West Park was the final asylum of the Epson Cluster, the dying gasp
of the monolithic asylum design...
From the air, maps and plans, Clifford's asylum looks like a copycat identikit of
Hine's compact echelon form (or Pavillion:Echelon:Narrow). Finally given the freedom
to express his architectural flair and intellegence (as he'd only designed the rushed, emergency,
prefabricated Manor and small St. Ebbas), did he
simply copy the asylums up the road, using Hine's perchant for recycling the same
design again and again?
No - Clifford was far more astute with a keen knowledge of hospital and asylum architecture and an
ear to the ground. He'd heard the whispers of revolution, the gradual slide to the new paradigm, the 'villa
asylums'. And with West Park, he created the transitional model with a foot in both camps:
West Park is "Villa:Echelon".