46 C O N T E X T 1 2 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 2 in which it can be used. If we suspect brick is one of the better understood materials, perhaps it is assumed that colleagues will be reluctant to listen to what they, too, will presumably know? Happily, RW Brunskill has never subscribed to this view. He collaborated with Alec Clifton Taylor as long ago as 1977 on English Brickwork, a book which this reviewer recalls as a central monument of his polytechnic years. Subsequently, in 1990, Brick Building in Britain was published. This, in turn, will have leached into the consciousness of later generations of students. If many of us think we have a fair handle on brick, it is probably because we have absorbed just a little of the body of published work that Brunskill has accumulated over time. Brick and Clay Building in Britain, builds on the foundations of the previous books. In this respect, it is a work of evolution rather than revolution, carrying forward the strengths of previous studies and adding further material on cob, clay, mud, wychert, turf and mud-andstud construction. It also incorporates shrewd observations on regional variations throughout Britain and, for good measure, Ireland too. Brunskill has always possessed a genius for logical exposition, lucid explanation and relevant, timely illustration. The formidable range of his knowledge and observation is expressed with admirable simplicity and modesty. Reading any of his works, one is in the company of a man who appears to have visited almost every corner of these islands, thoughtfully and unassumingly absorbed everything he saw and, in reflection, made sense of it all, for himself and his readers. If there is a criticism of the current volume, it might revolve around the photographs, not for their content, as aptly chosen and relevant to the text as ever, but their lack of colour. Even if some Georgians were prone to deprecate brick for its fiery appearance, the greatest joys of the material may lie in its variegations of colour, the subtleties of its weathering and its rich range of textures. It is, then, a shame that Yale could not have stretched to re-take a proportion of the images, especially those which have dated. It has been a while since the motorist has been able to park his or her Austin/Morris 1100 immediately in front of the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. It should not have been cripplingly expensive to weed out instances such as these? However, this is a quibble. Brick and Clay Building in Britain is an essential reference work and should find a rightful home on shelves in conservation offices up and down the country. Even if you think you know your brick bonds pretty well, Brunskill is certain to have noticed that elusive one you have not yet come across and recorded it here. Michael Scammell is a conservation officer working for the South Downs National Park Authority. Missing the target New Design in Historic Settings Historic Scotland, Architecture and Design Scotland and the Scottish Government, 2011, 36pp, available as a pdf: http://www.ads.org.uk/urbanism/ features/new-design-in-historic-settings The stated aim of New Design in Historic Settings is to promote principles, demonstrate imaginative design responses, and propose a methodology based on shared understanding. It is ambitiously directed at built environment professionals, public and community stakeholders, and developers. Design has risen to the forefront of government agendas for sustainable place-making from at least the mid-nineties. For this reviewer, therefore, key issues are the extent to which this well-illustrated booklet adds value to the available literature on the subject and provides evidence of the successful integration of contemporary design into the historic environment in Scotland – as a rule rather than exception. The chapter on principles summarises eight that should guide new development: from urban structure, through materials and detailing, to views and historical development. That this chapter opens with the qualifier, ‘Without diminishing the creative role of the designer...’, encapsulates the sensitivities of today’s discourse. This, together with the constraints of space, encourages banal statements such as ‘Earlier historical development tended to make use of indigenous materials found near the site’, and a methodology that is bland and dependent on the pre-selection of ‘a professional with the right design expertise’. The second half of the booklet comprises seven case studies by theme: urban grid, loose-fit urban, small town, rural, historic landscape, extension, and public space. Selection within each theme has focused on ‘an attitude towards understanding a place, rather than being a catalogue of good buildings or a precise instruction manual.’ The studies include a private school in central Glasgow; the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh; the Piers Arts Centre, Stromness; the Culloden Visitor Centre; Glasgow Cathedral Precinct; and a house extension in Edinburgh. All engaged what a colleague has described as ‘trophy architects’. The subject of the remaining study, a ceramic artist’s house in remote Sutherland, may well be cost-effective and thermally efficient, but the justification for including an example of ‘what a contemporary vernacular might be’, located in a ‘bleak landscape swept by icesheets’, with design references to the upturned hull of a
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