Architectural Voices: Listening to Old Buildings

If a building could speak, what would it say? What would it sound like? Would it be worth listening to? This book treats buildings as deeply human creations - built by people for people; they come to embody the dreams, imaginings and stories that take place within them.


David Littlefield and Saskia Lewis argue that buildings have voices and that it is worth listening to what they have to say. By focusing on elderly structures that are the subject of reinvention, this book examines how the buildings guide architects and artists. These reinventions, or re-imaginings, are not merely examples of straightforward conservation, nor simple exercises in contrasting old and new; they represent a more sensitive, personal approach to creative reuse. The authors' accounts of more than 20 historic buildings and their interviews with the people responsible for renewing them, demonstrate that the poetic qualities of the places we inhabit are not limited to just architectural style.


In this book, the voices of an abandoned cathedral, a former brothel, a stately home and a Royal Mail sorting office reveal themselves. Listening to these voices opens up a new dimension to understanding the lives and meanings of old buildings.