Every building has connections with the physical surroundings in which it sits, with local history and the social, cultural and economic life around it.
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A building’s context can help you understand what it has to offer the people who use it, and how the building can serve local people’s needs and aspirations.

Examples

A lens on your locality

Windows that are placed to offer views out on surroundings can help connect with the local context, as well as creating a delightful moment on a journey through a building.

St Paul’s Old Ford, London
Source: Empowering Design Practices

St Paul’s Church,
​Bow Common, London
Source: The Glass-House Community Led Design

Connecting with nature

Your natural surroundings can help to inform what activities take place in or outside your building. This tranquil rural setting has helped shape the community-based activities in the church around the theme of a ‘Breathing Space’, a health and wellbeing initiative.

St Michael & All Angels Church, Witton Gilbert, Durham
Source: Empowering Design Practices

Reaching out to the street

Temporary changes to your building, or activities in or around it, can help make your building more prominent or relevant for a particular occasion, and can help celebrate its role in the local community and history.

St Peter’s Church, Chester
Source: Empowering Design Practices

Celebrating heritage

New design features, like this modern take on a cloister, can refer back to previous uses of the building and reference the building’s history in playful ways, while creating new opportunities.

 The Garden Museum, Lambeth
​Source: Dow Jones Architects © Anthony Coleman

Take a look at your building

Looking at what’s there
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1. How does your building sit in and relate to its physical surroundings?
   
   
2. How does what happens at your building (and the building’s history) relate to the needs of local people? How has the social, cultural and economic landscape around your building changed since it was first built?
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3. How does your building relate and compare to other buildings of the same period and to other buildings with a similar use? Is your building an important example of either its period or use?

Looking to the future​
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1. How can your local context (in environmental, social, cultural and economic terms) inform what adaptations will be required to address local needs and aspirations?
   
   
2. How can you adapt your building to help it better connect with its surroundings spatially and in terms of use and activity?
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3. Are there other buildings with a similar remit and function to yours that you could visit to explore how they have addressed similar needs through design?

​Delight >

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