Driven Tour of Poundbury Village, Poundbury Phase 1

[lextorite]

This is the Illuminati village for the 1%.......!!!!



[colliecandle]

just another upper middle class ghetto - there's no soul or sense of 'home' here

[pristinebob]

what a load of hrh bollocks how many houses are affordable for locals on farming wages ?80 per sent of locals live on minimum wage and an average house on poundbury 250 thousand its all pr show me a local who thinks he has beniffitted from this massive building estate on green belt land what used to be a rural town

[sukumvit]

"taking retro to it's logical conclusion"....

[mendal05]

Looks really nice.

[pinickityme]

where do the servants live??

[Audiomuse]

Fantastic architecture

[daggersdukc]

Hey, was the choice of sountrack deliberately ironic? For those who don't know, its "Halcyon" by the Hartnoll bros, (aka Orbital). Their mum was, for a while, addicted to the drug of the same name and I believe Halcyon, the drug is normally prescribed for depression.

Anyway, that aside, I rather like the look of Poundbury, though I don't suppose I'll ever live there. I'd miss the scuzzineess of Dagenham, where I live, too much, anyway! Cheers for the tour.

[insanecaine]

I am an American and I can say that Poundbury seems superior to most settlements here in the States. As you may know, American neighborhoods are spread out into little pockets we call suburbs. These suburbs are cut off from all shops, bus lines, schools, places of worship, etc. One must drive everywhere to get anywhere. I do hope American architects will take note and borrow ideas from the Prince and his team of designers to make American settlements more conducive community-style living.

[eleshti]

Being a planner myself I have to say this looks impressive. Lovely, local architecture and indeed a transport system that is conductive to Slow forms of transport. Hard to tell how sustainable the place is though with no signs of solar panels and energy consumption impossible to tell from the outside.

[wwwSilkyTV]

We do have some homes in Poundbury with solar panels, but I think much of the development has been built before that sort of thing was really seen as the way forward.

They are all highly insulated, and the heating systems are run by computer to learn peoples usage and to automatically adjust to be as efficient as possible.

[inkstersco]

Long live Poundbury. It'll get better with age. I grant it, there is something a little unsettling about seeing so many new buildings in such an old style, but it is nonetheless the best looking human settlement in Britain built after 1960.

[PoundburyMedia]

Well said!

[GavinS1965]

Bluuuuurgghhh....

[GavinS1965]

No,I'd rather they built houses that I could live in without slaving my arse off for.

[NihilNominis]

Path of least resistance = rap.

Path of greatest effort = the St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach

But of course, if you'd rather not work, you might as well resign yourself to living without beauty.

[GavinS1965]

I did'nt say I did'nt want to work,I have 5 trades,I object to working 12 hours a day just to live in a single room.

[GavinS1965]

I also object to being treated like a second class citizen,and some kind of potential "criminal".

[GavinS1965]

The path of least resistance signifies higher intelligence,why make life unnecessarily hard for yourself?Bachs music sprung from his fingers,he was not WORKING at it,kill "God" to find god.

[NihilNominis]

Bach himself said, "I have been forced to work exceptionally hard. Anyone who works as hard as I do will be equally successful". Now, I was not meaning, although it was a response to your comment, to single *you* out specifically; I think it's travesty that such work is necessary for your mere survival, for we have reached the point where you should receive the benefits of increased productivity, do necessary work less, and occupy yourself with labour for beauty & truth; why civilisation is.

[katiebrit44]

I drive past it almost daily and, believe me, there is nothing about it that will be historic apart from the fact it's owned by Prince Charles.

[PoundburyMedia]

Historic in a way that Architects and Planners from all over the World visit Poundbury for ideas. Its being used as a role model whether you like it or not.

[NihilNominis]

Of course it's not perfect but...have you ever been to suburban America? No, this is a step in the right direction.

And props to the Prince for putting his money where his mouth is, putting his architectural taste into practice, rather than just criticizing others' works; which accusation I'm sure applies to many here.

[NihilNominis]

Put otherwise, many people here might make the complaint that many people *do not* walk to the pub.

Where I live, the complaint is that one *can not* walk to the pub in less than an hour, and if one does, he is liable to be flattened by motor cars due to the lack of footpaths.

