I am immediately conscious of my pink bag and purple skirt, which shout vulgarity in the harmony of grey, black and white. Only a hint of red is allowed in each room, in a cushion or a rug.

The Sunday Telegraph carried this very entertaining tour of some minimalist masterpieces, including a Victorian mansion block flat (pictured) in Battersea... all original features concealed behind white fake walls and a wipe clean floor... and a south London semi which isn't pure minimalism (it has colour) but it works on the principle of hidden storage and is described as "monastic". Visiting the Battersea house, the writer leans how it was designed to cater for a utilitarian principle... carefully measured distances between (stored) appliances in the kitchen that reflect their use. It's Steve Jobs' Apple Mac workflow principle on a domestic scale. It's a theory I've always tried to sell to my wife, when extolling Bauhaus (my own frustrated enthusiasm). But - I don't know - it doesn't sound that convenient:

Even making a cup of tea isn't a simple matter: "I know I am a Minimalist freak," says Tanji. She opens a cupboard, gets out the kettle, fills it, plugs it in, makes the tea, then empties it, unplugs it and puts it back in the cupboard. For there must be no clutter.

Head over to the link above for the original piece, complete with pictures. Interestingly, all the properties mentioned are for sale. The Battersea flat is with John D Wood, here.

Technorati Tags: design, London, property, real estate

The Evening Standard has the scoop... and a picture. It looks impressive... not least how the Candys have managed to squeeze 638 housing units, a boutique hotel and spa, a community hall, sports centre and a landscaped public park into less than thirteen acres.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The Telegraph visits a subject we haven't seen since this back in August, 2005... the shell apartment... the unfinished development waiting for the buyer's own interior design vision. Fred Redwood has found an unfinished development in Hoxton, and he's also found that the shell sale is still for the loaded only. Don't expect a discount.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Love it! According to a survey by LG, more than 66% of British say their TV is vital to the "flow within their home". And so, because it's primarily men who choose TV sets (don't pretend you're surprised), men are having more of an influence on interior design decision, too, since the rest of the house needs to be in keeping with the television, obviously. More here.

Technorati Tags: property, interior design, interior_design, real estate, real_estate

The Mirror reports on Kate Moss's interior design makeover, which is said to include life-sized skeletons in the missionary position (and not this missionary position, apparently). [Note to personal assistant... order three skeletons first thing tomorrow, one of them a transsexual. Anything she can do, The Rat and Mouse offices can do better.]

Technorati Tags: celebrity, design, interiors

Back in August, the Rat and Mouse celebrated the Coin Street Community Builders' plans for a 472ft tower on the South Bank. We warned, however, that English Heritage weren't happy. Here's news of a public enquiry... currently taking place at Lambeth Town Hall.

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

The Telegraph takes a tour of celebrity cake meister Eric Lanlard's modern Battersea home. Lanlard's the man behind Madonna's wedding cake and Brooklyn Beckham's first birthday cake. The apartment, all glass and steel and timber, packs a white grand piano, a specially made deep purple carpet and a hot tub. Go here, for the details, and pictures.

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

Based in California, but global in scope, Ava Living is a niche social network with the aim of hooking up anyone with an interest in interior design... pros and non-pros alike. There'll be contests for design students, and the chance to post questions to designers, and for designers to post examples of their work.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, Web2, web2.0

According to Halifax Home Insurance, more than half a million dining rooms will face conversion in 2008, as Brits pursue their love affair with "knocking through". It's also about food-on-the-move, the extinction of the family meal. More here.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, interiors

It's such a long time since I spoke with Gawker Media's lively NY-based travel blog, Gridskipper, about the least favourite London buildings, that I'd almost forgotten what I'd nominated. Quite out of the blue, the piece has appeared, and it's a fun read, with contributions by Sam Jacob, Ali Mangera, Tom Holbrook and Patrick Lynch.

