What defines Georgian architecture?

Georgian architecture was a very elegant period, it was very refined and they sort of brought country houses to a high art. They're reduced in actual fact, they're not covered in ornament, they're often very sort of understated or stepped back and a lot of the beauty is actually in the relationship of the voids and the solid, you know, it's that pattern of window and wall. It's about having symmetry, it's about having a unity in the centre of the building where there's a void, it's about having duality on the wings. With it comes this simplicity, you know, and this sort of elegant, slightly refined beauty and I think that's what we're aiming for in our architecture. But some of the sort of typical elements are sash windows or the kind of classic sort of motif that everyone would recognise and they're rather elegant and lovely and again getting the proportions right on those we tend to try and integrate the golden section either in the size of the opening or the size of the panes. There's often some classical order, some columns, other bits that people would recognise as you say you would get a parapet or you get an eaves or a cornice, you get the sort of elegant little dormer windows, you know, it's about the detail, the subtle detail. You know, one of the starting points is this golden ratio and this really is the relationship of one dimension to another and the golden ratio is a naturally occurring phenomenon, so within nature there'll be lots of examples of the golden ratio whether it's in plants and trees and the relationship of the branches or in animals but the reality is it's something like a musical harmony where it's a very satisfactory relationship and it's that 1 to 1.68 approximately or 3 to 5 or 5 to 8 that give you that relationship that looks right. So in this house it's drawing on that sort of ancient and renaissance idea of using the square as a starting point so there's lots of proportional systems based on squares in this house but the golden section comes in on the sash windows so all the panes are a golden section and some of the relationship of the outside elements are also a golden section relationship. I'm not saying there's magic to it, it's not a sort of mystical thing but it is something as I said like musical harmonies where it's just a very satisfying, you know, thing if you can pull off that proportional relationship and so at a very simplistic level people come along and go what if I've got a symmetrical facade just bash in some sash windows and I'm there but in reality there's a lot more to it and so getting the subtleties right and you know bringing it all together in a satisfying way where all the relationships work and you get that sense of balance that sense of rightness is far more difficult and it's a little bit more subtle. I think to pull it off really well is difficult but it's worthwhile doing because there are a lots of things going for you it's quite an efficient effective build style because you can pare it back you don't have to have lots of ornaments although you can and I think that you know if you get the proportions right even a very simple reduced building of humble materials can look beautiful and elegant and that's the key to it.