ABSTRACT
Palladian classicism was in effect an abstract concept. Regulation and contextual circumstance determined how it would be applied in the particular context of the 18th Century. Architecture is a creative response to a particular set of constraints, an expression of the values of the people that made it. At the beginning of the 21st century there is a general agreement that we need to use resources more effi ciently and make buildings more energy effi cient. Legislation is affecting a signifi cant shift in construction practice, although as yet no consensus has emerged as to how, or if, the means of achieving greater energy effi ciency are expressed. The priorities of different designers are too varied for a single, epoch-defi ning style to prevail.