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

According to this trip around 61/2 Redington Road in Hampstead, it's had half the Arsenal team sniffing around its fingerprint entry system, floor-to-ceiling glazing and Ralph Lauren bed. It's a remarkable place... four bedrooms, John McAslan and Partners design, double garage... with Quintessentially Estates, guide price £6m (although I can't find any sign of it on their website... if you want pictures, go here for the Telegraph slideshow). It's apparently not so remarkable it hasn't been on the market for a while, though. Here's a piece from June, and the Times, welcoming the property to the market.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

Interior designer Richard Adams bought it in 2004 for £250,000, and set about scraping the snails off the damp carpet. Now, it's all silk wallpapered, Venetian chandeliered and juxtaposing Baroque with Modern in a way designers pull off and I don't. And it's on the market for £650,000 (the furnishings to be sold separately). Where? Cheyne Court, in Chelsea. Particulars, here. Interesting piece in the New York Times, here.

Technorati Tags: interiors, London, property, real estate

Vogue reports on Clare Wright Keller's move from cardigans to Cadogan Square (ouch), the Pringle creative director's first foray into interior design. She's apparently given a Brahm apartment the Pringle touch, and it's now being rented out for £4,500 a week. No photos, I'm afraid... although is anyone else can point us in the right direction...

Technorati Tags: interiors, London, property, real estate

Take a photograph of one of your grotty rooms, then go here to find out how to send it to the suspiciously immaculate Naomi for close scrutiny. Five photographs will be selected (randomly, so don't trash your house in order to get attention), and the lucky winners will be shown the secrets of good taste.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, property TV

"When Damien Hirst created his diamond-covered skull, one of our clients asked for the doorknobs of their new house to be similarly bejewelled. We used Swarovski crystals – at a cost of £257 for each knob. But for their favourite rooms, the master bedroom and reception, we created two knobs each studded with 4,328 diamonds, and costing £20,000 for each knob."

That's QuintessentiallyEstates' Lucy Russell talking to the Independent, about her work with extravagant knobs. The thrust of the piece is... if things are turning bad in the London property market... nobody's told the super-loaded.

"Another client requested a bright orange Cinderella pumpkin bed for her daughter. It cost £80,000," continues Russell.

So what? When I was a nipper I slept in a little bed made to look like a hat. Actually, it was a hat. I started in a bowler... got my first real bed when I grew out of the stetson. The real point here is that the top end of the market - the end catered for by these search agents and interior designers - obeys different rules. These properties are so different, and at this £25m+ sector so rare, that they're part art, part property.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

"... what they really, really want," says Rosalind Russell, writing in the Telegraph. And it's the basics... with that old chestnut - location - right at the top. Everybody wants to be near a tube, near decent shops, near a decent school, near a useful outdoors space. Fancy shmancy lighting, hot tubs or wet rooms are considered - according to research by Hamptons - a total waste of money. And, interestingly (in the wake of EPCs), energy efficiency measure were ranked the most irrelevant feature of all to buyers.

Ah... wonders the Rat and Mouse... but did Hamptons mention outdoor wallpaper? I bet they didn't, and it's got you intrigued, hasn't it? It's not strictly wallpaper (unless you're prepared to stretch your definition to something made out of metal), but it's decorative, it goes outside, and it takes its design cues from conventional wallpaper. It's by Susan Bradley, costs from £220 per sheet, and it looks intriguing. [via trendir]

Technorati Tags: design, London, property, real estate

Answer: Richard Rogers. At least, here in this fascinating tale of Lucy Musgrave and Zad Rogers' two-storey glass cube in Shoreditch, built on top of a friend's warehouse conversion, and accessed via a bridge from an adjoining building. Quite a project? No shit. But then, Musgrave is a founder of the General Public Agency and Rogers is, well, son of uber-architect Richard Rogers, who apparently helped with the design. Rat and Mouse readers with long memories (or who have discovered the "search" box) may be reminded of the cool Wimbledon Zip-Up House, currently occupied by Zad's brother Ab. Those lucky Rogers' kids. Apart from their names, obviously.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

It's called betternest.co.uk, and it might appeal to anybody with second thoughts about moving in the current slightly unstable market. A kind of off-the-peg design service, it investigates any planning issues related to your address, examines photographs and floor plans, and then returns a report suggesting ways to maximise the value of your home - by adding an extra bedroom, or bathroom, or extending the kitchen - without needing planning permission. The report combines local property price information with the cost of suggested works, to come up with an overall profit figure. Obviously, we're talking ball parks... especially in the current market climate. But betternest's both clever and useful.

