Architecture and interior design thread

Anyone catch the Grand Designs in Hackney downs yesterday? Got me right in the feels tbh

I thought I looked really nice and loved the roof, but tiny it was not. Our first place’s footprint was smaller than that. And how do ‘they’ always find that bit of extra land/cash/help on almost every build? Just jealous.

Well the valuation of the property over the course of the project probably increased allowing more leverage to borrow. I think it was definitely tight in terms of plot size.

Bloke look broken at the end of it. Was all fairly sad

True on all counts there I guess. However the first rule of grand designs is never dig down if you have a tight budget, like NEVER! It’s sad that it’s always the client and never the contractor or supplier that gets stung.

Missed that. Top line?

We live in a house exactly like the ones shown below. Ours is in Oxford, built in 1946, these ones below are in Ipswich, but I've seen very similar houses all over the country.

Ours was built by a local house builder, but presumably they weren't also working in Sheffield, Ipswich, Dagenham, etc.

Was there a kind of open-source plan that builders could purchase and replicate? If so, where and when did it begin?

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Essentially all 1930s/40s houses were in the same general style: two mirror image houses in one building. Sizes varied from one estate to another, and some had chalet-style roofs.

You would also see (cheaper) blocks built in threes or fours, but they were a similar layout inside.

Proportions were also dictated by standard bricks and standard window sizes as this was largely pre-pre-fab (late 40s to 70s) and the innovation that followed.

Just had a quick google - it's on youtube for free with no ads... is this a new thing? Seems legit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW7Z8cr6a40&ab_channel=GrandDesigns

Well minimsing spoilers but blended family in Hackney where both families had a parent pass away wanted to create family home on the plot of a double garage in Hackney downs. Father is architect and designed a 3 story house which would dig a basement to create additional floor space for kids bedrooms. Tight budget (obvs) and delays/unforeseen issues/contractor probs. Dad is totally frazzled by delays/stress of project and kids bummed out that the house is so delayed. Gets built but the basement walls aren’t thick enough so it’s not habitable.

Ooh neat!

I passed it and took a photo last week!

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I'd been eyeing up the little workshop thing next door for a couple of years. Bit overshadowed now :/

Gets built but the basement walls aren’t thick enough so it’s not habitable

Christ. How did that happen!?

Easy, our engineer specced 600mm foundations, BC came round and told us the needed to be 1200mm deep. Luckily they hadn't poured yet.

Building Control, not British Cycling

Looks like a big wooden lego shed. Just out of curiosity how much is it worth

Gets built but the basement walls aren’t thick enough so it’s not habitable.

What.....how

Contractor wot fucked it?

I thought BC was supposed to check that what has been (correctly) spec'd was built, not correcting the specs after build has started.

Speaking as an Engineer, this intrigues me no end!

Mostly due to the ground not matching what the geo charts said, and proximity to trees.

This is why we encourage young Engineers regarding the importance of site visits.

Edit: Don't want to shit on a guy who's down on his luck.

Wider lesson: Probably wise not to do basements unless your trust fund is about to mature.

He came, he saw, he mistake

Bloke look broken at the end of it. Was all fairly sad

Yeah sad to read how it panned out, i switched it off at the first adds as i wasn't really feeling the project and the guy looked a little scared from the outset.

He certainly did.

Yeah - I’ve never seen basements go well.

They did go to the moleman house and they said that they had hundreds of large skips just to take out the aerated concrete ! But the basement looked amazing so totes worth it

Yeah the basement on Sue Webster's moleman gaff was unbelievable. I thought it was going to be 'normal' height but it looked about 3 stories deep. Fair play to her for pushing that project through