Bates' Burrows Lea Farm: the architecture of smoke at Alison and Peter Smithson

Abstract

The expression "historical parallel" was used by architects Alison and Peter Smithson to establish a dialogue between their proposal for Bates' Burrows Lea Farm (7953) and the tower-fortress of Castle RisiNg (7783). The work was defined by the architects as a compact, isolated form, elevated above the land and protected by the earthworks surrounding it. However, upon analysing both buildings, the relationship does not seem to end with this initial description. This research aims to reveal, through a comparative analysis, how their spatial conception was based on the same formal archetype. An archetype that is an indispensable protagonist in the formation and evolution of the English house: the hall. A space that, in the case of the Norman construction, takes on very specific characteristics and whose essence the architects would try to recognise and reinterpret on as a space adaptable to modern life.