Technorati Tags: design, property, real estate, Web, Web2, web2.0

A survey by kitchen and bedroom supplier Sigma3 suggests that the future of the dining room is extinction. Sixty-four per cent of those polled have no use for them, doing all their entertaining, as you might expect, in the kitchen. Not only is the kitchen the 21st Century home's entertainment hub, it's where we pay our bills and watch our TV, too.

That headline? I - for one - mourn the loss of the Quagga. (The dining room, I'm not so bothered about.)

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, property, real estate

Tempted by the prospect of a self-build, but worried that the inherent stresses and strains might cause you to argue with your spouse? Help is at hand, courtesy of YourDreamBuild.com and their "project compatibility test". You and your partner will answer a series of questions, and the self-build experts will tell you whether they think you're cut out for the lifestyle. Cool. How do I sign up? Well, for access to the compatibility test, you just need to be a member of YourDreamBuild, an innovative and highly unusual business proposal that involves you giving them a join-up fee of £65 and an annual subscription of £35. Okay, what do I get for being a member of YourDreamBuild? Good question. You get the right to vote on design decisions relating to the luxury self-build project that YourDreamBuild plans to launch with all the loot. Their plan is to prove that you can build one house and use it as collateral to pay for the next, and that in three properties you're living in a lovely self-build with zero mortgage. What you get out of it is the feeling of belonging, of being involved in the process... oh yeah, and there are monthly competitions for best garden design etc. What? I get to pay to design a house for somebody else? You're shitting me? Think of it as a real-time training course. And you also get to take the "project compatibility test". For free. Rat and Mouse advice... don't tell your spouse how much you paid for it.

Technorati Tags: design, property, real estate

Remember One Hyde Park... Sheik Hamad and Candy & Candy's über-luxury Knightsbridge development? It's had a bit of a financing history, with some confusing stories relating to where the money's coming from and where it's going. The latest - according to this - is a significant £1bn refinancing courtesy of Eurohypo, the giant European real estate bank, replacing the Bank of Scotland's stake in the business. The project is due to be completed in 2010.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The Telegraph takes an interesting tour of some of London's cinema redevelopments... lovely old (often) listed "picture houses" that are being turned - for good or ill - into housing or commercial premises. The piece focuses on Henley Homes' remarkable plans for the Granada Odeon in Clapham. The building is - thankfully - heavily protected. From the Telegraph:

"It would be nice if the old auditorium could be turned into a local theatre," says Tariq Usmani, director of Henley Homes. "Or it might be turned into a health club, but whatever happens to it the period features, including the seats, have to be retained, although these could be hidden or moved. They just cannot be destroyed."

When I read this, the first thing I thought - being naturally facetious - was... hey, why not turn it into a cinema?

And then I read this:

Henley Homes has decided not to clean up the brickwork, but will leave it as it is and, as a nod to its former use, will create a private 12-seater cinema on the second floor of the development for residents' use only.

It's a mad, mad world. The plans for the development are extraordinary... a self-supported glass box (it's to be called "Lumiere") right on the top, containing some of the 59 planned apartments.

For more about the UK's old cinemas, go here. And you can find some before and after pictures of another south London Odeon conversion here and here.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

From the Huf Haus Owners Group (a group the Rat and Mouse would very much like to join, but lacks one particular qualification):

If you're not up on the Huf, it was the brainchild of German architect Peter Huf: a kind of über-prefab, all glass, beams, eco-friendly materials and striking good looks.

The Beaconsfield Huf Haus is listed at £1.6m.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

My home is very colourful. I have added vinyl strips to the floors – a cheap solution, as we had taken out the carpet and were at a loss as to how to cover it without any money. Also there is a lot of industrial tape on the walls in striped patterns that acts as wallpaper. The telephone is covered in masking tape. It looked horrible before.

