Sustainable for the community
A couple of years ago I was asked to take a look at Fulford Social Hall and – specifically – its sustainability. Perhaps typically for this sort of building – run by parish council and a team of volunteers and with limited income from regular users – it was basically a good facility but was hard to heat and its layout made use inflexible – one entrance route to one central space, and some inconveniences even within that short walk…
Small change, big difference
Many times when people move into a new home, it’s not that far off what they’d want it to be. Even so, a bit of time living there, and a gathering of confidence can often lead to a choice to make improvements – maybe not huge stuff, but enough to create a significantly better place to live…
From stone walls to Passivhaus
Jason and Emma had recently moved into Ballacraine Cottage in Langtoft. A largely stone cottage with inherent damp (enough to encourage the occasional frog to share the space with them) and a collection of rather tumbledown outbuildings very much made it “a project”…
A Posh Shed that needn’t cost the earth
When I was approached by Ian about an office in his garden he was asking about a “posh shed” – the home/office things you see in glossy magazines; just crane them in and off you go. But Ian wanted one that was somewhere around Passivhaus levels of performance and built using sustainable methods. My initial […]
Narrating the Process of Design
I’ve been having conversations in my My Future York work about how designers can engage with the public around the process of design – not the outcomes from it, the “early sketches”. But the process which leads to these – which is where the challenges of the brief get addressed, where compromises are considered, and […]
Passivhaus and Wellbeing
During the summer I and a few of my Passivhaus clients made videos for the summer Passivhaus Open Days – transferred online thanks to Covid-19 – and during these it was notable that wellbeing cropped up. Life in a Passivhaus was described as “like being on holiday” – there was something subjective beyond the U-Values […]
Back to Black & White
As a student in the seventies and eighties, I had a nice camera – a Nikon FM – which encouraged me to walk my neighbourhood looking around me carefully. I kept it – and still have it, although time has not been good to the mirror damping, and the viewfinder screen is dotted with annoying […]
A conversation about skills and the future
I was interviewed recently by a researcher on behalf of CITB/BEIS, as part of a project looking at how construction training needs to respond to future change. This is a massive chunk of work which – starting with an industry that is short on skills to begin with – needs to examine how it will […]
Design in the Time of Coronavirus
A few days after lockdown was announced in the UK I got an enquiry about a possible job. The client wanted a small-ish rear extension, she was an artist; could I take this on without actually visiting the site or seeing the building? Well, these are strange times and we’re all learning new skills so […]
A Room with a View (added)
Neil & Susie live next door to Robert & Catherine; their home is similar in layout but – in the tradition of Victorian houses set behind identical facades – there are differences beyond the handing and mid/end terrace issues. But the similarity is that both had kitchens and living spaces separated from their pleasant, enclosed […]