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RETROPIONEERS:
ARCHITECTURE
REDEFINED
RIBA AMBASSADORS AND JANE DUNCAN

IV
© RIBA Enterprises Ltd, 2017

Published by RIBA Publishing, part of RIBA Enterprises Ltd,

The Old Post Office, St Nicholas Street,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1RH

ISBN: 978-1-85946-756-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-85946-757-2 (pdf)

The right of Jane Duncan and the RIBA Ambassadors to be

identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior
permission of the copyright owner.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publications Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.

Commissioning Editor: Elizabeth Webster

Copy Editor: Kathryn Glendenning
Project Editor: Phil Handley
Designed and typeset by Patrick Myles
Printed and bound by Page Bros, Norwich, UK

While every effort has been made to check the accuracy

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 CONTENTS

Introduction Jane Duncan V

Contributors IX

01 Views from the Next Generation X

The Futurist Albena Atanassova 02
Intergenerational Living: Care for the Common Good Vinesh Pomal 06

02 Clients 10
The Future of Clients Stephen Hodder 12
How Architects Should Respond Caspar Rodgers 16

03 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion 20

Routes to a Socially-Inclusive Architectural Education Virginia Newman 22
Talent Unlimited Danna Walker 26

04 Professional Ethics 30
Advancing Architecture Everywhere Peter Oborne 32
Professionalism 2.0 Simon Foxell 36

05 Innovation 40
Knowledge Architects Flora Samuel 42
Connected Construction Oliver Lowrie 46

06 Collaboration and Technical Advancement 50

Redefining Construction Dale Sinclair 52
Automating the Design Process Dale Sinclair 56

07 Responsible Architecture: Building Sustainability 60

Design Fit for the Planet’s Survival Lynne Sullivan 62
The Ultimate Sustainable Design Grows Out of Community Needs
Chris Burgess 66

08 The Future of the Culture of Architecture 70

Going Viral: Digital Communication in a Virtual World Elena Tsolakis 72
Keeping it Real: Physical Representation in a Virtual World Paul Finch 76

09 Business Skills 80
The Future is City Shaping Chris Williamson 82
Facilitating a Grassroots Technological Future Merlin Fulcher 86

Endnotes 90
Image credits 91

iii
iv RETROPIONEERS: ARCHITECTURE REDEFINED
INTRODUCTION
JANE DUNCAN
Judging by the events of 2016/17 one thing is
certain, and that is uncertainty about the future, for
architects, for their clients or for the world. The pub-
lication of this book offers some poignant thoughts
from a range of passionate architectural advocates
about our possible future challenges.
I am filled with a great sense of hope. The core
of each of these essays is the same: that despite the
changing world and the technological advancements
being thrust at us, our key focus has always been and
remains, people and our communication with them.
The RIBA Ambassadors project was initiated
at the start of my presidency by my desire to form a
group of passionate and knowledgeable subject spe-
cialists who would act as a mouthpiece for the RIBA
on topics which I was personally enthused by.
I had learned during my two years as the RIBA’s
first Equality and Diversity champion, that these
posts offered a unique opportunity to raise the level
of awareness and debate within and outside of the
profession.
I did not proscribe the Ambassadors activities,
but left each to promote their own agenda. I made
only three requests: that they use their post to ele-
vate their subject, that they present a series of rec-
ommendations for Council to endorse, enabling new
policy to be created for the Institute, and that they
produced an essay each on their topic area for pub-
lication.
In the end each of the Ambassadors were of-
fered two essays, and were free to request a second
essayist to present an opposite or different perspec-
tive. The result is a challenging, often disturbing,
mostly intriguing and thoughtful look at our future.
Stephen Hodder, Ambassador for Clients comes
to the view that ‘we are at a tipping point’. He believes
however that what clients want will not change, but
that what will change are their expectations, and the
profession needs to adapt. There is no question of
this.
Clients will demand new types of buildings that
are convenient, attractive and promote wellness,
productivity and happiness, and I hope we will be
ready to deliver them.
His guest contributor Caspar Rodgers taunts
us: how can you survive, he asks, with such an en-
cumbered business attitude? We should act more
like entrepreneurs, with profit-making as important
as making a great product; become developers, or
crowdsource funding to build social projects. Other
contributors agree with him it seems.
A building is merely a tool for clients to achieve
their aims he claims, it is the people skills which are
critical, and so he thinks that architects need a new
targeted learning strategy.
Virginia Newman, Ambassador for Equality
Diversity and Inclusion, and her guest contributor
Danna Walker are also worried, really worried about
education.
They express my own real and growing concern
among today’s educators, practitioners and the RIBA
that the profession, with the huge increase of tuition
fees, is becoming increasingly rarefied and mono-
chrome.
Virginia highlights the great work of some
courses pioneering new routes into the profession
including the Sheffield ‘earn and learn’ course for
Part II students, where ‘joined-up thinking’ creates
an integrated approach between practice and edu-
cation. Win-win-win really.
The current options for part-time courses in-
clude the new independent London School of
Architecture (LSA), which is well considered and ad-
vertises its course as ‘cost neutral’.
Danna worries that Britain could soon become
“permanently divided” as a result of intergenerational
inequality, with unequal access being embedded for
all. It is unquestionable that the training of the next
generation is now the responsibility of all architects.
Never has the connection between schools and
practice been more significant for the sustainable fu-
ture of the profession.
Peter Oborn, Ambassador for Ethics advocates
Advancing Architecture Everywhere
Peter’s essay compels the RIBA to show leader-
ship to its membership, as the wider context offers an
extraordinary opportunity for the profession to help
build a better world. He suggests we look at the ef-
fects of rapid urbanisation to realise that the future
cannot be like the past.
The RIBA needs to recalibrate outreach in the
context of international policy, and our communica-
v
tions and public programmes in terms of an interna-
tional audience.
Most of what we design doesn’t perform as it
should, he states, and proposes that we have a duty
to address this in the global context. Many of the oth-
er ambassadors pick up this point.
Peter’s guest Simon Foxell considers that the
profession needs a reboot of professionalism and
requires a more interactive set of responsibilities for
architects.
The challenges of serving both society and the
environment have grown ever more complex and sig-
nificant he says; as a result a reciprocal, interactive
professionalism is undoubtedly challenging us.
Architects need to design on the basis of re-
search into and evidence of real-world outcomes;
this should become the professional norm and archi-
tects need to take responsibility for the whole life of
their buildings.
Many of the contributors to this book will agree
that the RIBA needs to step up and act as curator in
an arena of knowledge, operating an inclusive and
open model, benefitting all.
Flora Samuel, Ambassador for Innovation and
her guest contributor Oliver Lowrie discuss knowl-
edge and process.
Flora argues that architectural activity sits firmly
in the realm of technology and therefore needs a rig-
orous, scientifically respected knowledge base. She
advocates for a future of the profession which would
hinge on the way in which it organises its knowledge,
yet sees the vast majority of practices ignore the po-
tential of knowledge architecture.
If we categorise knowledge in a standardised
vi RETROPIONEERS: ARCHITECTURE REDEFINED
way, we could collate an enormous body of informa-
tion on the value of the profession she argues. Those
with the best knowledge and those who can commu-
nicate it well reduce client risk, increase client con-
fidence and allow others to learn from the process.
Oliver Lowrie analyses the process to assess
why, even on simple projects, their procurement
seems to be failing.
He sees that knowledge is trapped in isolated si-
los across the industry, and is not being deployed at
the appropriate time in the life of a project, so build-
ings are not performing as predicted, and clients are
getting a substandard product.
He advocates for a Connected Construction;
to ensure that those with specialist knowledge are
empowered to input at stages in the project where it
has the maximum impact, and the advantage is that
ultimately it will give us a degree of autonomy
Dale Sinclair Ambassador for Collaboration and
Technical Advancement writes two compelling es-
says. Change is all around us, driven primarily by
technological innovations he thinks.
Transition to technologies will enable buildings
to be assembled rather than constructed, requiring
new, life-long learning processes, underpinning the
importance of designing process as much as product
He warns of radical changes in the way we tran-
sition from design to construction, with new ways to
connect design to construction more effectively, and
thinks that the majority of construction jobs are ripe
for computerisation.
I can see the logic of this: once processes that
radically reduce cost and time outcomes are rolled
out, why would clients continue to use traditional
design-to-construction processes? Like Oliver, Dale
thinks the architectural profession as a whole has not
yet significantly engaged with these developments.
Lynne Sullivan Ambassador for the Climate
Change Agenda and her guest contributor Chris
Burgess consider that current global commitments
demand that our approach to development is funda-
mentally reshaped; that our aim should be to achieve
net-positive benefits, for users and the planet.
Lynne argues for the vital role that architects
play in the global response to one of the greatest
challenges of our time, but thinks that our sector is
hopelessly adrift. She is concerned that UK govern-
ments of the last six years have declined to regu-
late further on sustainable buildings, and have also
abandoned a previous commitment to zero-carbon
homes.
Architects demonstrate a lack of sustainabil-
ity ‘literacy’, which is leading critics to suggest that
architects are part of the problem and not the solu-
tion, unaware of the actual carbon emissions of the
construction or operation of their building projects.
Ouch!
Architects should be powerful advocates as well
as informed practitioners, re-energised with a collec-
tive will to deliver on true sustainability.
Chris proposes new ways to incorporate the
functionality and appropriateness of the traditional, Ambassadors, and advocates for Intergenerational
time-tested materials without compromising the lo- Living.
cal culture in a community-led approach to building. He says that we’ve forgotten the true value of
He believes that sustainability used not to be caring for our ageing population, which can be a
about energy and materials but also about maintain- solution to many social issues. Master-planning of
ability that requires interest, a sense of belonging new housing developments should provide flexible
and connection, and a sense of ownership. individual homes that can accommodate a wide
Elena Tsolakis Ambassador for The Culture of range of needs.
Architecture and her guest contributor Paul Finch He wants to replace the central gathering places
challenge us on interaction and communication of which often served as the ‘heart’ of the community.
the culture of architecture. In the future will we still In future, these could be reinvigorated to include
need to be present physically to experience, study, co-working spaces.
research and debate architecture? Such proposals send out a strong message that
Elena thinks that younger generations have al- people of all ages are equally important – each able
ready moved to more on-demand media consump- to learn from, and supporting others creates a truly
tion models, and will want better access to cultural inclusive society. Hear! hear!
architectural content via phone apps, so we should Albena Atanassova is the other Young Architect
use the technology at our disposal to engage them in Ambassador, and sets her essay firmly in the future.
our debates and activities. It is the year 2034, which would have been the
She suggests that this is the time to experiment, 200th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British
explore and innovate in the way we interact with Architects – that is, if it still existed. The world is
each other, and worries that we exclude the very ele- slowly approaching the Fourth Industrial Revolution
ment that makes our profession necessary and pos- of creating cyber-physical systems and reaching the
sible: people. technological singularity. The currency of today is im-
Paul thinks that the difference between real life agination, and reality is about more than places.
and digital representations of it is that there really Her essay reminds her 2016 self that architec-
is a difference. Real buildings each have their own ture is all about people, and postulates that archi-
smell and touch, and light source, and volumetric se- tects are ‘back where we started’ as master builders
quence, and aspect and prospect. or, what people call us today, ‘Futurists’.
Using only apps you may miss is the interaction Never stop dreaming of a better world she tells
with other people, the creation of potential new re- her younger self.
lationships; the acknowledgement of community. As My vote is with our youngest contributor. Never
ever, I agree with his view that balance and judgment stop dreaming.
will be in demand.
Chris Williamson Ambassador for Business Skills
and his guest contributor Merlin Fulcher review
movement around our cities, and the new industrial
revolution.
Chris believes that movement around and be-
tween cities has probably had one of the biggest
effects on our environment because it has dictat-
ed land use and planning, and will continue to do
so. He sees that there will be great possibilities for
architecture.
He then asks if we can stay in touch so much
better, will we need to travel so much.
Merlin sees that we are on the verge of a fresh
industrial revolution, and the profession needs to re-
invent the great tradition of architectural activism.
He advocates open-source technologies such
as Hyperloop, offered royalty-free for designers and
engineers anywhere in the world to develop collab-
oratively. These could provide a powerful weapon
against future monopolies and thinks that grassroots
development schemes can democratise how civic
spaces are planned and delivered.
Architects have powerful tools to shape an equi-
table world and ensure their continued existence. We
are the facilitators of a great future – but only if we
want to be he challenges.
Vinesh Pomal is one of the Young Architect

