Life and Death of Housing Types

How do housing types emerge, adapt, and decline, and how does this reflect on design standards and housing expectations?

Changes in housing types reflect changes in how people live, housing expectations, financial pressures, and the introduction of new design regulations and standards. Looking at historical and contemporary examples, the event asks what makes a housing type resilient, what causes it to become obsolete, and whether past models can be reinterpreted to meet present needs.

This event focuses on the life and death of housing types in the North East. Local models such as the Tyneside flat reveal tensions about what housing is needed, what is desired, and what is possible, shaped by cultural preferences around house types, appearance, and density, marketability, the sites available for development, property management, and changes in regulation. It also explores how corner-turning and other emerging types respond to new design, planning, and delivery challenges or standards, revealing a close connection between housing regulations, economics, and changing urban density and fabric.

Housing practitioners, architects, and researchers will reflect on the role typological innovation and thinking can play in iterative learning between projects, in the re-interpretation of established models and standards, and in shaping future housing design.

A guided tour of the Housing Standardisation: The Architecture of Regulations and Design Standards exhibition will be available at 16.30 for anyone wishing to see the exhibition before the event.

About the series
The Housing Standardisation events form part of the Housing Standardisation in the North East exhibition at the Farrell Centre. The events are organised by Dr Dhruv Sookhoo and Prof Sam Jacoby, and are supported by the Manchester School of Architecture (AHEAD) and the Royal College of Art (AHRC Impact Acceleration Account and Research Impact Development Scheme).

Image: Hartburn Walk, Newcastle by P+HS Architects

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Host or Publisher Farrell Centre