Sherborne Urban Design Summer School - An Experience By Josh Wood

Posted: 23 August 2023

Lomax + Wood sent one of their employees, Joshua Wood, to the Sherborne Urban Design Summer School Programme, by the Create Streets Foundation as Part of Lomax + Wood’s cooperation with the Traditional Architecture Group to ensure the education and improvement of staff members.

Lomax + Wood are a bespoke timber and aluminium composite, window, door and garden room manufacturer. While a greater proportion of the projects supplied and completed by Lomax + Wood are homes and offices in cities, they also supply and fit framed windows to smaller suburbs and hamlets. The course covers the architecture and design of these places very well, so it is entirely relevant to the company.

- “A three-day residential course to provide an introduction to designing beautiful, sustainable, prosperous, economically and socially successful places that will stand the test of time.”

This was to experience and learn about superb architecture and design, gain an insight into urban planning, and meet different architects, developers and planners that would help Lomax + Wood to better serve future clients.

"Set in the heart of the beautiful market town of Sherborne in Dorset, this course will introduce core urban design principles including the idea of place, mixed-use neighbourhoods, public space, gentle density, landscape, building typologies and architectural language. You will also explore the connections between urban form and design with wellbeing, sustainability, prosperity, value and popularity.” – The Create Streets Foundation.

Please see the course itinerary below:

Day 1

The first day started with an introduction to the Summer School and Create Streets
A short tour of Sherborne School grounds and drawing exercise
Design principles: Place, community, tradition, urban growth, Studio
mixed‐use neighbourhoods, public space, connections, density
‘Space, Time and Urbanism’ with project examples – Prof. Robert Adam
Design brief and how to undertake site/context analysis
Sherborne town centre tour (1) and discussion
Urban design study site tour and discussion
Site and context analysis in small groups

Day 2

Design Principles: urban blocks, landscape, building typology
architectural language
Local vernacular architecture
Short urban design study
Process: context, roles, design process, presentation skills
Prepare initial masterplan sketches as individuals, and review
Sherborne town centre tour (2): focus on details, sketching buildings Sherborne
Prepare large site concept masterplan in small groups
Review large site masterplan work. Commence small site concept Studio
masterplans in small groups and review

Day 3

Connections between urban form and design with wellbeing
sustainability, prosperity, value and popularity
Short drawing exercise on the school grounds
Design Codes and Community Consultation
Prepare a community consultation and engagement plan
Finalise masterplan work and commence illustrative material
Finalise material and consider how to present
Present the scheme in small groups and receive feedback

Projected Plan of Proposed Urban Space while at Sherbourne School Site Analysis Urban Development - James Armitage Architects

Tutors During the Course

The summer school will be led by Dr James Armitage BSc BArch (Dist) PhD RIBA, a practising architect and urban designer who has extensively researched the relationship between community and urbanism. He is a fellow of Create Streets and has lectured or run crits at the Universities of London, Bath, Cardiff, Yale (US) and Notre Dame (Rome).

Lectures, teaching and review, were also provided by other members of the experienced Create Streets team, including:

Nicholas Boys Smith MA MPhil (Dist) AoU FRSA – founding director of Create Streets, chair of the Office for Place. He is also the author of many studies into the links between design with well-being and prosperity and has lectured at many universities including Oxford, Manchester, Leeds and London.

Robert Kwolek BA – senior architectural designer at Create Streets who leads a wide range of master-planning and design coding projects across England and teaches at the University of Oxford.

George Payiatis BA MA – senior urban designer at Create Streets who leads a wide range of master-planning and regeneration projects across the UK.

Walking to Sherbourne School Dorset UK Parking at Sherbourne School Dorset, UK

Thoughts From Josh

Joshua Wood only had good things to say about this course and described it as an enjoyable way to learn with interesting and relevant people within the industry.