A research project, residency and publication funded by Arts Council England.
This manifesto calls for a new approach to the use of vernacular materials and precedents in architectural design, away from the geographic determinism inherent in the Arts & Crafts inspired return to "local" and site-specific aesthetics.
Instead an Alien Vernacular is proposed, born from the Third Culture Kid experience of international migration. Aliens use vernacular materials, but probably use them wrong. We long to create home, but cannot tolerate it when we get there. "Home" turns out to be an elusive no-place; a receding mirage. What would an architecture of the Alien Vernacular look like?
Aesthetic precedents for this approach are discussed, developed during a residency at Braziers Park - where a fantasy pseudo-historical castle proves that utopias really can be created, and with pastiche and papier mache a home for nomads and misfits can be constructed. Alien Vernacular theorises this approach as a valid placemaking strategy, against the doctrine of "locally appropriate" good taste.