Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: design review: aesthetics & urban sprawl

[Hans Tilstra (tilstra]

Here in sprawling Melbourne, a lot of people, when they earn good money, buy
a large four wheel drive that will never be used off the road. Also, they
buy a quarter acre block in an inner suburb. In my envious opinion, people
use money to elbow their way into a house with a full garden in an inner
suburb and then complain when the local government makes the reasoned
suggestion that higher density living is called for. My vote goes to greater
good for largest number of people.

Why not learn to make high density living appealing? I've seen great
examples of row housing in the Netherlands where the design takes into
consideration the interaction, the flow of lines to make rows look good. The
NLs has a history of involving aesthetic requirements in the approval
process. I think that architects frequently use mirror images and slightly
diagonal alignments to increase appeal. Now you couldn't have a bigger
contrast with neighbouring Belgium, with its often chaotic mingling of
styles & functions.

Mind you, if you have ever seen Wellington, New Zealand. There's an example
of people who paint their houses and roofs in every colour imaginable. It is
quirky yet attractive mainly because it is so consistently diverse. Mind
you, the earthquakes force people to build with timber, and the timber
invites experimentation with different colours.

Finally, Charles Woods, David Wright and Malcolm Wells wrote & drew
"Designing your natural house", with tons of aha's on aesthetic design.

Hans
www.vicnet.net.au/~cohouse/design.htm