vii
viii RETROPIONEERS: ARCHITECTURE REDEFINED
CONTRIBUTORS
ALBENA ATANASSOVA
Albena is currently an Architect at Scott
Brownrigg and recently became the first
RIBA Vice-president for Student and
Associate members after having sat on
RIBA council for the past 4 years. At work
she is involved with the Stephen Lawrence
Trust work experience students and is a
business leader for well-being.
VINESH POMAL
RIBA Presidential Ambassador for Young
Architects
Vinesh is an architect at Levitt Bernstein
and teaches at Leicester School of
Architecture. He is also a RIBA London
Regional Councillor and co-chairs the
RIBA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
advisory group.
STEPHEN HODDER
Stephen Hodder MBE was educated at
University of Manchester. He formed
Hodder Associates in 1992 which went on
to receive the inaugural Stirling Prize for
Architecture for the Centenary Building,
University of Salford. He was RIBA
President 2013-15.
CASPAR RODGERS
Stephen’s co-author, Caspar Rodgers, is
Director of Alma-nac Ltd.
VIRGINIA NEWMAN
With over 30 years’ experience, Virginia
Newman is a Director of KSR Architects.
She takes an active role in the profes-
sion and is the RIBA›s Ambassador for
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
DANNA WALKER
Danna Walker is Founder of Built By Us,
ELENA K. TSOLAKIS
Elena is director of the award winning
former Chair of Architects for Change practice Kyriakos Tsolakis Architects
and Trustee for the Stephen Lawrence running their London office. She is
Charitable Trust. currently project architect on a NASA
Star Observatory, a Culinary School,
PETER OSBORNE a Monastery and recently completed
Peter is the former Deputy Chairman of Women’s Shelter in Cyprus, nominated
Aedas Architects Ltd and has considerable for the 2017 EU Prize for Contemporary
experience of working internationally. He Architecture Mies Van der Rohe Award.
is a National member of the RIBA Council
and was elected the RIBA’s Vice President PAUL FINCH OBE
International in October 2011. Paul Finch is Programme director of the
World Architecture Festival, as well as
SIMON FOXELL Editorial director for both Architectural
Simon Foxell is an architect and author Review and Architects’ Journal.
and principal of The Architects Practice.
CHRIS WILLIAMSON
FLORA SAMUEL Chris Williamson is the RIBA’s Ambassador
Flora Samuel is Professor of Architecture for business skills and a founder Partner
in the Built Environment in the new of WestonWilliamson+Partners which was
University of Reading School of established following their acceptance in
Architecture and Chair of the RIBA the RIBA’s 40 under 40 exhibition in 1985
Research and Innovation Group.
MERLIN FULCHER
OLIVER LOWRIE Merlin Fulcher is a writer and competi-
Flora’s co-author, Oliver Lowrie, is a tions editor for The Architects’ Journal and
Director at Ackroyd Lowrie. Architectural Review.
DALE SINCLAIR
Dale Sinclair is an AECOM Director,
the CIC BIM champion and the RIBA’s
Ambassador for Collaboration and
Technical Advancement and is passionate
about developing innovative iterative inter-
disciplinary digital design processes.
LYNNE SULLIVAN
Lynne Sullivan has practiced as an
Architect for three decades, won the UK’s
first Zero CO2 housing competition, and
was founding Partner of sustainable-
BYdesign. She chaired and co-authored
the Low Carbon Building Standards
Strategy for the Scottish Government, is
a member of the UK Government’s Green
Construction Board, and was awarded the
OBE in 2011.
CHRIS BURGESS
Chris began his career working in retail
design in London, before travelling
extensively throughout Asia and the Far
East. After moving to India in 1989, Chris
became involved in designing and building
sustainable community projects under the
guidance of a spiritual master in 1997.
ix
01 VIEWS FROM THE
NEXT GENERATION
ALBENA ATANASSOVA AND VINESH POMAL

x RETROPIONEERS: VIEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION

 It is the year 2034, nearly 20 years after the start of the virtual re-
ality boom. The world has changed significantly and architects play
a much bigger role in it. This essay, in the form of a letter from the
future, provides a snapshot of what this world might look like and
how the role of an architect may have changed. Provocative from
the outset, it encourages us to think about what makes an architect
and what is the potential for our role in a future world where aug-
mented reality is the only reality.
Albena Atanassova

