RIBA Housing Conference – Alex Ely
October 13th, 2011
This is the record of a live blog conducted by Su Butcher of https://www.justpractising.com/riba-housing-2011/ at the RIBA Housing Conference at Robinson College.
The next presentation is by Alex Ely https://twitter.com/alexely
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:48 Su Butcher
Alex Ely MA(RCA) RIBA MRTPI Alex is a Chartered Architect, a Chartered Town Planner and Senior Partner at mæ. He was formerly Head of Sustainable Communities at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and has gained professional experience at Foster and Partners, Ian Simpson Architects and Pierre d’Avoine Architects.
Alex teaches at the London Metropolitan University and lectures internationally on design and policy. He has won numerous design awards and was a finalist in the G4C Constructing Excellence New Generation Award 2007 and was identified as one of the ‘new classics: influential pathfinders helping to shape the early 21st century. Alex graduated from the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:48 Su Butcher
Alex Ely begins by complementing Anna Minton’s work.
Alex is going to talk about design issues.
The market in housing has changed – the current market is equity rich occupiers fueling the market for family housing in established locations and an increasing demand for first time buyers, some of which are overcoming lending difficulties.
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:50 Su Butcher
The other shift is that private renting will count for 20% of households in the next 5 years.
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:51 Su Butcher
Alex Ely outlines the Mae principles:
Quality of product – excellence in design and innovation to deliver popular housing
Quality of process – in design process and consultation – engaging local communities we are designing for
Quality of technique – modern methods of construction etc as a means of increasing quality.
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:52
If you ask house buyers what they want you get a range of questions, and there are contradictions.
Space and Storage values according to Savills are low on the list and people value the importance of garages more than the size of rooms… but he feels that this is the effect of show homes on buyers who later realise the inadequacy of new housing once they occupy it.
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:53
CABE research shows that people desire en-suite bathrooms, but if they are informed that their bedrooms will be smaller the desire decreases…
Thursday October 13, 2011 11:54 Su Butcher
Design for Homes research also showed the importance of sound privacy and noise reduction, unencroached space, less overlooking and protection from unwanted sights, and higher security.
https://www.designforhomes.org/
In 2008 Mae architects curated an RIBA exhibition; Evolving Norms of British Housing and flexibility in housing interest began for them there.
Alex outlines how the row house developed as a reflection of social structures of the time.
https://www.mae-llp.co.uk/knowledge-dock/by-name/evolving-norms-of-british-housing.html
The classic model of the Georgian house – raised Piano Nobile level gives privacy form the street – how do we do that today? Especially when we start applying standards and regulations of today and think about how we can design more inclusively.
[The piano nobile (Italian, “noble floor” or “noble level”) is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture. This floor contains the principal reception and bedrooms of the house.]
Mae explored this issue in a competition to redesign the terraced house. They redesigned the standard house type of 2 room Georgian house plan with outrigger. How do we raise standards?
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:01
Mae took the London Space Standards in the London Design Guide and superimposed them on the Georgian house type to see if you could arrive at a practical and attractive result.
By overlaying the design guide on the Georgian house they found that a cranked party wall enabled them to incorporate WC’s and bathrooms (designed to Lifetime Homes) and the outrigger allowed for a diversity of arrangements according to need –
A four bedroom house
A one bed property with a four bed above
Two two bed properties
In each the outrigger would belong to different properties depending on what the developer and residents would require.
This process kept the Georgian concept of using a unified facade to draw together a diversity of units behind into a coherent whole.
[Illustrations would be nice – I’ll see if Alex can publish his slides on Slideshare…]
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:04 Su Butcher
What do you think of it so far?
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:05 Su Butcher
Alex is moving on to talking about creating a sense of place in larger spaces (on the edge of towns for example).
How can architects create a variety of expressions and character whilst delivering the type of house plans that developers (including RSLs) require?
Consistent plans – varying house types across a wide development.
The project he is describing explored the terrace and the villa typology.
The semi-detached enables greater flexibility for alternative layouts., whereas an internal bathroom without daylight can be a problem in a terrace
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:07 Su Butcher
Alex is outlining a ‘parti’ (approach) to dealing with the competing demands of space and layout with a range of related reconfigurations using tools such as a dogleg stair, an extra bedroom or bathroom. The process becomes a ‘game’ that ‘hopefully addresses house-builders needs’.
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:11 Su Butcher
Audience member asking about whether Mae have designed for interconnectedness between units – Alex says not been asked to address that but Proctor Matthews architects have done some interesting projects in the North of England with extended families who want to connect homes.
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:12
Project was Dale Mill in Rochdale: https://www.proctorandmatthews.com/project/dale-mill
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:14 Su Butcher
Alex is describing some Pattern Book Housing designs they Mae have done which focus on the process of not wasting space (or money) on circulation. Sounds familiar!
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:15 Su Butcher
https://www.ddq.org.uk – view the pattern book housing (including indicate cost schedules)
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:17
North Prospect, Plymouth
A project to involve the community in making decisions about what type of development options and densities residents wanted, using a model to inform the revenue outcomes for various options so they can make financially informed decision as well.
Mention for collaborative work with the architect-originated software company Slider Studio (home of Stickyworld https://twitter.com/roomsforreview)
Thursday October 13, 201
Alex Ely’s talk is a great example illustrating the value of architects who take a strategic, creative approach to housing design and apply their design skills to answer the same questions which we ask again and again.
Thursday October 13, 2011 12:24
This would appear to be the end of Alex Ely’s talk.