Get Dense

This talk will explore the need for greater density at two scales; that of urban development and within the construction of individual buildings. The first part will focus on how much of the UK is sub-urban and propose one way in which vast areas of suburbia might be densified through suitable backland development. The second part will look at trends towards lightweight timber construction and propose a simple denser alternative of a single solid wall in monolithic cellular clay blocks.

Julia and Julian have been running a small-scale architectural practice together for over a decade since leaving larger organisations. Julia was previously a partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley (now FCBS), having worked there for 21 years. Julian previously led an Urban Design team at Wiltshire Council, after working within larger multi-disciplinary practices of CoD and BDP.

At Kashdan Brown Architects, we believe in creating contextually responsive and sustainable contemporary architecture. We have found that a mix of small-scale projects, teaching Architecture at the University of Bath and participation in open design competitions, helps us to continually question why and how we design and build.

The Small Scale Big Ideas exhibition attracted us as an opportunity to showcase and disseminate to a wider audience a selection of recent design and construction issues we have been exploring locally – and to provoke impactful debate about them.

Firstly, we will discuss why suburbia should be densified and how that might be done. Of the UK’s 30+ million homes some one-third are semi-detached suburban properties and over half of those are 20th Century with long rear gardens and undersized garages between. It is also widely cited that 80% of the buildings that will be in use in 2050 already exist. Therefore, if we are to achieve the densities required for sustainable and accessible neighbourhoods, this existing suburban building stock needs to somehow become denser. We will look at ways in which this has been done in part, how it might be done more effectively and will focus in detail on our proposed ‘Inhabited Walls’ backland development approach that forms part of this exhibition.

Secondly, we will discuss the history of the ‘Wall’ in UK domestic dwellings and how this has evolved from a dense solid wall to cavity construction and now often many forms of hybrid cavity and framed construction with extensive components and insulation. We will put forward a case for a return to a modified form of the simple solid wall – using cellular clay blocks made from one single natural material – and the many advantages of doing so. Perhaps contentiously, we will also discuss the potential shortcomings of the current rush to move towards mass timber, timber frame construction and cladding. We will look at the supposed carbon positive figures that are leading to its extensive take-up in UK construction. We will look at the capacity of the UK timber industry, and we will look at the risks and life-cycle implications of the use of so much timber in building.

We hope our above talk will lead to a lively Q & A debate to towards the end of the seminar and - who knows – maybe start a re-evaluation or a small shift in the direction the house building industry is moving.

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