The reality of today’s housing crisis means that we are living in a

society where the desire to own a home is increasingly out of reach
for many. This essay, written from personal experience, revisits the
concept of intergenerational living and explores how it could be ap-
plied in suburban and urban situations for the benefit of the wider
community – providing care for the common good.
Vinesh Pomal

01
THE FUTURIST
ALBENA ATANASSOVA
Dear 2016 Me,
You know how sometimes you end up, in mo-
ments of reflection, thinking: if I could go back and
tell myself this or that, would that change where I am
now?
I’m writing this letter in the year 2034, just in case
we crack time travel and I can take myself back to
2016 – the year I passed all the necessary thresholds
to be able to call myself ‘an architect’. It’s my attempt
to write a few dos and don’ts, reflecting on what I
should have done differently nearly 20 years ago.
As architects we have always been driven by the
idea of playing a significant role – be it in society or
in an individual’s life, hoping to achieve some sort
of legacy. For decades we have been lamenting the
long lost role of the ‘master builder’, lamenting being
further down the pecking order on design projects,
with our roles being more and more about simply
digitising work rather than leading the project.
In the past, schools of architecture gave such
significance to the meaning of ‘architect’ that it was
viewed as a respected and envied profession. More
recently, younger generations have distanced them-
selves from this opinion, as they see the traditional
architectural practice being very much tied to a desk
space, CAD-ing away the next housing association
or developer’s optimum layout to be sold to foreign
investors. Yet the one thing we have somehow for-
gotten about is probably the most important feature
of our training and the one function that has saved
us from becoming extinct – the ability to read people
02 RETROPIONEERS: VIEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION
and see the whole picture.
It might be worth giving you some background…
Once a self-confident
profession, we are
It is the year 2034, which would have been the now wondering where
200th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British we sit within the
Architects – that is, if it still existed. The world is industry.
slowly approaching the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Harwood, 1996)1
of creating cyber-physical systems and reaching the
technological singularity. The promise of buildings
that can self-evolve and anticipate the occupants’
needs and desires has been fulfilled, thus shifting the Architecture has been
focus to buildings as a service augmenting the well- defined in terms of
being of occupants rather than being the mere prod- one activity, and that
uct of one’s design. Twenty years ago the professions activity is adding
were blindly digitising existing processes and meth- to the world. A few
ods of design while their clients were burdened with years ago I realized
unnecessarily complicated buildings that performed the profession was
very poorly. as if lobotomized – it
How we live today is very different to what I was stuck conceiving
grew up with. Now, don’t get too excited: we haven’t of itself only in terms
destroyed our planet and had to relocate somewhere of adding things and
in outer space like the films suggest. We have be- not in terms of taking
come less consumerist and vain, I guess. We don’t away or erasing
wear fancy clothes or drive expensive cars: money, in things.
fact, isn’t as important as it used to be – the currency (Koolhaus 1996)2
of today is imagination. It’s all about how people live
in the time they are given and the experiences they
have.
How did we get to this point? Some 20 years The potential for
ago virtual reality came about – with headsets and a future role for
clothing that took the user to a virtual world. At the architects within the
time the big hit for designers was to create an ex- built environment will
perience that fully conveyed a place, a project. Your be explored, where
clients could be taken through their new office build- the architect will act
ing by simply putting on their Oculus Rift headset. as the ‘holder’ of the
This helped them to make decisions such as picking big picture, capturing
office furniture, and enabled them to visualise using requirements and
their meeting rooms or simply being in their future proposing solutions
home with their family. Simulation scenarios allowed with an eye to the
for various ways of optimising building performanc- interests of all
es: you could test emergency exit systems by plac- stakeholders.
ing someone in an obscure part of a virtual building (Saxon, 2006)3
model and seeing how quickly they could exit using
the signage system you’d put into place. So for archi-
tects, this led to an intuitive understanding of spaces,
allowing them to immediately realise designs of form, In order to survive,
material and space in another dimension. It gave us the architect must
opportunities to redefine how design is understood design beyond
and how clients affect and co-design projects, and buildings. (Robinson et
ultimately led to fewer rounds of reworking through al, 2009)4
the ability to review projects ‘live’ and instantly.
After the invention of television and the world
wide web, this was the next big step for humanity.
The problem was that this soon led to a dystopia full VR is bringing
of isolated individuals in VR headsets; virtual expe- designers and end-
riences ultimately never truly feel real until they can users together in a
be shared, because reality is about more than places. way we’ve never been
It’s about people. able to before
And that’s what caused the next step for human- (Funk, 2016)5
ity – a move from virtual realities to augmented ones,
where the real world meets the virtual one. A world
where everyone and anyone could be ‘an architect’
Figure 1: Digital fabrication
at Petershouse Technology
Park Cambridge

