Homes & Housing - Messums West Architectural Symposium

This was the sixth architectural symposium at Messums West. The original idea for a symposium came about from a conversation I had with Johnny Messum after he opened the gallery - which is housed in a thirteenth century Tithe Barn in Tisbury Wiltshire (The largest thatched barn in the UK). Stiff+Trevillion had helped him with the design of a freestanding structure within the space that would be used for storage, display and small retail area. This idea was simple, a white box that becomes an outward facing gallery within the barn and an upper deck that affords views of the magnificent space.

Over the years, Peter Clegg and I have “curated” a day of thematic architectural talks and discussions within the barn to an audience that tends to be a pretty even mix of architects, planners and others just interested in the debate. We have always managed to attract very good quality speakers, and this year was no different. We decided early on that the theme of the day’s discussions would explore housing from multi-unit schemes to one off homes. 

The morning session was kicked off by Keith Bradley of FCB Studios who took us through the Stirling Prize winning Accordia scheme which is unbelievably already 20 years old. The masterplan and architecture were beautifully considered, the courtyard houses in particular look as good to today as they did back then, but without the commitment of the local authority, led by Peter Stoddart, who insisted that the developer up their game and not compromise on quality it would not have happened. 

Meredith Bowles from Mole architects shared his Marmalade Lane community land scheme. In many ways it picks up where Accordia left off and produces a thoughtful and highly successful group of homes that share indoor and outside spaces, resulting in a close knit community that really does develop social capital. Archio's Mellis Haward’s Citizens House in Lewisham shows what can be done on an awkward garage site by setting up a Community Land Trust and developing the scheme with the neighbours and users. Architectural quality is not compromised. 

Alex Ely of Mae discussed how to make the ordinary extraordinary, Mae have a well deserved reputation for doing just that. From the street to the room, the architecture is considered and demonstrates what value an architect brings to housing, it is shameful that only 6% of housing in the UK is designed buy an architect.

The afternoon session veered into the idea of home, whilst housing has a political dimension, homes transcend that, homes are personal, private and intimate spaces. At their most refined they are a manifestation of who we are, our personality, our taste, our wealth and our standing in society. I mentioned in my introduction to the session, that most architects cut their teeth on residential projects, few of us are commissioned to design a public building or a commercial project in the early years of establishing a practice. Stiff+Trevillion still enjoy doing private residential projects led by Chris Eaton, it is a good way for the studio to nurture young talent, and it offers a degree of creativity that commercial projects do not afford. 

Clementine Blakemore kicked off the afternoon’s proceedings with a presentation of her beautifully conceived and detailed Wraxell Yard project , which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2024. Wraxell Yard is a privately funded development of 5 units in converted farm buildings in Dorset, they can be rented and have been designed to enable physically disadvantaged people the same quality of space and amenity. 

To some it is perhaps surprising that of the 28 Stirling prizes awarded a private house has never won. The Stirling Prize seeks to reward “the building that has made the greatest contribution to architecture in the last year”. Since the Farnsworth and Villa Savoye, has there been a domestic project that could claim that achievement? That may change next week, two of the six projects on the shortlist are private houses, we will see. 

The next two presentations demonstrated just how inventive and beautiful one-off homes van be. Magnus Strom architects have an enviable client list and have built homes across the world. His style is post Miesian modern with Scandinavian tactility and materiality. They are beautifully conceived and detailed family homes. The afternoon was rounded off with a look at Housestead, Sanei + Hopkins own home near Aldeburgh. Developed over many years of living adjacent to the site, it is a house of parts that separates functions to reflect the lifestyle of the occupants, playful, clever and radical it was a treat to hear about it from the owners.

These days are always a huge pleasure to be involved with, mainly because I really enjoy the company of architects. Planning for the 2026 event will start straight away. None of this  would happen without the generosity and commitment of Johnny Messum and his team who open their gallery to enable this annual event.