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Mansion blocks filled London with stacks of flats
- jazzyjackson 3y agoI'm all for density, but can't modern architects stomach a little embellishment? The latest version of the mansion block lacks any markers that might allow one to be mistaken for a mansion.
- rwmj 3y agoModern housing in the UK is ugly as hell. The only upside is it is so poorly constructed it won't be around for that long.
- nickdothutton 3y agoAh yes, I too once owned a Barratt property. Now happily a mansion block dweller.
- baz00 3y agoYeah my place is falling to bits and it's only 10 years old.
- m463 3y agohttps://xkcd.com/2730/ https://xkcd.com/2730/
- DrBazza 3y ago1960s-70s: pebble dashing. 1970s-80s: stone cladding. 1980s-90s: cream brickwork, porticos 1990s-00s: boxes with white upvc windows, red tiles, garages 2020s: grey plague - grey windows, grey doors, grey plastic faux-wood cladding, grey roof tiles, car 'ports'. The current awful trend would be hilarious if it wasn't actually dangerous. And by that I mean modern UK houses are very, very well insulated. And we recorded our first 40C temperature in England. There's a reason why houses in the Mediterranean are absolutely not grey, and are very definitely white. There have even been one or two TV programmes where they've measured these houses and apartments having indoor temperatures of high 20s low 30s C, long after the sun has set.
- reedf1 3y agoI think you have a bit of a misunderstanding of what insulation is supposed to achieve. If your home is meaningfully affected by the outdoor temperature it is very much not "well insulated".
- kamray23 3y agoIt could be. A well insulated home requires cooling of some sort to stay cool or it will heat up, as it contains heat sources and is well insulated. That gets harder as the outside temperature rises. This has nothing to do with the colour of the building, though. And it's not something you can ease by removing the insulation – that actually makes it worse as now the high outside temperature might just make the inside temperature even higher.
- theluketaylor 3y agoInsulation resists heat transfer in both directions. Extremely well insulated and air sealed homes resist heating up just as much as they resist cooling off. Windows are a bit special in that you can get solar gain through them, but modern windows can have coatings that filter UV and IR from entering a building. People and electronics are heat sources inside a home, but pretty minimal ones. Any reasonably speced ventilation system a modern home needs to exchange outside air will easily handle keeping a modern house cool.
- kamray23 3y agoMost UV and IR doesn't actually need any real coatings. Glass just isn't transparent to that light, completely by itself. It's actually specifically the imperfections in said glass which cut out the most dangerous part of UV radiation, and it's the inherent temperature which messes with IR.
- DrBazza 3y ago"insulation - noun [ U ] the act of covering something to stop heat, sound, or electricity from escaping or entering, or the fact that something is covered in this way" In common language usage, UK houses are insulated to stop heat escaping in our mostly temperate climate for energy efficiency reasons, not to stop heat entering. Everyone opens their doors and windows in the UK allowing the heat in. Aircon is rare, but increasing. So houses stay hot long after the afternoon peak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62126463 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62126463 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23180965 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23180965 and so on.
- foota 3y agoPersonally I'm a fan of brutalist architecture, but maybe it's nostalgia for my university.
- odiroot 3y agoIt's not about blocks. Post-war terraces and detached houses are totally bland as well.
- dublinben 3y agoArchitects are usually all for embellishment and aesthetic details. By the time a design is actually built, all visual appeal has usually been value-engineered out, or fallen victim to the whims of local zoning officials.
- ethanbond 3y agoEmbellishment is very rare in most architecture programs today. You can thank Corbusier, a criminal against humanity as far as I am concerned.
- WalterBright 3y agoThey need gargoyles.
- dist-epoch 3y ago> architect and theorist Adolph Loos, in a 1908 essay called “Ornament and Crime,” dramatically declared that a lack of ornamentation was a “sign of spiritual strength.” > Architects are terrified of producing so much as a fluted column, because they believe their peers will think they are stupid, nostalgic, and unsophisticated. https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/why-you-hate-contemporary-architecture https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/10/why-you-hate-contempo...