Right on... the Blue Peter approach to interior design, as practiced by fashion legend Julie Verhoeven in her south London flat.

The loo is one of my favourite rooms... I covered the walls in black-and-white photocopies of pictures, mostly from the 1970s, and fashion prints and music pictures, and then I added fluorescent pink. I have unusual art pieces in my house. Some white crutches I made for an exhibition rest against the fireplace in the sitting room, and there is a bear holding a huge industrial whisk in the hallway. And I have a massive trainer from an exhibition at the bottom of the stairs.

Okay, now you're weirding me out. Haven't you heard of Ikea? Two hundred quid and a lift from a friend with an estate car and you could have a normal flat.

On the subject of interior design and sticky-back plastic, have you seen this Blue Peter guide to re-creating the Simpsons' lounge out of cardboard boxes, cotton wool, straws and felt? Marvellous, But what do you do with it afterwards?

Technorati Tags: celebrity, interiors, London, property, real estate

Sterling Prize, first; because it's serious. It went to The Museum Of Modern Literature in Marbach am Neckar, north of Stuttgart. Yes, it's about British architecture, and the British link is David Chipperfield Architects, who completed the project, a subtle concrete construction in terraces, in 2006.

That was the sublime, and now the ridiculous. Building Design magazine has been canvassing for the year in architecture's "offal". The Rat and Mouse cast its vote on Tuesday, but not - it appears - for the winner. Ultimate victory went to Opal Court in Leicester, by Stephen George and Partners... student accommodation that can thank its "grim" colours and "pathetic" roofs.

The Rat and Mouse offers its congratulations to both winners.

Technorati Tags: architecture

Courtesy of Building Design magazine, who clearly foster serious ambitions for the award:

Launched for the first time last year, the Carbuncle Cup is to the Stirling Prize what the Golden Raspberries are to the Oscars. So while the Riba searches for architecture's prime cuts, we set out to uncover the offal.

Here's the shortlist of seven:

And, as you can see, Foster, Edward Potter Associates and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris are all proudly representing London. The Rat and Mouse's vote is firmly for Skydec, although we disagree with architect Alan Riley's appraisal that "it looks as though a half deflated balloon has landed on it". It reminds the Rat and Mouse of something altogether different:

The winner's announced Friday.

Technorati Tags: architecture, New York, property, real estate

Every time a council tenant decided to cash in, my estate agent would give me a call to see if I knew of an architect who might be persuaded to buy.

That's Isabel Allen, on the 4homes blog, writing about her previous home in the Brunswick Centre. But Brunswick's success, she argues, isn't about the architecture, it's about the location. And it's the location - again, not the Brutalist architecture - that's at the heart of Robin Hood Gardens' failure.

The estate (a Utopian streets-in-the-sky dream by husband-and-wife architectural team Alison and Peter Smithson, built in Poplar, east London, at the start of the 1970s) is threatened with demolition, and not everybody's delighted. It's not in a great place (knocking it down won't help), and it's structurally and socially flawed... but once it's gone it will be gone forever, and there'll come a time when a new generation will pour over the photographs and shake their heads in disbelief... they just tore it down? Yes, son, they just tore it down, replaced it with cheap-and-easy apartments for the middle classes, their development chums making small fortunes in the process, and sent the original tenants scattering...

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

Well, 19 really... you can't count number 20 (believe me, or go and check). The idea is... it's expensive to move, soon you won't be able to find anybody to buy your house anyway, so you might as well make it better and live in it. All the usual suspects are there, but there are some unusual ideas, too, including epoxy-resin bonded gravel resurfacing and multi-generational split-level living for the dependents in your life. Read it here.

Technorati Tags: interiors

Fans of Ikea and/or fans of on-screen techno-candy won't want to miss the (forthcoming) Coventry store's pop-up guide to yellow bags, tape measures and pencils. It's a thing of beauty.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors

Did you realise that Foxtons is kitted out with the Big Brother diary room chair? From the Sunday Mirror... and an interview with Alan Davies:

You own the original Big Brother chair from the first series.
AD: ...It’s an egg chair, which have been devalued by the fact Foxtons have them in their estate agents, so now they’re just twats’ chairs.

