Architecture and Climate

This book traces the evolving relationship between the architecture and climate of Britain from the late sixteenth to the twentieth century. Through detailed studies of buildings by major architects it explores how the unique character of the climate of the British Isles has had a fundamental influence on the nature of buildings of all kinds and periods, in both country and city. Based on extensive documentary research and on first-hand analyses of significant buildings, this book combines architectural history with the parallel fields of climate history and the representation of environment in literature and the fine arts. It spans the period in British architectural history from the late sixteenth century to the twentieth century – from the buildings of the greatest architect of the Elizabethan age, Robert Smythson, to the twentieth century work of Alison and Peter Smithson.Copiously illustrated with drawings and photographs, including a colour plate section, this book brings a historical dimension to the appreciation of the environment in architecture and, equally, introduces an environmental dimension to the study of the history of architecture.

"...impeccably well researched with extensive references...this book should be on the shelves of many practising and student architects, not just those preoccupied with issues of climate (change)" – RIBA Journal"The book will certainly appeal to those practitioners and academics who find the use of labels such as ‘green’ or ‘climate responsive’ architecture deeply problematic and even a deterrant to the timely integration of environmental performance requirements into mainstream practice. It should also be a necessary read for those who do not have such reservations and give primacy to the climatic and technical determinismof building form." - Raymond J. Cole, Building Research & Information, August 2012"Architecture and Climate breaks new ground by presenting an historical overview of these issues over the past 400 years." - The Journal of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation

Dean Hawkes is emeritus professor of architectural design at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University and emeritus fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge. His previous books include The Environmental Tradition (1996), The Selective Environment (2002) and The Environmental Imagination (2008). In 2010 he received the RIBA’s biennial Annie Spink Award for excellence in architectural education.