A new generation of architectural storytelling.
Charlie Luxton is one of TV’s most famous faces in architecture, fronting a range of shows on our screens for the past two decades. With a small but bold architectural practice dedicated to sustainable and sensitive schemes, he’s deeply invested in doing things right. He joined us to talk latest trends, design-led thinking, and how creating his own home has transformed his outlook…
All photos courtesy of Charlie Luxton
PEOPLE
Q So how did your mix of architectural work and presenting come about?
CL Scarily, 23 years ago now! While I was at the Royal College of Art I just answered an advert looking for a TV presenter. I went along to a screen test and then forgot all about it, until I got a call asking me to do a programme for Channel 5 on modern British architecture. At that time, I was training to be an art director, so I was focused on being behind the camera but was quite interested in the process so thought I’d give it a go. That then led to another opportunity with Channel 4 and I started making TV as a part-time career, before eventually leaving London to move into more sustainable architecture. We started Charlie Luxton Design in 2005 and it’s grown brilliantly as my TV career has trundled along!
Q How have you seen design approaches change since that time?
CL I think what is exciting is that there’s now an awareness of the role that low energy houses play in people’s health. My practice focuses mainly on sustainable residential architecture, so people becoming aware of the fact that low energy homes are generally healthy homes is great to see. I think there is a massive shift away from oil and gas, and the way the prices are coming down around green technology is extraordinary. We’re currently doing a project that will create 12 Passivhaus Plus homes and a community centre, one of our biggest so far, so I do feel the tide is turning.
However, I always feel like I know less now than I did 20-odd years ago. Every time you get to the top of a hill, there is another one… and it’s often more complicated! Our latest thing is diving into embodied energy and doing some modelling around that for projects. It’s an interesting challenge.
Beanacre, Oxfordshire
People becoming aware of the fact that low energy homes are generally healthy homes is great to see... I do feel the tide is turning.
Q Are there any other architectural trends that you’re seeing at the moment?
CL Arches are becoming a big thing – watch out for arches! But, also, beware… a rehash of post modernism is showing its face, haha! I just look at it and I can’t believe it’s coming back. Ultimately though, I like to think the era of the relatively inhumane ‘mega blob’ is going to go. Contextual sensitivity has gotten much better. It’s about reconnecting with what exists and having a better conversation – reimagining the traditional.
My practice does work that’s mainly around the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire regions and down to London. My goodness, there are some beautiful architectural traditions that we need to restore and rework in those areas. It’s not about just building a house and putting some stone on the outside to make it ‘acceptable’ for its surroundings, you need to engage with a building to make it work.
Q There’s a humbleness to the projects you seem to be most passionate about, would you agree?
CL Yes. I like that. I think ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ is one of the greatest sayings of all time. I personally feel architecture isn’t meant to be ‘look at me, look at me’ (a few exceptions of course: Hawksmoor and VanBrouck get away with that!). Ultimately, it should be more sensitive. The one thing I’ve learnt from following builds throughout my TV career is that the best money people can spend is on good design. I see a lot of projects where the design work to begin with wasn’t great and it just creates a lot of problems that people then have to solve. It’s a similar thing with sustainability – the best thing you can do is find people who know how to inform it from the very beginning. It has to be a driver from the start and not a lot of people fully understand that yet. Especially as there’s now an urgency and a relevance to what we do on a worldwide scale.
On that point, I do worry that there is still a lot of talk and not enough actual action. Obviously so much of it needs to be driven better by government. Interestingly, I don’t think there has ever been a designer that has been an MP! Until we get a designer – and I mean that in the broadest sense – into government and those kind of decision-making roles, I can’t see that kind of disconnected thinking changing. I think Apple was one of the first companies to have a designer on their main board and look how it has transformed that industry. We need to bring that sensibility to decision making and have a more design-led approach – I feel very strongly about that.
Q Are there any projects your team is working on that have especially inspired you recently?
CL Ditchley Park is a fascinating one – it’s a place dedicated to hosting transatlantic conversations really. It was used as a retreat for royalty since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and Churchill used it to meet presidential envoy Harry Hopkins in his efforts to win American support during the war. So since then, it’s been the home of conversations around liberal democracy between England and America. The building hosts incredible discussion events, ranging from topics such as nuclear warfare to cyber security. Obviously now, for a variety of reasons, the Foundation wanted to have the option of inviting guests based in America to join via video conferencing.
The whole project has been about problem solving, and by having a dialogue early on, we realised we could actually solve a lot of their wider issues. Being a detective – understanding all the issues and moving the jigsaw puzzle around to make everything better – is an amazing task. In this case it was all done within the context of what the building can accept and what the building wants to do. It actually became more about evolving the organisation to fit this iconic heritage building, rather than the other way around! In a place like that, design decisions are a story that we have to carry on with the art of an adept writer… rather than just dropping in a clanger of a plot twist.
Ditchley Park
Being a detective – understanding all the issues and moving the jigsaw puzzle around to make everything better – is an amazing task.
Sustainability
It has to be a driver from the start and not a lot of people fully understand that yet. Especially as there’s now an urgency and a relevance to what we do on a worldwide scale.
Q Is that ultimately what architecture means to you – a kind of artistic story?
CL Yes, so much. I also think it’s a vocation, not a profession. You see a lot of architects still working in their 70s or even 80s, and it isn’t because they forgot to save for their pension, it’s because they enjoy it. I certainly do.
But it’s also taken on a new element for me after I decided to create our family home a couple of years ago… I knew it was going to be tough, as I wanted to get it to as close as Passivhaus as possible, but my goodness it gave me a newfound respect for contractors! It’s a light touch build, dug into the hillside with a grass roof and it almost disappears into the landscape. It makes me smile every day. I pinch myself that we managed to do it and that I actually really like it… you can never guarantee that will be the case!
It’s funny because I grew up on a farm – making dens in haybales and tree houses etc – and I suddenly realised that I was doing a grown up version of that; apparently I just can’t stop making dens! That might become the story of my life… but if, so, it’s a pretty good story.