- timerol 3y agoI opened the article after reading this comment, looked at the cover image, and thought you must be out of your mind. Then I scrolled down, and the newer images looked progressively worse. The South Gardens complex looks like it's afraid to be anything other than a box. There are balconies that give clear opportunities for a varied facade, but they look almost identical to everything else. (I say this as someone who heavily advocates for needing to build more in expensive cities. Bland boxes are way better than no new construction.)
- renewiltord 3y agoIt's the classic problem: you dislike it but it won't make you support or oppose. For the ones who hate buildings: they will oppose anything. In a world like that, every bit of ornamentation is a novel handle you give someone who will use it to pull you down, and they're going to try to extract as much surplus value as possible out of the construction process through various mechanisms. So the simple thing is, you say things but do not care, so those who build do so by listening to those who care.
- DrBazza 3y agoDevelopers never have a problem selling as they know that people will always buy apartments in cities, it's the inside that counts. Adding fluff to the outside costs money, and in England these days, it's a race to the bottom to maximise profit and minimise cost. Council planners have little power to demand things on buildings outside of that which meets legislation requirements. Hence we're getting some pretty awful buildings, not just apartments, in existing suburbs that don't blend in at all.
- ethanbond 3y agoNo it’s the land that counts. Location, location, location. That’s why we should tax land and not tax development. Then all the upside of building a particularly nice place goes directly into the pockets of the people who choose to build a particularly nice place, instead of 70% of the value going to the landowner regardless of what piece of shit gets built on it.
- kristianp 3y agohttps://archive.is/NsIZv https://archive.is/NsIZv
- leoedin 3y agoI grew up in Edinburgh - which along with Glasgow has the highest percentage of households living in flats in the UK (greater than even London). The apartments in Edinburgh can be incredible - often 150-200 square meters, 3.5-4m ceilings and large reception rooms. Sometimes even larger. They make a great streetscape too. I live in London now, and the buildings are far less impressive. London is a very low density city - it very quickly becomes 2-3 storey terraced houses, even in central areas. With the exception of a few grand mansion blocks in the centre, flats in this city are pretty small - most of them were built as social housing or created by subdividing existing houses. It's a shame, as living in a well built large apartment can be excellent. The English problem with flats is primarily a legal one. The leasehold system puts power in the hands of an uninterested landlord - and so makes owning a flat an exercise in frustration. Nobody desires to live in a flat because they're small and owning them is bureaucratic and expensive. The system perpetuates itself.
- antiterra 3y agoThose Georgian apartments in Edinburgh are up to like 6th floor walk ups. It’s something you can get used to, but sprain your ankle and it’s suddenly a much different experience. Usually it’s more steps per floor than a comparable NYC walk up. Great idea if you are young or have a good social support system in case you need help.
- HPsquared 3y agoGood for fitness, I suppose.
- smegger001 3y agoI lived in fifth floor apartment that spent about a year replacing the elevator that was not a fun trip up the stairs on grocery shopping day with six months old child. Then too neither was moving out after as the new elevator car was smaller and much of the furniture that had fit in the old elevator needed caried down a staircase with three 90° turns per floor.
- jahewson 3y agoMostly 4 stories. I used to live at the top of one, at first it’s hard but after a while you stop noticing. We had all types in our building, babies, old people, musicians, you name it. British people walk everywhere anyway.
- benbojangles 3y agoI used to live in a mansion block just like in the photo, in Battersea. It was lovely, shared apartment between 4 rich kids and me (keeping up the illusion of wealth). It was more affordable back in 2007-2012 after then the rent has tripled along with the property value, 2009 the value was £250k and in 2023 it is worth 1.25million. Great experience but my lasting memory is of the hell of living with a girl there. I wish I could just remember the good stuff.
- benbojangles 3y agoI might add that Pimlico Vauxhall Road mansions were a miserable sight.