03
of their own spaces. A world for users who want to
interact with the virtual environment at a deeper lev-
el than simply viewing it and moving around; that
is, who wish to manipulate objects and the space
itself. So here we are: people are now purchasing
empty spaces with white walls and windows which
they fill in with pretty much anything their imagina-
tion can create. You wake up in the morning, you put
your contact lenses in, and you ‘open your eyes’ – you
could be having breakfast in Venice, working in New
York at lunchtime and rushing home to meet your
best friend for their birthday party in Cape Town. One
day your room is full of books and looks like a library;
on another it is a minimalistic office space with wa-
tercolours on the wall and holograms appearing for a
chat. Storage is of course still problematic – I guess
as humans we never quite got over the desire to pos-
sess more and more, to get bored easily and then
want more stuff; the only difference is that storage
is no longer physical but rather in the form of data.
How is it all possible? We are all connected
through what I could explain most simply as an aug-
mented version of Facebook. We meet someone
new, we shake hands and we exchange our finger-
prints. Depending on the level of interaction we want
to have we could share some experiences, or invite
people to experience our memories. We still have to
travel to physically meet but rather than spending
90% of our time commuting to work, rushing to catch
planes, having two-day weekends, we only work five
hours a day, three days a week. The rest of the time
we use to gather experiences, to help us unlock our
creativity, to make us happier and much more ful-
filled. Ultimately one could argue that, as a result, we
are much healthier and less stressed.
We don’t have overpopulation problems and a
housing crisis in London because people don’t feel
the need to constantly relocate in search of new op-
portunities. Whereas work used to be one of the main
drivers of bringing people to one place, now we can
live anywhere we want and still do what we do and
work collaboratively. In fact, we don’t have to com-
mute at all, because conventional office spaces don’t
exist anymore. You can work anytime, anywhere; you
can have a meeting inside the model of your future
building which is not constructed yet. People have
stopped competing for that higher role as big cor-
porations don’t really exist anymore. Companies are
now replaced by individuals coming together in col-
lectives around mutual interest and ideas.
What about architects? As you can see, our
world in 2034 has somehow managed to bring out
the architect in all of us when it comes to personal
space preferences and choice of lifestyle. What used
to be ‘the profession’ today sees itself repurposed
– it no longer serves the developer in providing the
optimum building layout for them to maximise profit,
pushing the architect further down the pecking or-
der of consultants tied to RIBA Stages 3–5; nor are
architects ‘odd creatures’ tied to their desks, creat-
ing virtual environments with the sole purpose of
04 RETROPIONEERS: VIEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION
predicting and manipulating one’s buying preferenc- Figure 1: Virtual
reality experience
es. The Architect – a title protected fiercely by regu-
latory bodies of the past – in fact has disappeared.
There is no separation between professions, but
rather, ironically, architects are back where we start-
ed – as master builders or, what people call us today,
‘Futurists’: a hybrid of many professions, open-mind-
ed and collaborative in nature. Part town planner, part
community mediator and part technology specialist,
the Futurist manages and encodes an augmented re-
ality environment within cities – a visualisation of the
city’s future, and a real-time way to mediate between
the interests of local landowners, foreign investors,
local town planning authorities and the government.
As Futurists we consider all those individual choices
and preferences that people make on a daily basis
in order to ensure that while everyone’s wellbeing is
maintained and people are ‘happy’ we still have the
necessary systems in place to help us survive in the
long term. Some of us are focused on repurposing
the empty former office buildings in the city, others
are working on new building materials. We don’t use
a mouse and keyboard, or screens at all, but rather
use our hands to put together building elements in
a simulated environment that is then prototyped and
tested before being manufactured on site.
So, dear 2016 Me, if I could give you some useful
advice it would be this:
• Don’t worry too much about job titles – soon they
won’t matter at all.
• Never stop imagining and creating – it will come
in handy.
• Challenge yourself – get to know other
consultants and what they do – one day you Figure 2: Printed
might have to do it yourself. floor structure
• Don’t worry too much about working in a big
office or a small office; make sure you maintain
connections with your colleagues.
• Develop people skills, learn to read people, to
understand them – that will be essential.
• Never stop dreaming of a better world.
Yours sincerely,
Future Me
05
INTERGENERATIONAL LIVING:
CARE FOR THE COMMON GOOD
VINESH POMAL
The reality of today’s housing crisis is that we
are living in a society where financial gain is the
driving force behind any new initiative. The desire to
own a home has never been greater – but this is in-
creasingly out of reach for many. It is now reserved
for the privileged few, and even they need to be in
a relationship, fortunate enough to receive financial
support from their families, or able to take out loans
as a means of securing finance.
To compound the issue, we are no longer liv-
ing in truly mixed communities – financial motiva-
tions are leading to increased isolation, division and
segregation. New housing developments are being
06 RETROPIONEERS: VIEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION
targeted at specific demographics: the young, the
old or professional workers. New developments are
increasingly branded with words such as ‘village’,
‘square’, ‘community’, ‘gateway’ and ‘suburb’; these
words are often used in contexts which belie their
original meaning in order to lure in residents.
Is this really the way to create vibrant, mixed
communities, especially against a backdrop of in-
creasing political tensions and economic concerns?
This thirst and need for home ownership has esca-
lated, but perhaps in the midst of it all, we’ve for-
gotten the true value of caring for our ageing pop-
ulation.
According to the Office for National Statistics,
the average life expectancy for a boy born in 2016 is
93.9 years, and 96.5 years for a girl.1 Our population
is ageing faster than ever before. With the NHS and
local authorities already struggling to fund health
and social care, who will look after us in the future?
The current housing options for older people
can be split into three broad categories: ‘ordinary
housing’ for those who choose to remain fully inde-
pendent and arrange care through visiting carers;
‘retirement homes’ for those who wish to remain in-
dependent but choose to live with others of a similar
age in close proximity to amenities, and ‘managed
group settings’ such as Extra Care housing, which
provides communal facilities and arranges access
to care.
The concept of intergenerational living isn’t a
recognised option or category. Instead, it is quite of-
ten seen as a taboo in British culture. Yet caring for
your elders remains a way of life for many interna-
tional cultures. For example, in Japan, 40% of older
people live with their adult offspring and over 17%
live with their grandchildren.2
THE BENEFITS OF INTERGENERATIONAL LIVING
Contrary to the situation of many of my friends
and colleagues, I currently live at home with my gran-
dad, dad, mum and sister in a three-bedroom house
in Perivale, west London. We ran a family newsa-
gent in Hounslow for 11 years and both of my par-
ents worked seven days a week. This provided for
the family, but meant we spent little time with them.
That’s where my grandparents came in, known to me
as ‘ba’ (grandma) and ‘dada’ (grandad). Living in an
extended family meant that dinner was on the table
after school, birthdays were special and treats were
common on shopping trips to Southall market. I was
particularly close to ba. Her warmth, kind nature and
‘social butterfly’ status has definitely had a lasting
impact on me. Her death in 2003 after suffering from
a brain tumour was a tragedy for our family. Her ab-
sence is still felt in the home today, but her legacy re-
mains through the key values she instilled in us. It is
for this reason I strongly believe that intergeneration-
al living can be a solution to many social issues found
in housing, at both micro and macro urban scales.
The most common form of intergenerational
living on the micro scale is found in existing homes,
notably in suburbia. Options vary from modest refur-
bishment, such as the addition of a downstairs bed-
room/shower room, to a total reconfiguration to al-
low for separate spaces or the provision of a ‘granny
annexe’. The social and emotional benefits to a child
brought up with their grandparents under the same
roof are invaluable. Grandparents impart a wealth of
knowledge, wisdom and care to the younger gener-
ation, quite apart from fulfilling childcare duties. The
rewards are reciprocal. Seeing a sense of joy in one’s
grandchildren can help to alleviate some of the neg-
ative effects of ageing, which, in turn, helps to reduce
the amount of palliative care required.
When my grandad took a fall two years ago, he
went from being an active man to one who was una-
ble to walk unaided. The roles have switched. We are
now his carers and look after him on a daily basis.
There are days when he is down, frustrated by what
he can’t do, but at this past year’s Diwali (the Hindu
festival of lights), when one traditionally wears new
clothes, I chose his outfit and helped dress him for
our special family meal. The smile on his face that
very moment was priceless. It was as though he had
forgotten that he even needed a Zimmer frame. I
have seen his health improve significantly since his
fall, and I believe this can be attributed to the fact he
is being looked after by his family; the people that
matter most to him. This is exactly what intergener-
ational living is all about – caring and looking after
one another.
INNOVATIVE WAYS TO ENCOURAGE
INTERGENERATIONAL LIVING
Although challenging, perhaps the biggest op-
portunity for intergenerational living resides in the
master-planning of new housing developments.
Why should housing for older people be separat-
ed from mainstream housing? Working with local
07
Hill balcony concept A/HA balcony concept Hanover balcony concept

Hill private sale balconies Arguddas Israel HA balconies Hanover independent living winter gardens