Incidentally, I wonder how many people who grab a laugh from a Foxtons gag have actually had any kind of negative experience with the firm?

Technorati Tags: design, estate agents, Foxton's, Foxtons, interiors

Just a reminder... Open House weekend takes place September 15/16 in London. Among the 600 properties opening their doors to the great unwashed is 27A Redington Road in Hampstead... an unconventional eco house designed by Monahan Blythen. The Rat and Mouse was entirely unfamiliar with the property... until we found this informative piece in the Telegraph.

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

It's to be built on Doon Street, by the Coin Street Community Builders - a remarkable social enterprise group set up by local residents in the 1970s in order to buy much of the Coin Street district and save it from a planned blanket coverage by office space. The CSCB's mixed use happy ending now includes the Oxo Tower and Gabriel's Wharf. The new tower (designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands) will rise 472 ft, and will - as well as office, educational space and possibly a new home for the Rambert Dance Company - include 329 residential apartments. It's not, however, without controversy. It's been criticised by English National Heritage for potentially ruining views from the St James' Park and Somerset House, and for looming over the South Bank arts buildings.

[image from Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands website]

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

It's purely theoretical for now, but it's nice to dream. The X-Seed 4000 is a 13,123 ft (4 kilometre) tall skyscraper with a 6 square kilometre footprint, with room for half a million to a million residents. It's based on Mt Fuji, and designed for Tokyo by the Taisei Corporation, the same company who built Japan's first subway in 1927, and who are currently tunneling under the Bosphorus to link the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

[via Inhabitat]

Technorati Tags: architecture, design

Buyers in the capital would rather pay 63 per cent more, the equivalent of almost £200,000 in real terms, to live in an Edwardian house than settle for something built between the wars.

But that's not because of the build-era, that's because 1930s homes tend to be found further out of the city, in the suburbs. Susan Emmett is spot-on, though, to point out the advantages of a typical 1930s semi... space, a functional layout, a good build quality. Read it here.

[image of 1930s semis in Friary Road, Acton, by David Hawgood, here]

Technorati Tags: architecture, London, property, real estate

Expected at 100% Design, soon. Allen's website, also expected soon.

[via Design*Sponge]

Technorati Tags: interiors

It's Dispatches: Britain's Bad Housing, on Channel 4 at 8pm. Andrew Gilligan - yes, that Andrew Gilligan - apparently demonstrates why the private sector doesn't have the answer to the country's so-called housing shortage. (A trip up the M5 will demonstrate something similar.) But there's more... have a look at this piece by Gilligan himself. The programme promises to reveal some very interesting evidence that lobby group PPS have been forging signatures, bugging council officials, bribing, bullying, writing fictitious letters from fictitious residents in support of planning applications... while working for high-profile builders including Berkeley Homes, Barratt, Taylor Woodrow and others. Interestingly, there appears to be a whiff of unpleasantness surrounding Fulham's Imperial Wharf.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, property TV, real estate

How about some good news to take with us to the weekend? In January, the Rat and Mouse called on its readers to write in protest at plans to demolish Joseph Rykwert's last remaining London building to make way for a luxury residential development by Foster & Partners.

The planning inspectors have moved to save Inner Court (Old Church Street, Chelsea), and criticised the Foster plan as "inward-looking", "monolithic" and potentially resulting in "a poor neighbourly effect".

[via Building Design Online]

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

In case you're wondering, the criteria:

Relationship to surroundings and neighbourhood.
Response to site constraints and opportunities.
Layout, grouping and landscaping.
Planning of roads and footpaths.
Handling of garages and car parking.
Attention to safety, security and accessibility.
External appearance and internal planning.
Sustainability in construction.
Finishes, detailing and workmanship.

Awards are also made to projects with planning permission but that haven't been built. We're going to look at completed projects.

