:39:48,344 --> 00:39:50,931 Used by the BBC to store props, 715 00:39:51,034 --> 00:39:53,758 it's been hidden from public view for 80 years. 716 00:39:53,862 --> 00:39:57,103 Now, this sleeping beauty has been restored. 717 00:39:58,172 --> 00:40:00,413 But this is no ordinary restoration. 718 00:40:00,517 --> 00:40:04,482 The architects who took it on settled on a design philosophy 719 00:40:04,586 --> 00:40:07,413 that said decay was part of the story 720 00:40:07,517 --> 00:40:08,793 and should stay. 721 00:40:08,896 --> 00:40:10,965 Captioned by Ai-Media ai-media.tv 56405

Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.