mud village V/K 3C
Rough Draft for a Decent Neighbourhood
Royal Academy Prize Winner
“INSTEAD OF CLINGING TO THE FUNERAL TOWERS OF METROPOLITAN FINANCE, OURS TO MARCH OUT TO NEWLY PLOUGHED FIELDS TO CREATE FRESH PATTERNS OF POLITICAL ACTION, TO ALTER FOR HUMAN PURPOSE THE PERVERSE MECHANISMS OF OUR ECONOMIC REGIME, TO CONCEIVE AND TO GERMINATE FRESH FORMS OF HUMAN CULTURE... WE MUST ERECT A CULT OF LIFE: LIFE IN ACTION, AS THE FARMER AND MECHANIC KNOWS IT, LIFE IN EXPRESSION AS THE ARTIST KNOWS IT: LIFE AS THE LOVER FEELS IT AND THE PARENT PRACTICES IT: LIFE AS IT IS KNOWN TO MEN OF GOOD WILL WHO MEDITATE IN THE CLOISTER, EXPERIMENT IN THE LABORATORY OR PLAN INTELLIGENTLY IN THE FACTORY”
In his seminal 1938 book “The Culture of Cities” Lewis Mumford laments our tendency to treat realities of personality, association and cities as abstraction, whilst treating confused abstractions such as money, credit, and political sovereignty as if they were concrete realities. He says that as a consequence, statesmen and architects have been unable to produce “even a rough draft for a decent neighbourhood.”
Village V/K3C is a farming co-operative village, located in the Wiltshire countryside. The village measures about 70 meters by 70 meters and it sits on the centre of 120 acres of farm land. The front doors of 50 or so little mud houses open onto six cosy alley ways which converge at a tiny square where there is a meeting house.
The project is conceived around people’s relationships with each other and the landscape that they inhabit.
It is designed in the spirit of early modern ideal settlements (Owen’s “Harmony”, Howard’s “Garden City”, Corb’s “Radiant City”) It is part of our “one year 365 cities project.”