Housing, development, and design are crucial to well-being in London communities. Quality of the built environment can impact happiness and misery. Research shows the importance of flexibility in living spaces to accommodate different life stages and universal needs. New housing often lacks character and relevance to its location. Support is needed for quality, affordable housing and communities through lobbying MPs.
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
Angela Brady - Keynote
1. Housing, Development and
Design – why are these
crucial to wellbeing in
London’s communities??
Angela Brady
President Royal Institute of Architects
Twitter @AngelaBradyRIBA
www.architecture.com
Woodberry Down, London by Berkeley Group and London Borough of Hackney
2. “One of the great, but often
unmentioned, causes of both happiness
and misery is the quality of our
environment: the kind of walls, chairs,
buildings and streets we’re surrounded
by”
Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
3. RIBA’s housing research
The Way We Live Now Building the Homes
The Case for Space
and Communities
Social research and Britain Needs Data on the size of new
films by RIBA and Ipsos
English homes by RIBA
MORI Inquiry by The Future
Homes Commission
5. The way we live now
What is the most important thing your home needs?
“Character! It has to be somewhere I look forward to returning home to!...
New build housing is all too generic and not relative to its location.”
Future Homes Commission: Building the Homes and Communities Britain Needs
6. Is quality affordable?
From homes of the past to homes of the future…
Derwenthorpe, York, Joseph Rowntree Housing Foundation
15. Design Concept
house house
flat stair flat
the cluster &
support space
shared From their experience of providing similar accommodation, Together
space
encourage the grouping of an optimum of four accommodation units
sharing a communal space. They have found that this achieves a scale
appropriate for encouraging a good level of positive interaction, whilst
house shared space house minimising any potential for intimidation. In this proposed development a
mix of accommodation types are to be provided in the form of both flas and
t
houses:
• Four flas will cluster around an expanded landing area with external views
t
flat flat and natural light. This will provide a shared support space in the form of a
‘winter garden’. Staircase and lift access will be separate.
• Four houses will cluster around a shared support space linking directly
related outdoor space
to an associated external courtyard area. Each courtyard will have its own
distinct character and its own amenity provision, helping territorialise parts
of the site, providing variety and a domestic scale within the site’s external
landscaping.
GROUP OF FLATS AROUND SHARED ENTRANCE GROUP OF HOUSES AROUND SHARED ENTRANCE
These cluster groups form the basis for organising the site.
Client: “Together UK
working for Wellbeing”
BMA/Croydon
Bottom: Images from other sites that convey the a sense of what a shared safe space might be like
226 Pampisford Road, Croydon CR2 6DB.
Brady Mallalieu Architects 8
40. Politics shapes architecture …. So what kind of a future are we making
now?
We need to work together and lobby Government……………for a
better built environment to create the right kind of housing and
communities for our future generations
#Homewise www.wothoutspaceandlight
Editor's Notes
RIBA: Professional institute 40,000 architects are members (UK based with regional network but we also validate architecture degrees internationally) Royal charter to promote good design for the benefits of society HomeWise campaign: more and better homes for Britain
For the campaign, we ’ ve researched what good quality housing design means to the British public Case for Space : we surveyed consumers and found that they don ’ t like newly built homes because they are too small. We measured 4,500 new homes in England and found they are roughly 10% below new space standards introduced in London – family homes are missing a bedroom The Way We Live Now : filmed 5 households and held 4 discussion groups across England. Needs for modern living included more flexibility, storage and technological adaptation. Future Homes Commission : Year-long expert independent inquiry into how we can build more and better homes. Recommendations about how to finance the development of more homes, design standards, marketing information, and how to create lasting communities.
