Since the efficiency of any building is incorporated within the fabric at the outset, the maxim of "minimising the losses before maximising the gains" is kept at the core of the design process. This entails specifying the highest practical levels of insulation prior to addressing the most suitable method of supplying the reduced energy requirement. As a result a large number of both innovative and natural building materials are continuing to be developed, together with a better understanding of how and where to use them.
Giles’s designs address further issues such as the change in behaviour that will increasingly be regarded as necessary when anticipating how houses are to cope with the shifting environmental influences whilst still providing the primal and emotional function of "shelter" that we demand of them.
As a majority of projects relate to existing buildings, his approach has moved more towards "stewardship" rather than "ownership". He encourages an understanding and respect of the original architectural layout before the consideration of any further development of it…...………the value of the old balanced against the desire for the new.
Giles’s designs address further issues such as the change in behaviour that will increasingly be regarded as necessary when anticipating how houses are to cope with the shifting environmental influences whilst still providing the primal and emotional function of "shelter" that we demand of them.
As a majority of projects relate to existing buildings, his approach has moved more towards "stewardship" rather than "ownership". He encourages an understanding and respect of the original architectural layout before the consideration of any further development of it…...………the value of the old balanced against the desire for the new.