Grander Designs.....

Property doyen Kevin McCloud has ever spoken out against “identik” architecture and boy, don’t we agree with him. I, too, abhor the sold cheap (ha!) and piled high in the sky, anything is better than nothing approach to housing. But whereas Kevin has spent twenty years demonstrating to TV viewers on how to build a “dream” home, my vision is somewhat more down to earth. Rather than eclectic palaces appealing to ebullient individuals, my grand designs involve sustainable housing en masse. Just to recap on the many building and architectural articles that I have written previously, a well-designed building serves the needs of the people that live and work in it.
The building is made from high-quality materials, and has due regard for its environment and the ecosystem.
It is designed to fit into its landscape or townscape in an elegant and unobtrusive way.
The price is within financial reach of these same people, whether for renting or buying.
The building does not drain resources from other, vital aspects of private or civic life.
The building does not serve merely the interests of shareholders and investors, and its environment does not seek to exclude certain groups on the grounds of age, race, spending powers and other, arbitrary delineations.
A good example of a well-designed building could be a low-rise development, that is, no higher than the tree-line, consisting of one, two and three-bed apartments, with the ground-floor flats reserved for older and disabled people. This low-rise configuration maximises the roof-space available to install solar panels, a feature that provides low-cost, sustainable energy to the occupants. The blocks are made to the same pattern, yet rendered slightly differently for visual interest and identification – think of modernistic furniture units. Grass-grown areas around the separate blocks enable children to play, observed by parents and guardians. Walkways entwine the grassy areas, ramped rather than stepped so that pedestrians can wheel buggies and wheelchairs, with ease. The same walkways allow ease of access to public transport hubs and private cars parked securely in garage banks. If required, an occupant can pay a slightly higher rent for green space that can be cultivated to individual taste – the only “exclusion” inherent in the design. There is nothing “eclectic” involved in building like this but neither is it cold, snooty, arrogant or obtrusive.
Further Information
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Do-You-Live-Dwellings-ebook/dp/B005SST1JU
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/aug/22/investors-kevin-mccloud-property-schemes-huge-losses