Grand Designs

Author
Discussion

psi310398

9,086 posts

203 months

Wednesday 15th November 2017
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Mark Benson said:
Seems the owners of the 'spaceship house' in Holland Park(?) didn't make many friends among the neighbours during the 12 years it took them to build, I wonder if that's why the panel were so split on whether to take them forward?
Amazing space given the footprint, but seemingly an architect who wanted what he wanted at whatever cost to others.
Wood Lane, Highgate (just behind Highgate Tube).

There really is not much to be gained by trying to be nice to the neighbours there - there's a self-appointed claque of luvvies and professionals in a preservation society who oppose everything subsequent to the invention of the wheel, much as they did with the dam upgrades on the Heath. Of course, they were not the ones who would be flooded in the events provided for, merely the peasants in Gospel Oak and Kentish Town below them.

Highgate has some really interesting modern architecture but I can't think of a single example there which was not built in the teeth of spirited opposition and normally only on appeal to the Secretary of State.

dom9

8,078 posts

209 months

Tuesday 28th November 2017
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Hmmmm... not sure about that but it was a Grand Design!

zygalski

7,759 posts

145 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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After watching last week's episode it's strange that 1 out of every 3 or 4 houses featured on GD is a 1960's case study Stahl house clone.
Hardly revolutionary over-all design.

CanAm

9,202 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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The couple who built the "rusty shed atop a glass cube" in Lewes liked their dream home so much that they put it on the market after about a year. It's been reduced recently but remains unsold.

loughran

2,743 posts

136 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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zygalski said:
After watching last week's episode it's strange that 1 out of every 3 or 4 houses featured on GD is a 1960's case study Stahl house clone.
Which in turn was rehash of the Pavillion House in Barcelona, built in the late 20s.

They say there's nothing new under the sun, so where did Mies van dee Rohe got his ideas from. smile

Edited by loughran on Wednesday 29th November 12:43

FredClogs

14,041 posts

161 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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Can see why it won but there is a lot of "The Omen" about that place... And 26,000 fruit trees...? That's a lot of crumble.

My favourite was the cantilevered bungalow, with Kevin's Aston parked under it, looked achingly cool. Also the one from this week with the tigers on the wall was great, the tigers were a mistake though.

GnuBee

1,272 posts

215 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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It was a worthy winner in the same vein as Flint House two years ago. Homes that are not re-interpretations of well known tropes and which will likely end up with the word "important" appearing in descriptions of them in the years to come.




zygalski

7,759 posts

145 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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Ok so the fugly non-ostentatious oast house with the concerto room won.
Fantastic.

I thought the hideaway house was a far greater achievement tbh.

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 29th November 2017
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GnuBee said:
It was a worthy winner in the same vein as Flint House two years ago. Homes that are not re-interpretations of well known tropes and which will likely end up with the word "important" appearing in descriptions of them in the years to come.
yes

JagLover

42,406 posts

235 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
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zygalski said:
Ok so the fugly non-ostentatious oast house with the concerto room won.
Fantastic.

I thought the hideaway house was a far greater achievement tbh.
It was my least favorite of the lot!, looked like a giant termite mound.

Surely some measure of popular appeal should be part of the judging.

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
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JagLover said:
Surely some measure of popular appeal should be part of the judging.
No, that's the Daily Mail house of the year smile

GD house of the year is a prize for architecture, by architects.

Adam B

27,247 posts

254 months

Friday 8th December 2017
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JagLover said:
Surely some measure of popular appeal should be part of the judging.
why on earth would you put any award involving intellect to the general public?

we'd end up with Boaty McBoatface winning

even people here don't think an "ugly" building should win, or a house "that they would never want to live in"

Prawo Jazdy

4,947 posts

214 months

Friday 22nd December 2017
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garyhun said:
JagLover said:
Surely some measure of popular appeal should be part of the judging.
No, that's the Daily Mail house of the year smile

GD house of the year is a prize for architecture, by architects.
...and Jenny Eclair rolleyes

I must admit I didn’t expect that to win. I was a bit baffled by the reasoning of the head judge that it was “just so simple!”. Eh?! Which bit of that design was simple? It’s great to tell us how many fruit trees you’ve planted, but that isn’t architecture.

There was a lot of emphasis on multi-generational living, but I couldn’t help feeling that that is a fairly easy thing to achieve when you have the means to build a gigantic house for what must be an eight-figure budget. Designing something for multi-generational use on a more modest budget/plot would have been much more of an achievement.

Maybe the programme didn’t show off the house very well, but I wasn’t left with a very good idea of what was impressive architecturally. It mostly seemed to revolve around the idea that it was based on oast houses, but Minecrafted and made massive. Speaking of mass, I thought architects generally want to avoid too much massing in a building design, but the roof from some angles looked problematic in that regard (to my admittedly unqualified eyes).

Edited by Prawo Jazdy on Friday 22 December 10:01

C Lee Farquar

4,068 posts

216 months

Friday 22nd December 2017
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I liked it as an idea, I would have preferred the oast house parts round. I thought the living parts seemed uncomfortable, the architect showing off rather than giving balanced living spaces.

The plunge pool in the centre seemed at odds with the image of kids wandering freely, but perhaps there's a hidden hard cover.


SydneyBridge

8,603 posts

158 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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New series of GD Australia on more 4 tonight

Really like some of these. Will see...

anonymous-user

54 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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SydneyBridge said:
New series of GD Australia on more 4 tonight

Really like some of these. Will see...
Thanks for the heads-up, I like these too!

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

196 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
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garyhun said:
SydneyBridge said:
New series of GD Australia on more 4 tonight

Really like some of these. Will see...
Thanks for the heads-up, I like these too!
Just caught up on it last night, was awful I thought!

Quirky (to say the least) but what a crappy plot and the building totally dominated it.

snobetter

1,160 posts

146 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
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LaurasOtherHalf said:
garyhun said:
SydneyBridge said:
New series of GD Australia on more 4 tonight

Really like some of these. Will see...
Thanks for the heads-up, I like these too!
Just caught up on it last night, was awful I thought!

Quirky (to say the least) but what a crappy plot and the building totally dominated it.
I expected to hate it but quite liked it, other than I'd always want a downstairs area which you can close off.

Bonefish Blues

26,717 posts

223 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
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Anyone else thinking that the ceiling panels jarred and that another (any other) treatment would have been better. Lack of veneer matching itched the teeth, too, but I also liked it more than I expected.

Sway

26,275 posts

194 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
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The downstairs reminded me of a static caravan. Horrid built in soft furnishings, and really quite awkward spaces - without imo the satisfaction from the design to make it worthwhile...

As for the outside. Bleugh.