When I was on holiday in Northumberland just recently I was suprised to find a castle 'designed' by Edwin Lutyens, the architectural mastermind of New Delhi. Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-Century castle set on Lindisfarne, a tidal island that gets cut off from the mainland at certain times every day. Lutyens renovated and decorated this story-book castle at the behest of a a London publishing magnate in 1901 and decorated in an austere yet folksy style.
Normally the mention of 'Lutyens' conjours up memories for me of being completely baffled by the concentric circles of Connaught Place in New Delhi. Cities planned on grid systems are meant to make more sense, but this one never does to me. I'm still astounded by my total inability to locate anything on Connaught Place and to end up wandering around those damn circles for hours and/or cracking and retreating to Barista..
It goes without saying that this project couldn't be more of a contrast from the concentric circles and wide boulevards of Lutyen's 'Delhi Order' style. The renovated castle was intended as a holiday home and looks out over a rain-battered but beautiful coastline.
Lutyens even designed and created a line of outhouses made from these old herring boats turned upside down (as modelled here by my sister Liv). This was just one of the details that appealed to me about this offbeat project from the man whose name has come to be a by-word for monumental architecture..
0 comments:
Post a Comment