This book extends the concept of British vernacular architecture beyond its traditional base of pre-modern domestic and industrial architecture to embrace other buildings such as places of
worship, villas, hospitals, suburban semis and post-war mass housing. Engaging with wider issues of social and cultural history, this book is of use to anyone with an interest in architectural
history.
Increasingly, studies of what is genuinely vernacular in British architecture look beyond a distinct category of objects or techniques. Even the greatest architecture can be better understood
through heightened awareness of local or indigenous forces, by emphasising use and underlying shifts in architecture's social meaning, and by understanding all architectural design as emerging
from social relationships tempered by individual creativity.
Presented in an essentially chronological sequence, from the medieval to the post-war, diverse fresh viewpoints in the chapters of this book reinforce understanding of how building design
emerges not just from individual agency, that is architects, but also from the collective traditions of society.
