Architects condemn 'shoe-box homes'

[Ludwig]

Architects have slammed these rabbit hutch houses that are springing up all over the place but we should be delighted that people are living in smaller houses. These tiny homes cost less to build, heat, clean an furnish and take up less land. I f people want to let off steam there are gyms, running tracks and vast areas of forest, footpaths, moorland and other open space and the time people will save running big houses means they will spend more time in their community helping worthwhile causes. In Japan large numbers live in tiny pods so why can't we.

 

[Andy_R]

Sorry, but I personally hate shoe box houses. I need space and feel confined in a small room. Children also need space to express themselves freely, so I'll have to disagree with you on this one, purely on personal grounds

 

[Archie_tect]

RIBA's new president has issued a press release during her first week. Not sure whether people want individually designed houses or if they just put up with the mass-built housing built by the likes of Wimpey/ Persimmon/ Barratt because they think that's all there is.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Alan Bennett once described these types of developments as f*ck hutch estates!

 

[ianrauk]

Alan Bennett once described these types of developments as f*ck hutch estates!

That's not far off.
Here on the Greenwich/Deptford/lewisham area there is so much new development going on. I would say 1000's of 'apartments'. They don't look big by any fair stretch of imagination. They are shoeboxes.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Are these the same architects who built high rise estates in the 60's and 70's and then gave themselves awards for the design and innovation. These are the estates that on the whole were knocked down in the 80's and 90's because they were badly built and discouraged social interaction leading to anti-social behaviour.

 

[mac1]

Not sure why they're complaining about "rabbit hutches" now; surely the trend started in the 80s with the housebuying boom - those hideous private estates where you opened the front door straight into the kitchen. ISTR from somewhere someone saying that this might have been down to planning regulations - think it was the number of houses you could build per acre rising from 14 to 28. Sounds like some on here could give an insight/confirmation on this.

 

[Globalti]

Are those rabbit hutches any smaller than the typical Northern two-up two-down mill worker's cottage? People have lived happily in those for over 100 years.

 

[swee'pea99]

Is there anything new under the sun?...

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Malvina Hazard, Little Boxes, mid-60s

 

[GaryA]

Under the present cheap oil economy it is indeed more efficient to house people in cities.... Ignoring the fact that it can only be sustained so long as it is able to feed on resources outside of itself.
On the other hand, it would be even more efficient to build even larger skyscrapers with less windows, maybe replace the windows by 3-D-flatscreens instead. Then heating would be even easier and people would actually never have to leave the building, everything is inside - home, work, shopping and the travel agency that allows you to book a holiday in the real world. Oh and we could even place these underground, then there could be parks growing on top of them and no wind could take away the heat, 100% recycling, with vertical farming and clean fusion energy just around the corner, isn't that efficient?

 

[User482]

Are those rabbit hutches any smaller than the typical Northern two-up two-down mill worker's cottage? People have lived happily in those for over 100 years.

Not in terms of square meterage, but by the time you've squeezed in an extra bedroom, the obligatory en-suite and downstairs loo, the rooms end up being much smaller.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Not in terms of square meterage, but by the time you've squeezed in an extra bedroom, the obligatory en-suite and downstairs loo, the rooms end up being much smaller.

My dad once described the en-suite as 'unFrench for shitting in the corner of your bedroom'.

 

[tyred]

Shoebox? Sheer luxury. When I were I lad...

 

[dellzeqq]

hhhmmmmm

loth as I am to defend developers (it's impossible to defend architects), I await with interest some insight or plan which is going to make good the shortage of dwellings in the southeast of England without covering every scrap of grass from Dungeness to Datchet if we are no longer to build dwellings that are small or high rise.

 

[colly]

Didn't I read somewhere that in this country at least there is no minimum space/volume requirements for dwelling houses?

Maybe it is that sur-la-continent there are minimum allowances so that's why new houses everywhere else in Europe are bigger.

Anyway what good does criticising small modern houses do?

You are architects .......design something bigger and better and, which is kind of important, affordable,