Architecture Without Architects

This perspective sketch of a rural house for the Savery family of Shropshire, UK, left my studio recently, on its way to a planning meeting.

The project was a rare chance to create a series of presentation drawings for a caring builder who runs his own sawmill and who makes such a special effort to include feature timbers in his designs.

In my own projects, I draw only a few lines between sculpture and architecture. Instead of trying to “conquer” Nature as most modern architects do, I try to draw my designs out of their location. Here’s a ‘before’ and ‘after’ shot of some stone stairs I designed around future tree root growth. Layers of non-biodegradeable padding and airtex have been included to ‘direct’ growing roots back into the hillside to form a strong ‘footing’ against future high winds.

 

 

 

 

When designing your own garden feature or house,
the more attention you pay to detail,
the less problems you’ll have with it over time.

I sketch out every feature when designing a product, a landscape or an entire house. In my following house design for a US developer, I sketched out everything from garage flood defences, kitchen/bathroom/s layouts to carpet weaves and lighting. This is to get a full feeling for the home which develops from the house. In this way, each facet of my designwork holds true when combined.

 

Tomorrow Design

I usually sketch practical buildings that are buildable now using existing building materials and present technology.

When I do not need to be guided in this by my clients, I enjoy designing that which would be hard or difficult to construct using present technologies.  This is an example of a Moonbase created for a book on Space adventure:

If you are also interested, as I am, in the study of intuitive living, non-formal and non-classified communal architecture, I recommend the book “Architecture Without Architects” by Doctor Bernard Rudofsky who has written a number of other interesting books including ‘Are Clothes Modern’, ‘Streets For People’ and ‘The Unfashionable Human Body’.

Book Photo by kind permission of World of Water reference library. #cat.gja.000364

 

Catalogue raisonné of Grant Artworks. (Formal Design. Displaying 1 to 25 of 834)

Catalogue raisonné of artworks by

 

 

 

Page one of artworks from the 1st Collection by Grant. This collection combines commissioned works with other works created during the same Formal Design period.

Forward cataloguing plan:
All works have a unique studio number which will be added, after the catalogue number, over time. The studio number for commissioned works starts at 100061 and finishes at 100834.  Other, non-commissioned works, are numbered from 200001.

Gallery showing:
To conclude the creation of over 800 artworks during Grants Formal Design period, two gallery shows were organised. The first, at the Birmingham Midlands Institute, UK, included many originals on loan and prints of seventy four commissioned paintings. The second at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens was of non-commissioned works, sold to raise funds for the World of Water charity.