[bscottb8]

Poundbury planners have apparently never heard the saying that "a front yard is 50 feet of self-respect." Despite its postcard inspired architecture, the village is a barren, claustrophobic rat maze.

[dorsettwerp]

This 'place' is a monstrousity..., it had killed the character of Dorchester..., it is bloody awful to look at, even worse to drive through. The only reason it is there is because PRINCE CHARLES wanted it, nobody did... but surprise, surprise..., guess who got his way ????

[jezdolan]

This place looks absolutely terrifying. Somewhere where your soul could truly be sucked away. The music fits too. Is it a Dido remix. That would make sense. A place for the undead. Horrid. Please don't this happen again

[LordAquila]

Great! Please say this spreads across the nation when Chas becomes king. We need cleanse our island of brutalist architecture.

[ELIMINATORRRR]

wow its cool living next to poundbury

[leawardseif]

Sorry, but this place looks false and slightly sinister to me. If you try and leave without permission do you get chased by a large inflatable thingy?

[loyalbodyguard1]

I agree with the person who said it reminded them of Saffron Walden. I also recognize parts of Somerset and maybe rural France. I wanted to see more people and some shops and also the sort of small industrial/ commercial ventures that indicate a place not merely for sleeping in.

[agardebring]

Much to small scale for my liking but it does look nicer than the "projects"-suburbs. The car dependency seem horrendous, cars everywhere, hardly no people out at all.. I still get the suburbia-feeling rather than a small-town. Personally I rather prefer big cities with the fantastic mix of people, services, stores, restaurants and all else than a quiet and calm suburbia where nothing ever happens...

[FTelninobamboo]

Looks fairly twee -- a dormitory for the fairly well-off middle classes? The video shows hardly any people out and about and scarcely an amenities. Where's the church? Where's the pub? Where's the post office? I didn't spot them.

[headstandking]

yeah they do exist. Dunno if anyone actually goes there of course.

[Chaffinch4]

I'm impressed! I've lived all over the UK and Poundbury reminds me of three places I've lived - Saffron Walden, St Albans and Richmond. Happily they're all full of history and are v pleasant places to live. I agreed completely you need to do further work to make the village a strongly bicycle friendly place -- it'd be well worth the effort.

[Mandog20000]

I agree, there seems to be more cars than people and you would not believe the amount of 4x4 vehicles on Poundbury. On wikipedia it states that there is more car movement in Poundbury than in the surrounding rural areas. Talk about increasing the carbon footprint. Shame on you Poundburyans.

[Maxmulham]

It looks absolutly georgeous! But considering its beside Dorchester is kind of weird. I believe a place like Corby or Skelmersdale or Milton Keynes needs something like this more considering they are just lowsy project neighbourhoods.

[trefoglio]

Poundbury is the finest example of 21st ct architecture. Architect Leon Krier is genius of our time and HRH Prince of Wales made it happen.

Obediently,

Tristan Trefoil

[Esther462]

Poundbury is very new in Dorchester history. I was design to look as if it's been there for years. It is owned by pompoius Prince Charles.

I personaly don't like it as it has taken the heart out of a beautful histroical, market town. I love my home town of Dorchester but I just don't like 'New' Poundbury.

[webusercom]

Be objective, compare this to the usual dull estate approach and i think you find its a positive message, choice is good.

Not quite in the league of herasy that the forward looking Lord Bath commited when introducing the Safari Park to the historic grounds of Longleat.

Or are you saying we should all go back to lving in mud huts, our true dorset heritige.

[katiebrit44]

I don't like new Poundbury either it has ruined Dorchester.

[PoundburyMedia]

Ruined Dorchester? You have to be joking. Dorchester as a town has been left behind by places like Poole and Yeovil. Poundbury is its only hope!

[rraarchitects]

"It's a nasty little doll's village"

Lord Richard Rogers

[katiebrit44]

historic architecture??? It's all newly built!

[kierenalder]

haha thats where i live!!!!!

[556suppressor]

Poundbury is very interesting. I would love to visit the village. Nobody in the US has ever heard of Poundbury. I would like to have a driving tour DVD to show the people that I work with in the US.

[synchronicity777]

I always knew Charles had his head screwed on right.

[fotofacade]

Great idea - love the historic architecture