08 RETROPIONEERS: VIEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION

Figures 1, 2 and 3:
Buccleuch House,
designed by
Levitt Bernstein,
exemplifies
the principles
of intergenerational living
authorities and other local organisations, developers
and housing associations should integrate different
user groups and introduce innovative housing typol-
ogies to create genuinely mixed communities. This
could take many forms, from a distinct core or block
for older residents with communal spaces at the bot-
tom that are open to the local community, through
to the provision of flexible individual homes that can
accommodate a wide range of needs.
Buccleuch House, designed by Levitt Bernstein,
is a great example – a contemporary, high-density,
mixed-use, mixed-tenure residential building that ex-
emplifies the principles of intergenerational living. It
is located in Hackney, one of London’s poorest and
most densely populated boroughs, and houses three
different communities: first-time buyers, Orthodox
Jewish families and older people with care needs. Its
unified external appearance creates a sense of equal-
ity across the three user groups. The exception is the
use of subtly different balcony types, each designed
with the varying practical and cultural requirements
of the residents in mind. The private apartments
have simple stacking balconies and those for the
Orthodox Jewish families are staggered to provide a
clear view of the sky for the Sukkot festival. Through
the use of sliding glazing, the balconies for the older
residents can be transformed into winter gardens to
provide more shelter and an extra ‘living space’ for
those who spend more time inside.
Traditionally, communities had a space where
people could congregate. Be it a town square, com-
munity centre or place of worship, a central gathering
place often served as the ‘heart’ of the community.
In future, these could be reinvigorated to include
co-working spaces, responding to a shift in our work-
ing patterns where flexibility and entrepreneurism
are the driving forces.
In apartment blocks with courtyard parking be-
neath a podium, the maisonette typology could be
utilised to allow for a room on the ground floor to be
used as a home office, or a room for a carer or grand-
parents. Suburban densities could be increased by
building new housing typologies on backlands and
garage sites, creating opportunities for intergenera-
tional living. Of course this could also be applied to
co-housing, where groups of like-minded individuals
live together with shared facilities.
These ideas are nothing new, in fact they are
very old; but we need a shift in the way we think
and act. Older people often have the time and wis-
dom to support and encourage the next generation.
‘The benefits to the economy could be exponential
and the sense of purposefulness to older people,
life-enhancing’. 3
Living with your extended family under one
roof may not be the ideal solution for everyone, but
knitting various communities together through a
carefully designed master plan, which puts people
at its heart, brings multiple benefits. Reinforced by
well-designed communal indoor and outdoor spac-
es, this would allow older people to retain their in-
dependence and become friends with their younger
neighbours. It also sends out a strong message that
people of all ages are equally important – each able
to learn from, and support, others.
In the Netherlands, a nursing home allows stu-
dents to stay rent-free in exchange for spending at
least 30 hours per month as ‘good neighbours’ un-
dertaking a variety of activities. This helps address
the issue of isolation and loneliness among the elder-
ly while efficiently using the space available to them.4
Over in Oklahoma, the Grace Living Center is home
to two classrooms for kindergarten school children
and a nursing home where the elderly, known as
‘grandmas’ and ‘grandpas’, read to them. Benefits of
this interaction include improved health for the el-
derly residents and improved reading ability for the
children.5
It is time to revisit the past and revive the true
concept of intergenerational living as a way of life,
making caring for one another the natural response.
It is so much more than just bricks and mortar.
At the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust’s
Memorial Lecture in 2016, trustee and brother of
Stephen Lawrence, Stuart Lawrence, delivered a
powerful message about the importance of caring for
one another both inside and outside the home.6 He
reminded us about the simple things in life, such as
how sharing home-grown produce with neighbours
is a great way of encouraging a sense of community
– a concept he neatly demonstrated by sharing his
own tomatoes with the audience.
Of course, intergenerational living may not suit
everyone. Much as I enjoy the benefits of living at
home, I often find myself feeling that I lead a dou-
ble life: at work a practising architect engaged in the
modern professional world and at home a carer and
member of a family for whom traditional cultural val-
ues mean everything. Just as adult members of the
same family should not be forced to live together,
neither should they be forced to live separately. We
should be building a rich mix of housing that encour-
ages people of all ages – with different cultural back-
grounds, skills and needs – to live side by side. Only
then will we become a truly inclusive society in which
intergenerational living is the norm.
Fast-forward 20 years to such a society: one
that has responded to housing demand with cultural
change and attitudinal shifts. The younger genera-
tion are thriving because they live close to their older
relatives. These are intergenerational communities
where care for the elderly is undertaken through
concern for the common good. The widening divide
is replaced by a strengthening sense of community
and pride.
I’m not sure what the future holds for me. I may
find myself still living at home and caring for my own
parents, but I’d like to think it would be possible to
live in the same street or community, in homes that
suit our respective needs. One thing I’m certain of is
that I’d like my children to be as close to their grand-
parents as I have been with mine.
09
02 CLIENTS
STEPHEN HODDER AND CASPAR RODGERS

10 RETROPIONEERS: CLIENTS
 Clients mean work. Without work, we can’t practise architecture.
If we can’t practise architecture, we can’t improve the social, eco-
nomic and cultural fabric of our world. And so it pays to really nur-
ture clients. Throughout my several decades of leading an architec-
tural practice, this virtuous circle has been central to my thinking.
Over that same period, I’ve seen challenges which threaten
that relationship. The profession has responded well, but at a cost.
Relentless increases in sophistication, complexity and specialisa-
tion have caught us scrambling not to be stranded as mere gener-
alists. Meanwhile, better informed clients have questioned estab-
lished hierarchies, eroding our professional status.
It’s the reason I put the client - architect relationship at the heart
of my RIBA Presidency, and accounts for my continuing involve-
ment in the RIBA Client Liaison Group’s important research. And
now that as RIBA Ambassador for Clients I’ve had the opportunity
to contemplate the future, I realise that the pattern of change that
has confronted us to this point will only accelerate. In short, we are
at a tipping point.
If anyone has the mental agility to adapt and prosper, it’s the
next generation of architects. Caspar Rodgers, my co-writer of this
chapter and fellow member of the Client Liaison Group, is a prime
example of this new cohort. Young, hungry and digitally savvy, his
growing London practice, Alma-nac, typifies the profession trem-
bling on the cusp of change.
Our essays synthesise our professional experiences with what
we’ve learnt from our research into the client - architect relationship
– but from very different perspectives. Taken together, we hope they
establish a constructive agenda for change.

