Poundbury Village, Poundbury, United Kingdom. Architect: Léon Krier, 2014. Crescent with semi detached housing.
Twenty-three years on, Krier’s vision is almost halfway there. Walking the streets of Poundbury today provides a fascinating journey through the changing fashions of this supposedly timeless enclave, built on “eternal principles”. Phase one is perhaps closest to the stage-set image of the popular cliché: 200 houses set in winding streets that radiate from a market square, where a Budgens hides behind a hand-painted Village Stores sign and John Simpson’s bizarre market hall squats on bloated stone columns. It has a distinctly villagey atmosphere at only 16 units per acre. Phase two, which has evolved incrementally over the last 10 years, represents a complete departure, with almost 1,000 homes set at more than double the density. Broad avenues are lined by blocks of five-storey flats, albeit with the obligatory Georgian dressing, as well as 6ha of employment space, from a Romanesque warehouse to the corniced brick shed of the Dorset Cereals factory.
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Photo credit: © Dennis Gilbert-VIEW / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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