Thinking about Architecture

This is an aerial overview of a ‘concept’ scheme we have developed for a new type of residential care home proposed by Deep Green Care.

A bird's eye view of the concept scheme

We began by thinking very carefully about arrangements of rooms that could meet the operational needs of a care home, which tends toward units of around 25 beds, at the same time as minimising the feeling of an institution. This led us to create clusters of 8/9 rooms, three of which are then clustered around an internal courtyard/atrium, where there are also support rooms and social spaces. At the same time, we developed a typical room type which is laid out to have windows on two sides, to give the best quality of natural light. Combining these together around a central hub where larger scale support and social spaces are grouped, we developed the form shown here (for the purpose of the concept scheme, we have assumed a site with a slope, so that there are two storeys at one side, and one at the other, to give 75 rooms).

How have we come to be working on such a project? Well, about a year ago, we had an intriguing email, asking if we would be interested in working on a concept scheme for a new model of residential care, one that was at the same time concerned to be seriously sustainable, and at the same time deeply humane, looking to connect these two concerns in a holistic way.

Of course, we said; ‘Yes, please – right up our street’.

We were lucky to get this chance – Julie Hotchkiss, the founder of Deep Green Care, happened to be good friends with  David Whitehead, an architect I used to work with at MJP, and naturally asked him if he was interested. Earning my deep gratitude, David recommended us as perhaps more suited to the project, and I met with Julie shortly afterward.

The Deep Green Care proposal comes directly from Julie’s life experience. As someone who needed care after a serious illness, and found the available options unappealing, she;

“resolved to create the sort of community I would like to live in, should the need arise”

It appeals to me powerfully, as someone who has always tried to work in a ‘holistic’ manner – always aiming to consider the totality of a situation, as far as one ever can – that the sustainability of the building could tie in with the sustainability of the lives of the people who will live and work in it (better environments in residential homes have been proven to lead to longer life).

For me, one of the most engaging aspects of the proposal is that it aims to soften the distinction between permanent care in a residential setting at one extreme, and living at home with visiting carers at the other, by providing a range of building types around the central residential building. This might mean that someone in the early stages of a degenerative disease might live  perfectly normally in a normal house in the grounds, accessing care services only when and if needed, secure in the knowledge that, over time, additional care would be available and that if eventually it becomes necessary to stay in the central care home, family are close at hand, and can visit on an informal basis. We have suggested that existing houses that adjoin the site, but have front doors on surrounding streets, could be bought, with links being made via the back garden, so that people can live on a normal street, as part of a normal neighbourhood, while still having good access to services.

Anyway, there is a great deal more to read about Julie’s ideas for Deep Green Care on her blog, if you want to know more. It’s a fascinating idea, and we are hopeful that they will find a suitable site soon, so that we can begin to work on a real, rather than an abstract, scheme!

An item on the (occasionally interesting) Planning Portal website run by the government  had some good news, for once!

The proposal by the Lammas community to build an exceptionally low impact ‘eco-village’ on a site near the village of Glandwr in North Pembrokeshire has finally gained a planning consent, the initial application having been made in June 2007.

We are pleased by all sorts of positive news , of course, but have a particular interest in the Lammas group, as we submitted a scheme for a competition they ran to find a design for the ‘community hub’ building. Our design was shortlisted, but they ended by selecting a local architect who was going to work for an exceptionally low fee.

We were pleased by the Lammas description of our scheme as ‘inspirational’ – we rather liked it ourselves – and here it is:

Lammas Community Hub building - competition proposal by Dil Green Architect

Lammas Community Hub proposal - plan - Dil Green Architect

Although small and simple, the plan is rather sophisticated, allowing for separate use of the community office and WCs on the left, and the small hall on the right, while providing a covered link between them, which was required for use as an open air ‘community swap zone’ (where surplus produce/items would be left), and a sheltered terrace on the south, to which the hall could be opened up for fair-weather uses. Provision was allowed for later construction of a small kitchen/servery and for expansion.

And, if you are keen for more detail, here is a copy of our written submission.

We wish the Lammas Community the best of luck, and a fair wind in the next phase – they actually have to start building, now!

Victory is ours! We recieved a positive decision from the Planning Inspectorate on our client’s appeal against refusal of planning permission for this humble infill building:

the two storey bit in the centre is ours…

After a planning process that was handled with a distressing mixture of deliberate vagueness coupled with an intense desire to control, we have won through – albeit at a cost of 7 months delay and additional fees from our client – the London Jewish Cultural Centre, for whom the new building will form the basis of a much needed  activity centre for local youth.

Once again, the combination of paranoid desire for power, coupled with second rate thinking and institutional incompetence has been the dominant theme in our interaction with the public planning system.

Knowing that although this seems to be the depressing norm, the process can be attended by rationality, good humour and shared concerns for the public good, as other (rare) experiences have proved, only makes it more galling to go through.

[UPDATE: article in the Hampstead annd Highgate Express, 4 Feb]

The inauguration of our blog coincides with my decision, only to take on projects which have true sustainability as a central project aim.

This is an ethical, rather than a philosophical, decision. Ethical in the ecological sense, as ecologists use the term  ‘ethic’ to describe a limitation on behaviour which is imposed by the ecosystem.

I once wrote an article for the now defunct ‘Ecodesign’ magazine, entitled ‘Why I am NOT a green architect’ – setting out my attempt to work in a holistic way, without accepting that any specialised perspective should dominate. Sustainability thinking, as a necessarily holistic practice, has always been fundamental to my approach, but in the broadest imaginable sense.

However, it seems increasingly likely that there is a fairly short period of opportunity for us humans to sort out our relationship to our ecosystem. Increasingly, all our actions need to be considered in this light. I do believe that we are living through a slow motion emergency, one which is speeding up, albeit insensibly, with every passing day.

So it won’t do for us, anymore, to add sustainability thinking into the mix – it must be a clear aim of our clients, or we won’t work with them. We will spend our time only on projects which seek wholeheartedly to embody the best possible sustainability practice

I’m glad to say that we already have three projects in progress that meet this standard – more about them in forthcoming posts.

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