HOW TO TELL IF A BUILDING IS WELL-DESIGNED

[Want to know if what you're looking at is 'good architecture'? Here are the questions to ask.]

Vitruvius, the author of the Roman treatise on architecture De Architecura made a famous
statement that is still quoted by architects. He said that a 'well building hath three conditions:
firmness, commodity and delight'. Put in the more modern language, we could say this means
that a good building should be solid and sturdy, and be useful and pleasing or perhaps
provocative to the eye.

While these attributes of what makes good architecture will probably always stay the same,
when considering new buildings there are other questions experts must ask. These are some of
the most important:

1. WHAT EFFECT WILL IT HAVE ON THE ENVIRONMENT?

These days, a building doesnt just have to look good, it should ideally be good for the
environment too. A great example of sustainability spliced with style from the past few years is
the M&S store at Cheshire Oaks Retail Park in Ellesmere Port, designed by Aukett Fitzroy
Robinson.

Energy during the construction process was saved by using FSC-certified glulam timber instead
of steel to create the buildings distinctive wavy roof, while the stores external walls use
hemclad, a highly innovative insulator made from hemp, which, like all plants, absorbs CO2 from
the atmosphere as it grows. An 80,000 litre water tank below ground provides water for the
stores toilets and waters the sites green wall, which provides natural insulation, acts as an all-
natural pollution filter near the car park, and helps to encourage biodiversity. The result is a
building that uses a fraction of the energy of structures of a similar size, and is still very popular
with local shoppers.

2. DOES IT GIVE MORE THAN WAS ASKED?

The best architects can create designs which will give clients and the public things they didnt
even realise they wanted, and this is especially important when architects are given the difficult
brief of creating structures in much-loved, iconic areas.

An example of a huge success is Heneghan Peng Architects Giants Causeway Visitors Centre
in Antrim, Northern Ireland. Using the large difference in level across the site, the architects
created two folds in the landscape. Bold, but not conflicting with the rather bleak natural
environment, these folds draw all the man-made areas together and create one fitting man-made
break in the natural landscape. In the words of the architects themselves, 'There is no longer a
building and a landscape, but building becomes landscape and the landscape itself remains
spectacular and iconic'.
3. DOES IT MEET THE TEST OF TIME?

What is new and exciting now can quickly begin to look tired and out of fashion, so the best
buildings dont just consider what will be interesting to look at now, but also how it might look
to people in five, fifty or even a hundred years time. 2013s hotly contested RIBA Stirling Prize
went to Witherford Watson Mann Architects for their work on Astley Castle, Warwickshire. In
what RIBA Past President Stephen Hodder has described as an 'extreme retrofit', the project
essentially saw a new building inserted subtly into the heart of the old, with a new, two storey
residence now hidden within the sandstone walls of the ruins of this medieval castle, to be used
as a holiday home for up to eight guests.

4. DOES IT DELIGHT AND ENGAGE PASSERS-BY AS WELL AS USERS?

A good building should make you want to look at it. Even if not always liked by passers-by, it
should always make them feel something. Manchester Metropolitans Universitys business
school is a building that effortlessly fits this criteria. Indeed for many, the building by Feilden
Clegg Bradley Studios is their first taste of the architecture of Manchester as they travel along
the arterial road, Mancunian Way. With its distinct ski-slope roof, and glittering mirrored
appearance, it provides a flash of silver, and a dazzling break from the dull greys of the
motorway, greeting motorists in a slightly space-age way as they enter the city.

5. DOES IT REPRESENT VALUE FOR MONEY?

Value for money is not, and never was, the same as being cheap. Value for money means
making the most of whatever budget is available. A good example of this is Hayes Primary
School in London, by Hayhurst and Co. Having to contend with a tightly controlled 3 million
local authority budget, they worked with the existing structure of the primary school to give it a
much needed update. A striking polished stainless steel brise-soleil faade installed at the
schools entrance, gives the schools many different buildings a sense of identity, while new
classrooms have been created in a range of shapes and sizes, and are often flooded with natural
light.

Inside the school, a wall made of cross-laminated timber separates classrooms from the main
corridor, providing a space for storage and study. With very little to work with, the architects
have managed to create a building that is much more than just the sum of all of its parts.