[image courtesy of Design For Homes]

The Overall Winner is London-based Tabard Square [illustrated], behind London Bridge Station, by architect Rolfe Judd and developer Berkeley Homes. At it's heart: a 22-story tower with a clever built-in barometer... LEDs that change with the weather. There's clever management, too, including a deal with a hotel, resulting in a better, more complete, concierge service for residents. What's more, there are 212 high-quality affordable homes included in the development.

Other London winners are Pimlico's Tachbrook Triangle, by Barratt and Assael Architecture - a hi-tech development that managed to retain and protect an historic and endangered Georgian terrace - and Islington's Melody Lane, by developer London Wharf and architect Julian Cowie - copper-clad townhouses on the site of a former garage.

See the complete list - with illustrations - here.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

That's apparently designer Richard Hywel Evans's pet-name for the New Atlas Wharf (Isle of Dogs) penthouse, currently for sale with Knight Frank at a guide price of £1.95m. Details? Polished stainless steel reception room. Top floor hot-tub with views across London. Putting green. Gas fire pit.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, London, property, real estate

The Telegraph runs this interesting piece about how developers are responding to the co-buying trend. Duet Apartments, as St George have dubbed them, feature identically-sized bedrooms (presumably to halt arguments before they begin) with en-suite bathrooms and they're apparently enjoying a lot of success at developments in West Drayton and Colindale.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

We're hearing rumbles that Architecture Week - which just recently celebrated its 11th year - is to be scrapped following a withdrawal of funding by the Arts Council. Clearly British architecture has been mended and we can move on. Or perhaps you might want to contact the Arts Council and ask them why?

Technorati Tags: architecture

Compact - around here - is necessary... which is why the Rat and Mouse leaves London, briefly, for an interesting US story. Here's Dirk Dieter (no) and his 250 square feet home in Pacifica, San Francisco. It was a wreck - 70s newspapers stuffed in the walls, a previous owner who crapped in a bucket - but Dieter saw what was happening to Californian property prices and bought it in 1990. It presented a design challenge, which he's met admirably, setting up a design company along the way.

Technorati Tags: design

“Can you justify having a completely random mishmash? The answer’s probably no.”

The words of Design for London director Peter Bishop, quoted in Building Design magazine, on his plans to tackle poor design in London's very centre. Three hundred million pounds, he says, would pay for a complete overhaul from Gray's Inn Road to Park Lane.

DfL, launched by London mayor Ken Livingstone in February, is planning an exhibition in 2008, in which it will unveil a joined-up vision of urban design for London, including signage and street furniture. We're hopeful. But we've been hopeful before.

Technorati Tags: design, London

... and passes it on to readers.

They're called Group 41 Inc., and their offer, to "anyone, anywhere who owns land", is to design "a custom, high-end residential or commercial structure" that will be "sustainable, modern, and comfortable", and to throw in the design ("up to $10,000") gratis. Oh yeah, and the structure has to be made from recycled shipping containers.

Group 41 Inc. look like an interesting and creative outfit, and this is a bold experiment. The small print:

If you're interersted, drop me a line, and I'll pass on your details.

Technorati Tags: architecture

And it looks like this:

New York, London, it's a cross-cultural deformity... although something tells me a visit by Apartment Therapy to the Rat and Mouse HQ might cause them a panic attack.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors

If you yearn for better urban planning as much as the Rat and Mouse does, you might enjoy The Slow Home Movement.

Slow Home is a critical and much needed alternative to the standardised world of cookie cutter houses and instant neighborhoods. Suburban sprawl is like fast food, cheap and easy but also unsatisfying and boring. These places are shallow substitutes for homes and neighborhoods with meaning and depth. They are created by big businesses that are more interested in profits rather than people. Like fast food, they are bad for us, our families, and the environment.

Founder John Brown is an architect and estate agent. The website is interesting and functional, with plenty of video, and a "ten steps" programme for building or choosing your slow home:

1. GO INDEPENDENT
Avoid homes by big developers and large production builders. They are designed for profit not people. Work with independent designers and building contractors instead.

