Poundbury

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View of Poundbury, Dorset. All of the New Town's buildings were designed to reflect traditional architecture. Brownsword Hall to the left was designed by architect John Simpson and based on earlier traditional designs, particularly the one in Tetbury. Greetings card entrepreneur and friend of the Prince Andrew Brownsword funded the building
View of Poundbury, Dorset. All of the New Town's buildings were designed to reflect traditional architecture. Brownsword Hall to the left was designed by architect John Simpson and based on earlier traditional designs, particularly the one in Tetbury. Greetings card entrepreneur and friend of the Prince Andrew Brownsword funded the building

Poundbury is an experimental new town — or more correctly a new village — on the outskirts of Dorchester in the county of Dorset, England.

The village is built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and is an experiment in the ideas of Charles, Prince of Wales, who has challenged the post-war trends in town planning. The Prince is known for holding strong views on recent urban planning and architecture.

The village is built to a traditional high-density urban pattern, rather than a suburban one, focused on creating an integrated community of shops, businesses, and private and social housing; there is no zoning. The planners say they are designing the village around people rather than the car and claim to be providing a high-quality environment from the architecture through to the selection of materials, to the signposts, and the landscaping. To avoid constant construction, utilities are buried in common utility ducts under the town. Common areas are maintained by a management company to which all residents belong.

To some degree, the project shows similarities with the contemporary New Urbanism movement, primarily found in the United States, except that the design influences are, of course, European. The design of the houses tends to be traditional, with period features such as bricked-up windows, a feature found on many old British buildings, due to the window tax.

The overall plan was developed in the late 1980s by the European architect Leon Krier, and construction started in October 1993. Krier's plans have been criticised for mixing too many different continental styles and the use of non-local building materials, which are not consistent with the traditions of Dorchester. It is expected that the four plan phases will be developed over 25 years with a total of 2,500 dwellings and a population of about 6,000. Greetings card entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword sponsored the £1 million development of the market hall at Poundbury, designed by John Simpson and based on early designs, particularly the one in Tetbury.[1]

Following New Urbanist principles, Poundbury was intended to reduce car dependency and encourage walking, cycling and public transport. However, a survey conducted at the end of the first phase, showed that car use was higher in Poundbury than in the surrounding (rural) district of West Dorset.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • HRH Charles, Prince of Wales: A Vision of Britain : A Personal View of Architecture (Doubleday, 1989) ISBN 0-385-26903-X
  • Leon Krier: Architecture: Choice or Fate (Andreas Papadakis Publishers, 1998) ISBN 1-901092-03-8
  • Sandy Mitchell. "Prince Charles is not your typical radical." National Geographic. May 2006. [1] Accessed online 9/14/06
  1. ^ A model village grows up gracefully - Telegraph
  2. ^ WATSON, G., BENTLEY, I., ROAF, S. and SMITH, P., 2004. Learning from Poundbury, Research for the West Dorset District Council and the Duchy of Cornwall. Oxford Brookes University

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 50°42′48″N, 2°27′55″W