DESIGNING THE HOMES OF THE FUTURE
Chances are your next house will look unlike any you’ve seen before. New ideas are shaping architecture, creating superior, happier, more fulfilling places to live
The concept of houses is about to change beyond recognition – we investigate the cause and effect
what will the decades ahead look like, and how will your house evolve to incorporate them? Probably in more ways than you might expect, as your next home is likely to look very different from those of today. No, we’re not talking space for a Jetsons-era robot housemaid, but architecture that embraces and enhances the changes in our lifestyles.
One major shift is the rise in blended or multi-generational families as well as single-person households, meaning that traditional home layouts need updating. And because more people are working from home, a trend is emerging that is part of the ‘sharer economy’, where communities share resources such as meeting rooms and gardens.
COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
This new way of thinking is shaping developments such as Marmalade Lane, a RIBA award-winning project in Cambridge by Mole Architects. With 42 terraced houses and apartments, it’s one of the new co-housing concepts springing up around the UK, where residents collaborate to run the estate. Aspiring towards mixed, intergenerational living, it boasts vegetable gardens, a communal kitchen and a Common House containing guest bedrooms. The collective approach improves everyone’s wellbeing, from families to singles who may need more social interaction.
Perhaps your next home will be taking its lead from the architects AHMM and developer Solidspace, who have reinvented the mansion block in their project at 81-87 Weston Street near London Bridge station. The design avoids the dated one-size-fits-all approach with eight flats that include flexible open-plan rooms and self-contained bedrooms that can be rented out. Multi-level entrances offer privacy for those living together but separately. ‘We build on the principle of long life, recognising that there are times when you might need a relative living with you, or visitors, lodgers or carers,’ says Roger Zogolovitch of Solidspace.
FUTURE-PROOF DESIGNS
Incidentally, our ageing population could prove to be good for the housing industry, as it promotes design for long-term wellbeing. Wildernesse Mews by Morris + Company, a cluster of almshouse-style retirement homes in the grounds of a Kent manor, is especially innovative. Houses have large hallways that allow residents to install a lift and there are shared planting areas to combat problems like loneliness. ‘We expect to see more developments that make it easier for older people to maintain independence,’ says architect Marcus Adams of JTP. Its Lenton Green and Radford scheme in Nottingham keeps homes close to amenities so people live near the things they need most.
Community comes in all shapes and sizes, and low-rise housing, inspired by the familial spirit of the past, is increasingly being chosen over high-rise living. Take Norwich development Goldsmith Street designed by Mikhail Riches, which won last year’s RIBA Stirling Prize. It’s a network of 19th-century-style terraces that blends with its surroundings, a model also followed by Hawkins\ Brown with its new Agar Grove estate in Camden. Here, new buildings are fused with old ones to ‘stitch’ them into the community, while squares and walkways create a social network.
Both projects are built in brick, a material that is back in favour. Thanks to a mix of good looks and familiarity, bricks help create a sense of place, as well as being sustainable. Using eco materials in new builds is imperative, but architects are also recycling what
already exists by reimagining ‘leftover’ sites. Dallas Pierce Quintero’s Courtyard House occupies a former builder’s yard in London and reuses remnants found there, while 31/44 Architects’ Corner House in Peckham transforms the end of a Victorian terrace, fitting a three-bedroom house and two apartments into what would have otherwise been dead space.
ECO-FRIENDLY IDEAS
And of course, future homes will be greener. Passivhaus – a sustainable approach that creates ultra-energy-efficient buildings – and other eco credentials were once the preserve of self-builds, but now they’re being reworked for the masses: both Goldsmith Street and Agar Grove are Passivhaus compliant, the two largest such projects in the UK. This system, which originated in the 1970s, is now being used worldwide. ‘It’s about attention to detail – positioning windows to let in sun, but adding shades to reduce overheating in summer,’ says Oliver Bulleid, director of Mikhail Riches. ‘Goldsmith Street letterboxes are integrated into external walls, rather than being draughty slots in doors.’ In Agar Grove, large windows are focused on south-facing walls, where they enhance light and warmth, with smaller windows to the north to reduce heat loss.
Important changes are happening on the outside, too. While you’re likely to see more living roofs, a response to the increased rainfall that comes with climate change, solar roof panels are also becoming more sophisticated. Tesla’s new black glass roofing is infinitely sleeker than current panels. Solar roofs will soon be able to heat water as well as generate electricity, while biomass boilers can run off plant materials like woodchip rather than fossil fuels.
Internally, your home will be a hive of technology – even more than it currently is. One of the most integrated smart home systems is Loxone, which controls multiple functions via an app. Features include monitors that reduce water consumption, sensor-controlled blinds that adjust according to sunlight levels, and the option to switch off individual sockets remotely. Its security system makes your home safer, not just from burglars, but by deploying sensors to detect fires and leaks.
All of this means you’ll have more control over your home than ever. While developments like Lenton Green already treat residents as co-creators, a new crop of developers is pioneering the custom- and self-build movement, supplying modular, prefabricated homes. Studio Bark makes it easier to self-build with its U-build flat-pack timber concept. It costs from £240,000 and, says director Nick Newman, ‘offers an alternative to the contractorled approach for community housing’. Its first project, Box House in Bicester, will be followed by 1,900 more homes nearby.
AFFORDABLE OPTIONS
There’s also Naked House, aimed at buyers on modest incomes, whose first plot of 22 homes launches in Enfield in 2021. Constructed from low-cost materials, its modular units have ledges on top, so an extra storey can be added, and come with party-wall agreements if owners want to extend. Interior fittings are basic, so buyers need to complete their spaces. ‘We want to put people back at the centre of homebuilding,’ says co-founder Simon Chouffot. ‘We think this will create a stronger sense of identity, ownership and community.’
If this movement takes off, the tendency of big developers to cut corners with poky rooms and windows – currently a favourite money-saving tactic – could be a thing of the past. As housing designer Wayne Hemingway points out, the home dwellers of the future will include the Greta Thunberg generation, and they won’t easily be fobbed off with compromises. Their homes could be greener and more versatile than ever – and they will be firmly in the driving seat.