Flexibility is important when homes are being designed and new communities created: Tenure: we have different tenures in UK based on affordability: They rank from private ownership (for people who can afford to raise a mortgage to buy their own home) to ‘ affordable ’ or social rent – Government-backed discounted rent from housing associations or local government, usually 20-40% less than private rents in the local area. Tenures change. People can buy their social rent homes, and local authorities can demand some social homes from private developers as a condition of granting planning permission (permission to build the homes). The design of homes must be flexible for different households who can afford different tenures. Changing population : More single person households and lone parents with dependent children in UK. Proportion of people aged 65+ to increase by 5% over next 20 years. Russia also has an ageing population. Although this has slowed since the 1990s, ageing is still a demographic trend in Russia. The design of homes must be flexible because p eople prioritise different things at different points in the lifecycle . Our research found that, for example: ALL households wanted a flexible and spacious main living area – for cooking, eating together as a household, relaxing, entertaining and socialising OLDER households needed to be able to adapt their home eg if they need a walking aid FAMILIES didn ’ t like open plan areas– they wanted separate rooms (eg a room they could use as an office, to work from home without kids running in, or a separate dining room to eat at a table and talk, without the TV) Flexibility for homes which change tenure and remain fit for a changing population: Rooms should have more than one use (bedroom/dining room/ home office) Space for accessibility adaptations OR: movable partition walls? Allowing people to choose where walls go to create rooms? Neighbourhoods should have a variety of types of homes in them to cater for our ageing population, so that people can move within their local area as their needs change. *********** Changing demographics: More single person households (people outliving spouses or divorcing). In 2011 lone parents with dependent children in UK reached 2 million, increase from 1.7 million in 2001. Proportion of people aged 65+ to increase from 17% of UK population (2010) to 23% (2035) (Russia also has an ageing population. 14% of Russian population was over 65 in 2005. Older people increased in proportion fastest in 1990s, has slowed since but still ageing). Universal needs were a flexible entertaining and private space and space to socialise Requirements for the main living space were strongly related to life-stage; the age (and physical ability) of the household and whether or not they had children all played a role Open plan design: Downsizers who were used to more space and although they wanted a smaller home, could see the benefits of the sense of space offered by open plan rooms Participants who carried out activities concurrently which would once have been carried out independently – such as cooking and entertaining or supervising homework. Separate rooms: Families with children who want to a) discourage eating in front of the TV rather than sociably together as a family and b) work from home in a separate space from children People who wanted more privacy between rooms or to keep cooking smells out of the lounge Highly flexible: Almost all participants found it hard to understand how more progressive takes on flexible rooms – such as movable partition walls – might work for them, typically because they had never experienced such a home personally First time buyers who have limited budget, are more aware of progressive design, and can see the benefits of a space flexible enough for multiple uses Those who were most receptive to a living space which incorporated flexible rooms and design tended to be those who needed a limited living space to be able to adapt to a wide range of needs : for private space to relax, for entertaining, for cooking and for working. People were receptive to the lifestyle benefits but these homes need demonstrating Tenures: Private market (usually home ownership and often private rent) Intermediate (part-buy, part-rent for households who cannot afford to buy but earn enough to not need Government support) Social rent (60-80% of local market value. Discounted rent in publically funded/ built housing development)
The Commission ’ s online survey was completed by 2,295 people. We asked What is the most important thing your home needs? Does it have it, or not? There were many different answers, but lots of people commented on the poor quality and external design of new build homes. The Commission have been looking into ways in which new homes can offer a decent place to live, and better attributes than older properties. Energy efficiency and cheaper bills are well document benefit. The Way We Live Now tried to find out what consumers think they can gain from new homes.
Housing developers told the Commission that, excluding the land, it costs about £100,000 to build a home. They build homes like those in the top left. The images on the right and bottom left show what can be built for the same price, but with low energy, accessible and flexible design… Derwenthorpe: Market research defined some of the design; the ceiling height and floor space in the winter garden were market tested by inviting people to view two different prototypes. Design was also influenced by social research conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the needs of children and families, older people and people with disabilities. Excellent design and an integrated community are affordable; each home, averaging round 100m2, typically cost around £100,000 to build excluding the cost of the land. A research programme will monitor Derwenthorpe ’s energy efficiency and share the results with the housing industry.