11
THE FUTURE OF CLIENTS
STEPHEN HODDER
Contemporary architectural practice is unrecog-
nisable from the drawing boards and Rotring pens
of my earliest professional memories. After decades
of only creeping change, transformation began to
accelerate in the 1980s and ’90s. Computers, CAD,
the internet, mobile communications, BIM, visual-
isation and modelling tools, instant access to infor-
mation, regulated carbon dioxide emissions, regu-
lated accessible design, clampdowns on health and
safety, new building typologies: in the last 30 years
the changes have been significant, their impacts
far-reaching and, crucially, beneficial for clients.
More dramatically, all these contextual fluctu-
ations may also subconsciously have changed the
very way we design. By vastly extending our palette
of technological colours we have probably already
tapped new design potential, especially among the
cohort of Millennials and digital natives entering the
profession today.
So the transformation, imperceptible as we lived
it, has in retrospect been a revolution.
If you had told me back in 1986 that in 30 years’
time most people in the country would have a pocket
computer on which they could broadcast live video
more or less for free from the top of a mountain to
anyone anywhere in the world with an internet con-
nection, I would have thought you crazy. And yet here
we are.
What’s more, there’s no sign that this rate of
change is going to stop or slow down any time soon.
What seem like distant possibilities today could eas-
12 RETROPIONEERS: CLIENTS
ily be our everyday routine sooner than we think.
Much sooner.
Figure 1: Bob
Champion Research
and Education Building
Three variables influence the impact of this
change: timing, penetration and speed. When will it
occur? How many people will it affect? How strong
will its impact be? These questions are critical, but
the difficulty of answering them sums up the chal-
lenge for architects anticipating future client needs.
This is the nature of uncertainty – there are
multiple futures and so making business plans is a
gamble.
WHAT CLIENTS WILL EXPECT
Whether overtly articulated or not, clients have
always wanted and will continue to want the same
thing: the optimum solution for their needs, delivered
with no problems, quickly and for as little money as
is reasonable. In short, in procuring a building, they
want to add value.
The trouble is that the perfectly suited, prob-
lem-free, efficient, fast and cost-effective ideal build-
ing is currently a long way off the reality. Construction
is beset by problems all along the delivery chain. It
underperforms in comparison to other industries on
most measures, and of course clients suffer for it.
The industry is relatively risk-averse and so slow
to innovate and adopt new technology and process-
es. It is bad at process management and project
monitoring, with stubbornly low levels of productivi-
ty. It is poor at capturing and transferring knowledge.
Structurally, it is highly fragmented, with too little
cross-disciplinary cooperation between consultants
or collaboration with suppliers – although this is im-
proving. Finally, it is facing significant skills shortag-
es. These problems are by now old chestnuts, which
itself is telling.
So, the bold outline of what clients want will
not change. What will change are their expectations.
They will expect fewer problems and better perfor-
mance from their procurement teams. Being better
informed thanks to easy access to comprehensive,
high-quality, up-to-date, peer-to-peer information,
they will demand much more than they currently get.
There was a time when clients might not have
been very aware of these problems. Or at least, in
the absence of any viable alternative, they put up
with them. Over time, however, awareness has
grown. Now that we have the technical wherewithal
to solve almost all of these issues, clients are unsur-
prisingly reluctant to carry on tolerating the dearth
of progress. With providers beginning to offer better
solutions, or at least different solutions, clients are
minded to try them.
There are extenuating circumstances. Buildings
are highly complex, high-cost assets with lots of
moving parts that can take years to develop and
build. The systems underpinning their procurement
have evolved piecemeal, an inefficient route. They
are subject to increasingly complex regulations and
Figure 2: St Catherine’s
requirements. Given these legacies, the parlous state College, Oxford, by Hodder
of the industry is understandable, perhaps. and Partners
13
 More to the point, there is a strong argument
that says the industry does what the client body pays
for. It takes two to tango, and clients have a crucially
important role to play in choreographing change in
a famously cyclical industry. Short-termism and fear,
especially fuelled by economic slowdowns, tend to
shift the focus onto cost at the expense of value.
If all the players in construction procurement
are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, architects are the edge
pieces. They are the traditional starting point. They
frame the whole picture and determine its shape and
size.
Until now, that is. It doesn’t take much imagina-
tion to see how vulnerable architects’ jigsaw primacy
is to change. If other puzzle pieces come pre-assem-
bled, or their connections are reconfigured to be eas-
ier to put together, or are bigger, or the target picture
is simplified, for example, the edge pieces are no
longer so important.
In fact, the other players are already on the
move. Mergers, acquisitions, specialisation, reskill-
ing, upskilling, disruptive new entrants, all buoyed
by emerging tech, converging tech, better market-
ing, better processes and different business models
– the change is constant and pressuring architects.
14 RETROPIONEERS: CLIENTS
By standing still while other providers change, archi- Figure 3: The Whitworth
tects’ field of influence has already shrunk. Art Gallery
As the RIBA’s Client Liaison Group so clearly
found in its recent research, the profession needs
to adapt. The trick is knowing when to do so. Get it
right and there are not only handsome commercial
rewards but also a continued governance of archi-
tectural quality so important to the social, economic
and cultural life of our world.
The World Economic Forum1 identifies global
megatrends that increase the pressure to adapt for
everyone, clients as well as their architects and other
providers.2 Looming large and already engulfing the
construction sector, these are amply analysed else-
where, so I shall not dwell on them. Briefly, though,
they are categorised into several broad, deeply inter-
related issues:
• climate change, sustainability and resilience
• society and the workforce
• demographics, markets and customers
• politics and regulation.
They are making and will continue to make new
conditions, meaning that if ‘business as usual’ ever
existed, which is doubtful, it has long since evaporat-
ed. There is already a compelling motivation to fix the
industry’s shortcomings. These additional pressures • The new ways of working will be worked out
turn it into a global moral imperative. As profession- initially in larger project environments, but
als in a position to help, architects have a duty to un- inexperienced and one-off clients for smaller
derstand and respond to these trends. projects will soon catch up and expect to enjoy
Architects had better get ready quickly. In an- the same kinds of benefits.
other 30 years’ time – a mere generation from now All the technologies and tools are in place and
– clients will expect better solutions as well as im- either already market-mature or close to it: 5D BIM,
proved performance from their providers. It’s hard to surveying and mapping tech, low-cost sensors, data
say exactly when these things will happen or in what analytics, pre-assembly, robotics, AI and automation,
order, but here are some possible implications: dynamic modelling of various kinds, 3D printing,
• From their contractors, subcontractors and augmented reality, project management standards
suppliers, clients will expect the construction and protocols, different forms of contract, better ten-
process to be less wasteful, more efficient, dering, better cost-benefit analysis, better risk analy-
more cost-effective, faster and safer by far than sis. Equipped with the instruction manual for a better
it is today. construction process, the industry needs to read it
• From their architects, engineers and other and then apply it. It will take concerted collaborative
designers, or any other new entrants making effort and, of course, strong leadership from both the
the right noises, they will expect the brief to be industry and its paymasters – clients.
developed to better suit new prevailing socio- Piecemeal positive change is well under way but
economic conditions. Designs will need to be the whole construction industry needs to transform.
verifiable for the whole life of the building to This is the only possible conclusion to draw if archi-
better meet user needs and comfort. Clients tects want to meet clients’ expectations and, coin-
will require new types of buildings that are cidentally, the future needs of society. Pan-industry,
convenient, attractive and promote wellness, bilateral (client- and supply-side) engagement is go-
productivity and happiness. ing to be critical, with significant roles played by the
• From their project teams (including architects), various representative bodies, not least the RIBA.
clients will expect early joint engagement for Through all of this, architects somehow need to
an efficient, waste-free, problem-free, articulate the meaning of design quality and quantify
integrated, collaborative, best-value approach the value it adds – assuming it does. Clients are not
to the entire procurement process, with risks trained in it and can be forgiven for getting blinded
comprehensively managed through new by science, losing sight of what matters. All the tech
forms of contract. The industry has already and new systems in the world are worthless unless
made good headway on this score, but the appropriately and cleverly deployed. Architects al-
journey is far from over. One route is through ready own this territory. Now they need to convince
one-stop-shop, vertically integrated service clients to move there.
providers where the boundaries between tradi
tional disciplines are invisible.
• Clients will be expected by their investors,
insurers, markets, customers and, if they are
owner-occupier businesses, their own
business owners, to produce buildings that are
more resilient, more resource-efficient, more
flexible in use, more adaptable when uses need
to change, cheaper to run, easier to maintain,
and easier to recycle or decommission
sustainably. As the cost of transferring risk
(through insurance) becomes ever more
expensive, risk mitigation measures become
increasingly valuable.
• Clients will expect to be able to assess how
effective their buildings are over time on
standardised real-time digital dashboards.
They will expect their buildings to be equipped
with sensors to report back to them through
the Internet of Things. Just as important, they
will expect to analyse data from the Internet of
Everything to tell them how people enjoy using “Piecemeal positive
their buildings. Not only will this allow them to change is well under
monitor and fine-tune the building in use, it will way but the whole
also allow them to reflect on the value of their construction industry
chosen procurement route. needs to transform”

15
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
only two years of age, was rode at the battle of Preston Pans, by a
young gentleman, who afterwards sold it to a farmer near Dunbar.
This pony, at forty-seven years of age, looked remarkably fresh;
trotted eight miles an hour for several miles together; had a very
good set of teeth; eat corn and hay well; was able to go a long
journey; and had not, to appearance, undergone the least alteration,
either in galloping, trotting, or walking, for twenty years preceding.

Curious.—In a book of accounts, belonging to a small dealer,

who had become bankrupt, in the west of England, were found the
following names of customers to whom credit had been given:
“Woman on the Key; Jew Woman; Coal Woman; Old Coal Woman;
Fat Coal Woman; Market Woman; Pale Woman; A Man; Old
Woman; Little Milk Girl; Candle Man; Stable Man; Coachman; Big
Woman; Lame Woman; Quiet Woman; Egg Man; Littel Black Girl;
Old Watchman; Shoemaker; Littel Shoemaker; Short Shoemaker;
Old Shoemaker; Littel Girl; Jew Man; Jew Woman; Mrs. in the Cart;
Old Irish Woman; Woman in Cow street; A Lad; Man in the country;
Long Sal; Woman with Long Sal; Mrs. Irish Woman; Mrs. Feather
Bonnet; Blue Bonnet; Green Bonnet; Green Coat; Blue Britches; Big
Britches; The woman that was married; The woman that told me of
the man.”

“I hope I don’t intrude,” as the knife said to the oyster.

 Instinct.

