Illustrative Poundbury: Reading illustration in the built environment

Taking the vernacular ornamental quality perceivable within the built environment as a catalyst, this article will attempt to position the sometimes-eccentric housing development of Poundbury in Dorset as a framework for Illustration practice.
The particular auspices of the new town are utilised as a discursive springboard into the idea of illustration as part of a communicative artefact in a wider physical and social context.
To this end, this article explores the Poundbury development itself as a set of images presented within the larger communication of the town. This is done with reference to architecture's interactions with ornament as well as specific overlaps between design, image and architecture. This article goes on to consider the social ramifications of such material as it forms the content of communication to a wider audience.
The priority of this investigation is the wilful exploration of this potentialy disparate subject matter under shifting definitions of illustration practice in order to open up and explore such practice.