[SUB]URBAN PLAYGROUND

 

“…In order to choose properly, one must know what there is to choose from.”
(De Botton, A. 2007)

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The way in which the ‘housing crisis’ is being addressed in Scotland throughout the suburbs of the country is not sustainable. Culturally, the houses have no sense of time or place resulting in the ‘pastiche’. Socially, trends in housing fuel a preconceived sense of ‘self’. Physically, the houses are of poor build quality and of a typology & layout that lacks design. 

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This thesis proposes a fresh approach to address the crisis which seeks to showcase a new form of suburbia - learning from existing developments. This is done as an inherently more sustainable, contextual and informed approach as this abstracts  the successes and failures of developments. Work focuses on developing a brown field site as an alternative to green field sites - which have become the norm for developers.

The housing development designed through this thesis for a Scottish suburb is to suit a progressive demographic. 

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“Demographers project that most home buyers in the next couple of decades will be empty-nest baby boomers or their single adult children… Those childless buyers won’t be in the market for traditional detached suburban homes.”  
(Montgomery, C. 2013) 

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The new development aims to bring ‘cosmopolitan urban values’ to the suburbs and the new demographic associated with it. In this way, the development may be seen as ‘urban suburbia’ - as it neither one or the other. 

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An approach is taken in the design of this new suburb that acknowledges the ‘pastiche’ of the existing suburbs. Addressing suburban issues on scales of ‘regional’, ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘home’, a focus is put on the symbolism inherent in the ‘pastiche’. A matrix of the pastiche of the selected area is created in order to clearly show abstractions to learn from and the symbolism inherent in these ‘pastiche’ features. The results of this will inform both the aesthetics and the design. 

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Producing an aesthetic that is of time, place and self is the focus of the thesis. The programme is supplementary to this and is intended to nurture the aspiration of time, place and self aesthetics.

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Through the design section of the thesis, a programme of implementation of the new suburb will be outlined. The staggered process of rolling out this new model of suburbia will be analysed. This initial project is intended as a prototype for the rest of the sector and for people to be aware of an alternative to the conventional.