As M. Moreau de Johnes was riding through a wood in Martinique

some years since, his horse reared and exhibited the greatest
degree of alarm, trembling in every limb with fear. On looking around
to discover the cause of the animal’s terror, he observed a serpent,
called fer de lance, standing erect in a bush of bamboo, and he
heard it hiss several times.
He would have fired at it with his pistol, but his horse became
quite unmanageable, and drew back as quickly as possible, keeping
his eyes fixed on the snake. M. de Johnes, on looking around for
some person to hold his horse so that he might destroy the viper,
beheld a negro, streaming with blood, cutting with a blunt knife the
flesh from a wound which the serpent had just inflicted.
The negro entreated M. de Johnes not to destroy it, as he wished
to take the animal alive, to effect a cure on himself, according to a
superstitious belief; and this M. de Johnes allowed him to do.
 Varieties.

Little Chimney-Sweeper.—About three o’clock, one cold, dark,

damp day, at the end of December, I met a little chimney-sweeper in
England, who had come with his father that morning from a town
eight miles off, to sweep the various chimneys about. He was nearly
ten years old.
“Do you go home to-night, my little fellow? Where is your father?”
“He went forward to the village of D——, and I am to follow.” “Are
you afraid to go?” “No, I don’t feel afraid.” “I hope you are a good boy
and don’t swear—do you say your prayers?” “Yes, always, every
night and morning.” “Do you like sweeping chimneys?” “As to that, I
don’t think any one could like it much; but there are nine children of
us, and we two eldest boys must help father; and mother is good,
and gets us breakfast early; and father is good to us, and we do
pretty well.” “Do you go to Sunday school?” “Some of us always go.”
Here ended our conversation.
About four o’clock a message came, “May the chimney-sweeper’s
boy sleep here?—he cries, and says it is so wet and dark.” After a
minute’s thought, we replied, “Yes, if he is willing to be locked up in
the stable till morning.” With this he was well content; and after a
clean bed of straw was made, he seemed delighted with his new
quarters.
After the key had been turned a few minutes, an old servant
coming by heard a voice—a steady, pleading voice; and on listening,
she heard the child distinctly repeating collect after collect, and
various church prayers. She went round, and looking in, saw our
poor boy, kneeling by his bed of straw, with his hands clasped, and
praying very earnestly. She said, “The tears came in my eyes as I
watched the little fellow, and to see him rise from his knees, and so
happily lay himself down to sleep.”
In the morning, they watched the child, when he repeated just the
same before he left the stable. Upon coming out, the servants asked
him, “Who taught you to say your prayers as you do?” “Mother,” he
replied. “Then your mother’s a good scholar?” “No, she can’t read a
word—none in our house can read.” “How then did she learn all
these prayers?”
“Mother goes to church every Sunday, and says them after the
parson, and so she learns them; and every night we all kneel round
her that are old enough to speak, before she puts us to bed, and she
says them first, bit by bit, and we all say them after her; and
sometimes she learns a new one, and then she teaches us that. She
tells us always to say our prayers when we are away from her, and
so I do.”

A Shower of Ashes.—A late number of Silliman’s Journal

contains the following memorandum, handed in by Rev. Peter
Parker, M. D., who was a passenger in the ship Niantic, from Canton
for New York:
“Ship Niantic, L. F. Doty, master, April 5th, 1840, being in lat. 7
deg. 5 min. north, lon. 121 deg. 10 min. east, at 2 h. A. M., sixty
miles west from Mindanuo, one of the Philippine islands, came up a
fine breeze from the northeast, which was attended with a shower of
dust, resembling that of ashes. It came so thick that it obscured the
moon and stars, which were all out very clear before. It filled the
sailors’ eyes so full that they were obliged to retreat from the deck
below. It lasted about one hour, and cleared away. At daylight the
Niantic looked like an old furnace, completely covered, from the
royal-masthead down to the water’s edge. The decks I should judge
were one quarter of an inch thick with the ashes. We took up one
half bushel, and might have saved three or four. It fell in small
quantities, at different times, for two or three days after. On the 14th
of April, spoke the English barque Margaret, whaler; reported
likewise on the 5th of April had a similar shower of ashes, being at
the time three hundred miles north-northeast of us. He informed me
that on the 12th of April he visited several villages on the island of
Madura, entirely deserted by the people, from one of which he had
taken two brass cannon and several other articles. This led us to
think that some volcanic eruption had lately happened in that
neighborhood. After the 9th, perceived no more ashes in proceeding
northward.”

Circumstances alter Cases.—“Is Mr. Bluster within?” “No; he is

out of town,” remarked the servant. “When can I see him?” “I don’t
know;—have you any especial business with him?” “Yes, there is a
small bill which I wish to settle.” “Well,” said the servant, “I don’t
know whether he will return this week or not.” “But I wish to pay the
bill, as I am to leave the town immediately.” “Oh! you wish to pay him
some money—he is up stairs, I’m thinking; I will call him. Take a
seat, sir; Mr. Bluster will be with you in a moment!”

Fatal Attack of a Serpent.—A letter from Martinique, in the

Journal of Guadaloupe, states, that M. De Pickery, merchant, was
met while on a hunting excursion by an enormous serpent, which
attacked him, and inflicted several severe wounds in his legs. He
defended himself with great courage; but, although timely succor
was administered to him, he died four hours after. The serpent was
nearly seven feet in length, and when opened there were found in it
one hundred and sixty-two little ones. (1840.)
 TEARS.
the words and music composed for
merry’s museum.
Slow & Pathetic.

Tears, tears may speak of grief,

More deep than words e’er spake,
And yet tears bring relief,
When else the heart would break.

Tears, tears may tell of pleasure,

Too sweet for words to show;
For the heart is like a measure—
Too full, ’twill overflow.

Then give, oh give me tears!—

For sorrow’s load they lighten—
And rainbow joy appears,
Amid their showers to brighten.
 ROBERT MERRY’S

MUSEUM.

edited by

S. G. GOODRICH,

AUTHOR OF PETER PARLEY’S TALES.

VOLUME II.

BOSTON:
BRADBURY & SODEN,
10 School Street.
1841.
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

AUGUST TO DECEMBER, 1841.

The Siberian Sable-hunter, 1, 33, 69, 103, 156

The Wolf that pretended to be robbed, 7
Beware of Impatience, 8
Travels, Adventures, and Experiences of
Thomas Trotter, 8, 44, 74, 144
Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and
History of the Indians of America, 14, 54, 121, 135, 161
Lion Hunting, 16
Merry’s Life and Adventures, 17, 39, 65, 97, 149,
178
Toucan, 19
The Newfoundland Dog, 21
The Mysterious Artist, 24, 51
Peter Pilgrim’s Account of his Schoolmates,
Nos. 2 & 3, 27, 140
Egyptian Schools, 30
Varieties, 31
The Boy and the Lark,—a Song, 32
Origin of Words and Phrases, 43
Hymn, 50
Anecdote, 50
The Sparrow and Robin, 51
The Alligator, 60
Braham’s Parrot, 61
Mungo Park and the Frogs, 62
A Child lost in the Woods, 63
The Sun, 63
Autumn,—a Song, 64
Habit, 73
The Oak and the Reed, 80
Sincerity, 81
The Hyena, 84
Jewish Women, 84
Story of Philip Brusque, 85, 100, 130
An Incident from Ancient History, 89
Effects of Prohibition, 89
Saturday Night, 90
Oliver Cromwell, 92
Musings, 93
Anecdote of an Atheist, 94
Who made this? 94
Wisdom of the Creator, 94
Yankee Energy, 95
Who made Man? 95
Power of God, 95
The Bird’s Adieu,—a Song, 96
Wisdom of the Creator, 106
Washington, a Teacher to the Young, 107
The Poet and the Child, 111
The Ostrich, 112
What do we mean by Nature? 112
A Vision, 114
The Sun and Wind, 116
The Kamskatka Lily, 116
Habits which concern Ourselves, 117
Anecdotes of Haydn, 118
The Fox and Raven,—a Fable, 119
I don’t see why, 120
Charles and his Mother, 124
John Doree, 127
Letter to the Publishers, 127
Bees, 128
Up in the Morning early,—a Song, 128
London, 133
Aurelian and the Spider, 133
Exotic Fruit and Flowers in England, 134
Benevolence of the Deity, 134
The Rhinoceros, 137
Briers and Berries, 138
The Crows’ Court of Law, 138
The Story of the Supposed Miser, 139
The Mouth, 139
The Pilot, 148
A Little Child’s Joy, 151
The Mammoth, 152
Geordie and the Sick Dog, 152
The Tongue, 158
What is Selfishness? 159
A Thought, 159
Winter,—a Song, 160
A Long Nap, 171
Lord Bacon, 172
Habits which concern Others, 173
The Black Skimmer of the Seas, 175
The Squirrel, 176
Gothic Architecture, 177
The Apple,—a German Fable, 181
The Pretender and his Sister, 182
Winter, 183
The Hand, 184
Nuts to Crack, 185
To the Black-eyed and Blue-eyed Friends of 186
 Robert Merry,
Winter,—a Song, 188

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by S. G. Goodrich, in the Clerk’s
Office of the
District Court of Massachusetts.
MERRY’S MUSEUM.
VOLUME II.
 The Siberian Sable-Hunter.