2. GO LOCAL
Avoid home finishing products from big box retailers. The standardized solutions they provide cannot fit the unique conditions of your home. Use local retailers, craftspeople, and manufacturers to get a locally appropriate response and support your community.

3. GO GREEN
Stop the conversion of nature into sprawl. Don’t buy in a new suburb. The environmental cost can no longer be justified. Re-invest in existing communities and use sustainable materials and technologies to reduce your environmental footprint.

4. GO NEAR
Reduce your commute. Driving is a waste of time and the new roads and services required to support low density development is a big contributor to climate change. Live close to where you work and play.

5. GO SMALL
Avoid the real estate game of bigger is always better. A properly designed smaller home can feel larger AND work better than a poorly designed big one. Spend your money on quality instead of quantity.

6. GO OPEN
Stop living in houses filled with little rooms. They are dark, inefficient, and don’t fit the complexity of our daily lives. Live in a flexible and adaptive open plan living space with great light and a connection to outdoors.

7. GO SIMPLE
Don’t buy a home that has space you won’t use and things you don’t need. Good design can reduce the clutter and confusion in your life. Create a home that fits the way you really want to live.

8. GO MODERN
Avoid fake materials and the re-creation of false historical styles. They are like advertising images and have little real depth. Create a home in which character comes from the quality of space, natural light and the careful use of good, sustainable materials.

9. GO HEALTHY
Avoid living in a public health concern. Houses built with cheap materials off gas noxious chemicals. Suburbs promote obesity because driving is the only option. Use natural, healthy home materials and building techniques. Live where you can walk to shop, school and work.

10. GO FOR IT
Stop procrastinating. The most important, and difficult, step in the slow home process is the first one that you take. Get informed and then get involved with your home. Every change, no matter how small, is important.

The site's American Canadian but it's just as relevant to the UK.

[via WorldChanging]

Technorati Tags: architecture, property, real estate

Building Design magazine have the results of their Smoking Shed Challenge... a competition to design better spaces for smokers following the ban. The winner - the Smoking Tube, by Russian architect George Sneghkin - is described as a celebration of smoking, and is illustrated below. Go here to see all the other entries.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design

It's at the OFFSITE2007 future of construction exhibition in Watford, it's by Kingspan, it's called the Lighthouse and it looks like this:

The headlines are that it's the first building to achieve level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes, making it carbon-neutral (and exempt from Stamp Duty). Solar panels and a biomass boiler power it and super-efficient insulation keeps the heat in. That thing on the top? That's a wind-catcher for summer ventilation. Building costs? Apparently 40% higher than the average home. But that should come down were the Lighthouse to be built in any quantity. More here.

Technorati Tags: design, property, real estate

The Telegraph visits Polish banker Zbigniew Stradowski in his Montevetro penthouse, and listens to him criticise Richard Rogers. it's a strange attitude... pay a small fortune for an iconic Battersea landmark, then completely gut and re-fit it because Rogers apparently got it wrong. Go here to admire an admittedly impressive job, including... wait for it... a "65in high- definition plasma screen in the living room - the biggest currently on the market, Stradowski proudly points out". Hah... beat that, Rogers.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, interiors, London, property, real estate

Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox have teamed up again and are soon to launch MyDeco.com - a "taste validation" site for people having interior design problems. The rumour is that Hoberman's raised £5m in seed capital, and the tone is one of a major launch, with a retail angle. Head over there now if you feel like signing up and winning £1,000 toward a room makeover.

[via the Times]

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, Web

Architectural crimes, gathered in a gallery over at the Amazing Things blog.

Technorati Tags: architecture, property, real estate

According to a survey by UKTVGardens naff plants - including Laylandii, ivy and pampas grass could knock thousands off the price of your home. (Didn't the 6,000 interviewees know, pampas grass is 70s and cool? Where do they find these stiffs?) Garden gnomes took an inevitable kicking too, so to speak, as did pet cemeteries and water features, despite TV garden makeover shows' obsession with them. More here.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

According to a piece in Building Design, Koolhaas thought Foster's plans for a "zero-carbon, zero-waste" city in Abu Dhabi reminded him of something... oh yeah, his own plans for Rak Gateway in the United Emirates. His people spoke to Foster's people, asking them to explain the similarities in scale, shape and systems. Foster's people have denied the similarities. (Apart from the squareness.) Head over to Building Design to see the two layouts.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design

Just a note to remind readers... this year's Architect in the House scheme is now open. Register here to see if you can get matched up to a RIBA architect who will give you up to an hour of his/her time in return for a £40 donation to Shelter.

