Buildings, new or old?

[Oldhippy]

What is it about modern buildings that makes them so soulless? Modern houses go up in a flash, walls of plaster board that you can't fix anything substantial to. After twenty years they are crap. Houses and public buildings built, some many hundreds of years ago, are still going strong,nice to look at and built with little more than hammer, chisel, rope, and vision. With all the modern tech we have today we just churn out soulless boxes to live and work in.

 

[Drago]

I must agree.

My BiL - who is a nodder, albeit a harmless enough one - likes to flash the cash he doesnt have. Big new jag on PCP, massive mortgage he won't pay off until he's nearly 70, and hes bought a 5 bed house on a newish development.

Now, the house itself is ok. A little bland, but I've seen worse. But all the surrounding houses are boxes of much the same type, and aside from a few layout tweaks the share the same appearance and dull character.

The houses are so close together my shoulders brush each wall when waljing between them, which to my mind pretty much defeats the object of a detached house. Daylight never seems to penetrate to ground level.

Even worse, there was a bit of scrap land nearby and I warted him to establish if there were any plans for it. He ignored me, and now has a lovely view of a Tesco superstore and an Asda.

Now, all this is bad enough, but this is a relatively expensive and upmarket housing development, and theyre still crammed in like sardines, have massive shops built amidst them, and have as much imagination as John Major's nightmares. This is bad, but the lower end and social housing is terrible.

No effort or imagination expended on bstowing any character or individuality, rammed in beyond belief to maximise developer profit. No thanks.

 

[raleighnut]

I must agree.

My BiL - who is a nodder, albeit a harmless enough one - likes to flash the cash he doesnt have. Big new jag on PCP, massive mortgage he won't pay off until he's nearly 70, and hes bought a 5 bed house on a newish development.

Now, the house itself is ok. A little bland, but I've seen worse. But all the surrounding houses are boxes of much the same type, and aside from a few layout tweaks the share the same appearance and dull character.

The houses are so close together my shoulders brush each wall when waljing between them, which to my mind pretty much defeats the object of a detached house. Daylight never seems to penetrate to ground level.

Even worse, there was a bit of scrap land nearby and I warted him to establish if there were any plans for it. He ignored me, and now has a lovely view of a Tesco superstore and an Asda.

Now, all this is bad enough, but this is a relatively expensive and upmarket housing development, and theyre still crammed in like sardines, have massive shops built amidst them, and have as much imagination as John Major's nightmares. This is bad, but the lower end and social housing is terrible.

No effort or imagination expended on bstowing any character or individuality, rammed in beyond belief to maximise developer profit. No thanks.

Yep they don't half cram em in nowadays

 

[MontyVeda]

on the other hand, I live in a Victorian terrace built c1900... the exterior walls are lovely blocks of stone. The interior walls are boulders, rubble and cement, skimmed with plaster. They're an absolute PITA to drill into; you either get crumbling rubble that won't hold a rawplug, or an impenetrable boulder that destroys masonry bits. At least with plasterboard there's gonna be joists behind it.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I went out with a woman in the 1980's who was from a family of dentists. Her parents lived in a 4 bedroom Victorian house up a private lane. Her brother lived in a similar house,but his had a kind of ornate tower with an all round view. His house also had a cellar and a spiral staircase,along with other such wonderful things of the time. I was so shocked to hear one day that he had sold this house to move into a 4 bedroom new build on a curtain twitching,'jam butty land' estate. I thought he had style and intelligence, but I kind of lost all respect for him when he moved to that brand new boring house.

I'd take some pics of his old house and post them,but it's 13 miles away and i ain't travelling that far to take a few photos.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

What is it about modern buildings that makes them so soulless? Modern houses go up in a flash, walls of plaster board that you can't fix anything substantial to. After twenty years they are crap. Houses and public buildings built, some many hundreds of years ago, are still going strong,nice to look at and built with little more than hammer, chisel, rope, and vision. With all the modern tech we have today we just churn out soulless bedoxes to live and work in.

Ah yes, let's bring back rising damp, poor electrical and plumbing installations, no double glazing, rotting wooden windows etc.

 

[MontyVeda]

Ah yes, let's bring back rising damp, poor electrical and plumbing installations, no double glazing, rotting wooden windows etc.

my front windows are still going strong after 120 years... if only the painters didn't keep painting the sashes shut, they'd all still open too

 

[SpokeyDokey]

my front windows are still going strong after 120 years... if only the painters didn't keep painting the sashes shut, they'd all still open too

My own experience of an oak beamed G2 listed Napoleonic era property in T. Wells was a ruddy nightmare. Couldn't replace the damn things as they had some novel latches and we had to have them epoxied at some considerable cost.

 

[Slick]

Got to be honest, old buildings are great to look at, but give me warm, dry weather proof new build every time.

Developers cram them into the smallest spaces but that's not the fault of the building, there are other options.

 

[MontyVeda]

My own experience of an oak beamed G2 listed Napoleonic era property in T. Wells was a ruddy nightmare. Couldn't replace the damn things as they had some novel latches and we had to have them epoxied at some considerable cost.

I'm sure getting my sash windows sorted so they all open would be eye-wateringly expensive too, but worth saving as they're an original feature (even the glass, save for one pane is original). I'm also sure that the next owners won't bother and will rip them out, stick 'em in a skip and put uPVC in

There they are, after a good rubdown and lick of paint, before the furniture went back in.

 

[Beebo]

What is it about modern buildings that makes them so soulless? Modern houses go up in a flash, walls of plaster board that you can't fix anything substantial to. After twenty years they are crap. Houses and public buildings built, some many hundreds of years ago, are still going strong,nice to look at and built with little more than hammer, chisel, rope, and vision. With all the modern tech we have today we just churn out soulless boxes to live and work in.

True to an extent, but the old properties are a self selecting group.
The rubbish old buildings have been demolished long ago so only the good ones remain.
You can build good new properties but it costs lots more. Just watch Grand Designs to see how expensive a well built beautiful building costs.

 

[raleighnut]

Got to be honest, old buildings are great to look at, but give me warm, dry weather proof new build every time.

Developers cram them into the smallest spaces but that's not the fault of the building, there are other options.

You can ruin antique furniture and musical instruments by putting them in 'modern' houses, they 'suck' all the moisture out and destroy the glue so instead of having things worth thousands of pounds you've got sticks

 

[Beebo]

Some of the rubbish being thrown up at the moment is almost uninsurable with constant water leaks.
There are 10 storey blocks being sold on 200 leases which simply won’t be standing in 100 years time.
The contractor almost always goes into liquidation leaving a total nightmare for the leaseholders sitting on a ticking bomb.

 

[swee'pea99]

Nothing new under the sun...

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same

There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

Little Boxes, penned by Malvina Reynolds in 1962

 

[Grant Fondo]

What is it about modern buildings that makes them so soulless? Modern houses go up in a flash, walls of plaster board that you can't fix anything substantial to. After twenty years they are crap. Houses and public buildings built, some many hundreds of years ago, are still going strong,nice to look at and built with little more than hammer, chisel, rope, and vision. With all the modern tech we have today we just churn out soulless boxes to live and work in.

Depends what you mean by 'modern'? What about this 1926 house in Northampton?

Not all that many 'modern' houses around that have some soul, the repetitive spec housing estates are built to incredibly tight budgets, so function and affordability win the day.