CHAPTER I.

In the northern part of Asia, there is a vast country called Siberia.

It is nearly destitute of mountains, and consists of a great plain,
stretching out to an immense extent, and being in many parts almost
as level as the sea. In some places it is barren and bare, but in
others it is covered with forests. Sometimes these are of pine, cedar,
hemlock, and other evergreens, and grow so thickly as to make it
difficult to pass between the trees.
Several great rivers cross this country, the chief of which are the
Irtish and Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena. These are almost as large
as our great rivers of America. They flow from south to north, and
empty themselves into a wide sea called the Arctic Ocean.
Siberia is a cold and desolate region, where the summer is short,
and where winter reigns about two thirds of the year. There are few
towns or cities, especially in the north, and thus large portions of the
country are both uncultivated and uninhabited. There are vast tracts
given up to solitude, or visited only by wolves, bears, and other
savage animals, or are occasionally crossed by wandering parties of
Tartars, who are the chief inhabitants of the country, and who are
almost as wild as our American Indians.
This great country, which is more extensive than the whole of
Europe, and about three times as large as the entire territory of the
United States, belongs to Russia. It is under the government of the
emperor of that country, who, you know, reigns over a larger portion
of the earth than any other ruler.
It would seem that it could be no great advantage to hold
possession of such a cold and dreary land as Siberia; but yet it
produces a good deal of gold, silver, and copper, and the southern
portions, having a rich soil, yield vast quantities of grain. The Tartars
are fond of rearing horses and cattle, and so abundant are these
creatures in some places, that a horse sells for two dollars and a
half, and an ox for a dollar and a quarter! Oatmeal is sold for five
cents a bushel, and a man may live for ten dollars a year! But though
articles seem so very cheap, it must be remembered that a man
must labor for about four cents a day; so that, after all, he has to
work pretty hard for a good living.
But what I have been saying relates to the southern part of
Siberia, where the climate is milder and the soil rich; as you go
northward, the cold increases, and vegetation diminishes. At last you
come to a country where there are few people, and where, as I have
said before, the whole region seems to be given up to savage
animals. In the loneliness of the forests here, the wolf and bear roam
at their pleasure, being the sovereigns of the country. Yet it is in
these very regions that a great source of wealth is found—for here
are various animals which yield fine and beautiful furs. The most
celebrated and valuable are produced by a species of weasel, called
the sable—one skin of which sometimes sells for a hundred and fifty
dollars. Beside the sable, the black fox, whose skin sells for twenty
to seventy-five dollars, martens of two or three kinds, and other
animals, are found, which produce valuable furs; and it is to be
considered that it is the very coldness of the country which renders
the furs so excellent. Creatures living here have need of very warm
shirts and jackets, and nature, like a kind mother, takes good care of
her children. Considering that the animals of the north of Siberia live
among regions of snow and frost, where summer comes only for a
few weeks in the year, and winter holds almost perpetual sway, she
gives the sable, and the marten, and the fox, and even the wolf and
bear, such nice warm clothes, that kings and queens envy them, and
hunters are sent two thousand miles to procure these luxuries.
Thus it is that Siberia, after all, yields a great deal of wealth, and
the emperor of Russia therefore holds on to it with a greedy grasp.
But it is not for its productions alone that he holds it; for the emperor
has a large family—about fifty millions in Europe and Asia—and as
he is a hard master, some of them are pretty often rebellious; and to
punish them, he sends them to Siberia. This is a kind of prison,—
though a large one,—where those are banished who have incurred
the displeasure or dislike of his majesty. So numerous are these
exiles, that Tobolsk, one of the largest towns, and lying in the
western part of the country, is to a great extent peopled by them and
their descendants. It is about some of these exiles that I am going to
tell you a story.
A few years since, a Polish officer, by the name of Ludovicus
Pultova, was banished to Siberia, by Nicholas, the present emperor
of Russia. His offence was, that he had engaged in the struggle of
1830 to liberate Poland, his native country, from the tyranny
exercised over it by its Russian masters. The Poles had hoped for
aid in their efforts from other nations; but in this they were
disappointed, and they were overwhelmed by the power of the
emperor. Thousands of them fled to other lands, to escape the fate
that awaited them at home; others were shot, or shut up in
dungeons; and others, amounting to many hundreds, were sent to
Siberia.
The wife of Pultova was dead, but he had a son and daughter, the
first about eighteen years of age, and the other sixteen, at the time of
his banishment. It was no small part of his misery that they were not
permitted to accompany him in his exile. After a year, however, they
contrived to leave Warsaw, where they had lived, and, passing
through many dangers and trials, they at last reached their father at
Tobolsk.
This city is about as large as Salem in Massachusetts, and
consists of a fort and citadel, with numerous dwellings around them,
on a hill, and another portion on the low ground, bordering on the
river Obi. The people, as I have said before, are chiefly exiles, or
their descendants; and as it has been said that tyranny never
banishes fools, so the society embraces many persons of talent and
merit. Some of them, indeed, were celebrated for their genius, and
numbers of them were of high rank and character. But what must a
city of exiles be?—composed of people who have been separated
from their native land—from their homes, their relatives—from all
they held most dear; and that, too, with little hope of return or
restoration to their former enjoyments? Most of them, also, are
stripped of their property, and if they possessed wealth and
independence before, they come here to drag out a life of poverty,
perhaps of destitution.
Such was in fact the condition of Pultova. He was, in Warsaw, a
merchant of great wealth and respectability. When his countrymen
rose in their resistance, he received a military commission, and
distinguished himself alike by his wisdom and bravery. In the fierce
battles that raged around the walls of the city before its fall, he
seemed almost too reckless of life, and in several instances hewed
his way, at the head of his followers, into the very bosom of the
Russian camp. He became an object of admiration to his
countrymen, and of equal hatred to the Russians. When Warsaw fell,
his punishment was proportioned to the magnitude of his offence. He
was entirely stripped of his estates, and perpetual banishment was
his sentence.
It is not easy to conceive of a situation more deplorable than his,
at Tobolsk. The friends that he had there, like himself, were generally
oppressed with poverty. Some shunned him, for fear of drawing
down the vengeance of the government; for the chief officer of the
citadel was of course a spy, who kept a vigilant watch over the
people: and there are few persons, reduced to servitude and poverty,
who do not learn to cower beneath the suspicious eye of authority.
What could Pultova do? Here was no scope for his mercantile
talents, even if he had the means of giving them exercise. His
principles would not allow him to join the bands of men, who, driven
to desperation by their hard fate, took to the highway, and plundered
those whom they could master. Nor could he, like too many of his
fellow-sufferers, drown his senses in drunkenness. Could he go to
the mines, and in deep pits, away from the light of heaven, work for
three or four cents a day, and that too in companionship with
convicts and criminals of the lowest and most debased character?
Could he go forth to the fields and labor for his subsistence, where
the wages of a man trained to toil, were hardly sufficient for
subsistence?