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Design Blog

'Its not the strongest that survive, its not the most intelligent, but those most able to adapt to change' Charles Darwin.

Moments of standing still and reflection have their place too.

The rise of the 'kitchen-diner'.

Visiting people in their homes in the UK, it's fantastic how some great spatial and functional ideas are being embraced. Thanks in part to the glut of designer house and garden programmes on our televisions and magazines like Living etc and not least Grand Designs, what used to be radical ideas are now mainstream.

Regardless of the property type, open plan living is now being embraced. The kitchen can once again become a sociable space, not just for the rich in country manors, but for appartment dwellers, students, everyone. Join in with the conversation of friends and family when you are cooking, watch the children and feel the benefit of the extra space. Hard floors make it all seem bigger too and it sure is easier to clean. Add an easy chair overlooking the garden and away you go.

People are becoming aware of all the space above their ceilings, in their roofspaces. The image above shows previously unused loft space reclaimed. Great volume previous generations would have slid a polystrene tiled ceiling across, now are great opportunities for natural daylight and sunlight to be drawn into the house. Volumes are opened right up and the joy of high ceilings is brought back into 'modern' properties. These often slope which brings a great dynamic to the interior aswell as giving a good place for the ubiquitous Velux (contact my friend Geoff Shalet - The Place for Blinds 07908 159 109)

Connection to the garden is 'de rigeur'. The Sliding-Folding door now comes in many materials, shapes and sizes. .The deck is still uber popular and tree ferns and subtropical and japanese influenced gardens still rule.

The Accordia residential development of houses and appartments in Cambridge does the connection to nature very well. (by Fielden Clegg Bradley)

Please note we've used pictures of a projects by others for illustration purposes (not all Brunskill design projects illustrated) Of course we'd love to have the opportunity to design and build this for you, with our structural, horticultural and other professionals and super practical builders we would like to schedule in a project for you. Contact us when ready to make your vision reality on 07821 876060.

It's about living life the way you want NOW and for the next few years at least while we all work our way out of recession. So we are telling ourselves 'no more rehearsal!' and 'Carpe Diem' - seize the day, every day.

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Creating good residential buildings

What's good? what's bad? What works? What doesn't? Here's our picture shop of images we are interested in this month.

Do you like any of these? What makes a good place to live? Well we want our built environment to be good for us, and for the planet.

Whether we live in the town or the countryside we tend to always want space and natural light. We want good facilities for washing, preparing food and dining etc. The appearance of our buildings matters to us too, traditional and modern can raise very subjective feelings. Both have their place, there can be good and bad versions of both.

Most buildings have potential to be improved in some way. For example, some houses benefit from a 180 degree turnaround in their planning - to get advantage of a garden or a view - life improving qualities.

Site orientation has a huge importance in the design the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west, therefore the sun and shadows will move around your building in a totally predictable way. Our starting point for house design is always orienattion with regrad to the sun, a south or west aspect is higly desirable, but east or north facing sites can be dealt with by careful placement of rooflights, light wells, courtyards or conservatories. In this country we usally want to capture as much sunshine as possible. Building regulations now mean having large windows has to be dealt with very carefully due to concerns about high heat loss through glazing.

A well controlled junction between inside and outside spaces is really helpful and enables us to use our external spaces better. Connections to gardens and outside spaces can be big wide openings like in Studio MG's stunning modern house in London, or more modestly, elegant pairs of double doors. Our old buildings need to adapt and change to survive in their usefulness. (Adapt, change, survive is the company motto in these recessionary times. Normally our motto is quality not quantity). Whether a building is brand new or elderly, the same issues arise and each should be treated with design integrity undertsamding the merits of what exists in the building, whther that is aspect, spaciousness, good planning, detailing, quality of materials and workmanship or something else.

Sitting comfortably with you neighbours and respecting their privacy is important as we build and rebuild our communities. Whether you live in London, Bath or St Albans, the issues are similar.

Ecological concerns and energy consumption are now really understood as critical. There are lots of things we can do to help save energy. The Energy Saving Trust aims to cut carbon emissions by promoting the sustainable and efficient use of energy in households, the public sector and the transport sector.
www.est.org.uk

The Simon Conder design for the modern house on Marshal's Drive in St Albans Hertfordshire is a rare of contemporary modernism in the St Albans area. http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=3098265 Exceptional circumstances led to the design being accepted. St Albans has a reputation as one of the most conservative councils for example, whereas Bath, a World Heritage City, a huge conservation area, has allowed some unashamedly modern extensions if they are of high enough quality and well integrated into their context. A Spanish hacienda in St Albans or rural outskirts of Bristol, would have to be exceptional to be able to sit in context successfully. Overall its the design quality in context and integrity of what is built, that matters, not the styling.

This design blog page will be revised periodically.

email: enquiries@brunskilldesign.com

main tel: 07821 876060 Call us now.

We now offer FREE ADVICE at a drop in shop at the office at 16 Fontmell Close, or over the phone, for any architect or build queries eg re planning permssion or cost control. (This is subject to availability so best to call first. These sessions are envisaged to be 10-15 mins only.)

As a member of the Chariots Business Group we work weekly with 35 individuals who offer a variety of services and operate under the BNI ethical code. Please ask about it.

We are also follow the code of the Architect's Registration Board.