design-of-homes

9 ms·

31.
by design-of-homes 6y ago
"In poorer quality apartments, there might be full windows only along the balcony side of the apartment, their kitchens only lit naturally by dingy light wells." Housing blocks built with 1, 2, and 3 bedroom flats (apartments) a
32.
by design-of-homes 6y ago
I like much of what Christopher Alexander has written, but many of the patterns he writes about in A Pattern Language are rooted in a mixture of opinion and sometimes evidence. There is an assumption that if an architectural pattern has e
33.
New housing estates in the UK 'identical and soulless' [video](youtube.com)
2 points by design-of-homes 7y ago|0 comments
34.
by design-of-homes 7y ago
Few architects consider how easily sound can travel in residential buildings - from nearby buildings and closely-spaced balconies for example. Many apartment blocks have adjoining balconies with light partitions that do nothing to dampen so
35.
by design-of-homes 7y ago
"In North America, the tiny home movement is fledgling" The US is lucky to have so much open space which lets people build their own tiny homes. The tiny homes don't feel cramped because they're surrounded by nature, w
36.
by design-of-homes 7y ago
I used to write a blog about housing design. I had no connection with the housing industry or the field of architecture, merely a strong interest in high-density housing. As such, I read books, papers, went to the library to dig up archived
37.
by design-of-homes 8y ago
"Like living in a prison cell or some kind of distopian sci-fi novel." I also find such small dwellings unpleasant. Small flats can be well designed, but these apartments take things too far. The designers have recognised two fe
38.
End of an era: Tokyo's iconic 1960s Hotel Okura (2015, Video)(monocle.com)
1 points by design-of-homes 8y ago|0 comments
39.
by design-of-homes 8y ago
I'm not sure if this counts, but here is a blog I wrote from 2007 to 2013 and then stopped. It's called 'The Design of Homes' and is mostly about housing design in the UK (the site domain expired, hence the archive.org l
40.
by design-of-homes 8y ago
> "What's so great about libraries? Seems like a very inefficient way to store/disseminate information in 2018" I'm going to repeat something I've said previously on Hacker News: people underestimate how m
41.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
A major factor in the rise of property prices in the UK is the enormous growth of the buy-to-let market. It's not the sole factor affecting property prices, but a substantial one, particularly in London. Incredibly, buy-to-let landlord
42.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
Many of us assume everything is mostly online and so it's our first port of call for any research or knowledge gathering. But I think many people underestimate how much information in books isn't online and just how much useful
43.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
I think many people (myself included) underestimate just how much knowledge is still tied up in books. I thought I'd repeat this anecdote I previously posted on a discussion about libraries a while ago. A few years ago I was researchin
44.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
Uniformity in apartment design is very common in Europe too. The smaller the apartment, the more likely it is to have a generic or standardised layout. This is regardless of whether the housing development is "architect designed"
45.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
Many of the housing issues that New York faces seem similar to what's happening in London: shortage of housing supply, soaring rents, property at ridiculously over-inflated prices. The London market is overun with buy-to-let investors
46.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
How does my blog compare? I submitted this link to Hacker News yesterday. It's quite an image heavy page but I think (I hope!) it loads quite fast for most users. It obviously won't be as fast as a text-only page. There are no fan
47.
Tour Bois-le-Prêtre: transformation of a housing block (2012)(designofhomes.co.uk)
11 points by design-of-homes 11y ago|3 comments
48.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
This looks like a concept piece, not an actual product. An alternative is to simply have soundproof windows. For fresh air without opening the window, you can install a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) unit. These units extra
49.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
Excellent advice about the library. An anecdote from me: a few years ago I was researching the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. I wanted to find out about his famous housing complex called Unité d'habitation (Housing Unit) first built in
50.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
This is an excerpt from a book called At Home in the City: an introduction to urban design which explains how the same plot of land can accomodate different types of development and different densities. Medium-rise blocks can match and ex
51.
by design-of-homes 11y ago
I live in the UK, and the tiny house movement appears to be a uniquely American phenomenon. The US is lucky to have so much open space which lets people build their own homes. The reason these tiny homes don't feel cramped is because t
52.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
I agree. But having enough space is what lets you adapt in the first place. You can't, for example, partition a space into two rooms when there isn't enough space to do that. This is an excerpt from the last national housing space
53.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
"isn't small housing a good solution?" Size is relative. There are definitely cultural factors that influence what we consider small or large. For example, London has the London Housing Design guide which recommends a one b
54.
Architectural photography in the age of social media(architectural-review.com)
2 points by design-of-homes 12y ago|0 comments
55.
'Sweden has to act now to solve housing crisis'(thelocal.se)
1 points by design-of-homes 12y ago|0 comments
56.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
"Terraced houses? In a place with high housing demand?" What's wrong with terraced housing? It is more suitable for high-density developments than detached or semi-detached housing. A mixed development of houses and flats b
57.
Britain's housing crisis is a human disaster(theguardian.com)
59 points by design-of-homes 12y ago|40 comments
58.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
"...so that the house would “open up” as you walked into it." This is a well-known effect that architects have employed for centuries. In fact, you probably encounter it in many places without even thinking about it: - when walk
59.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
"Rent controls don't work" I live in the UK and I look at a country like Germany that has much stricter rental laws than the UK (including rent control policies) and I see a superior system. It seems that tenants in Germany
60.
by design-of-homes 12y ago
"Funny how this kinds of housing works perfectly in Europe..." Does it? What's happened in Chicago has many parallels with public housing projects in (some) European countries. There was a boom in large scale public housing

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