Technorati Tags: architecture

Colour and pattern are back. And we're warned, by Home Stagers, not to fall for the keep it simple, paint it magnolia message we get from the TV, if we really want to get a maximum price from a property.

Tina [Jesson] says, "Interior design trends come in and out like high street fashion. For homes and interiors this cycle runs for 5-7 years. Now that we are in 2007, we are on the cusp of a trends change. Colour and pattern are definitely coming back. Thanks to the TV programmes, many home owners think that all they have to do is "clear the clutter and paint it all magnolia" to help them get a sale - but that is NOT what professional home staging is about. I see far too many properties with the wooden floors, leather sofas and neutral walls and all property for sale now looks the same."

"Home Staging is all about deriving the maximum 'perceived' value from your property to help it sell. Estate Agents value property based on actual value; the number of bedrooms, the square footage and the location all help derive at actual value. But it is 'perceived value' which actually sells property. People need to see that the property not only meets their needs but creates a lifestyle better than the one they are leaving behind. If your property doesn't deliver this aspirational lifestyle, you'll just not sell."

Feature walls with bold colours or large print wallpapers are recommended.

Technorati Tags: design, interiors, property, real estate

A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - called The Social Value of Public Space - criticises architects for foisting fancy-schmancy 21st Century designs on the dowdy and banal people of England.

"Most public spaces that people use are local spaces they visit regularly, often quite banal in design, or untidy in their activities or functions, such as street markets and car boot sales," the report said.

The point the report makes is - if disappointing - a serious one... that functional community spaces grow organically through use. And if functional design is good design, then draw your own conclusions. The architects are, however, fighting back:

Deborah Fox, head of standards at Cabe Space, rejected the report's view that mundane spaces could work. "We feel that banal spaces are essentially failing people," she said "The report talks about design prescription but I sense that where design fails it is not due to too many design guidelines but because these guidelines have been misinterpreted."

[via Building Design]

Technorati Tags: architecture

The Kuba bath, by BC Designs, it's modern and made for two. (Or one really fat person, I suppose, but somehow that doesn't say winning ad campaign.)

Technorati Tags: design, interiors

According to a survey by Redrow... which purports to demonstrate the advantages enjoyed by people who own three-storey homes:

1. Less conventional family units (what with older people living until they're 120 and younger people unable to afford to leave home) make different demands on houses. Three levels offer more privacy.
2. An extra set of stairs keeps you fit.
3. Homeworkers can easier separate home life from work life.
4. Greater flexibility - three-storey homeowners are more likely to think differently about which room serves which purpose.
5. Oh yeah - from a developer's point-of-view... you can squeeze more skinny homes onto one expensive plot of land.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Walkie-talkie tower architect Rafael Vinoly beat off Fosters and SOM to oversee the latest version of south London's biggest ever vapour-development. More here.

Battersea Power Station: a scandal of waste [February 2, 2007]

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London

We're expecting the DCLG to announced plans, today, to reduce red tape surrounding microgeneration installations and (according to Miliband) "make it as easy to install a wind turbine as a satellite dish". The new rules are expected to come into force from October, too late for Cameron.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Westminster Council have awarded Ridgeford Properties consent to build more high-end flats and penthouses at 10 Weymouth Street in Marylebone. Ridgeford will be employing Ken Shuttleworth's Make practice, Work will start as soon as October and is scheduled to end in March 2009. Environmental features were said to be at the fore of the application, and include a "green meadow roof" and a ground source heat pump.

Technorati Tags: architecture, London

Richard Rogers wins "architecture's Nobel".</