Comments on: Oxley Woods by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners

By: Nex 3

Nex 3 — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:03:45 +0000

Initially I was excited about this project especially since it has got Richard Rogers' name on it and also because it is only a 2 hour drive from where I live but after hearing all the complaints about these buildings (from people in this forum and elsewhere) I have to say that I have been put off and I am actually a little disappointed. However, I suppose anything that attempts to help the planet should be welcomed.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:45:39 +0000

Unfortunately, it appears there are several inherent faults with the design and construction of the window and surrounds.

A year in, and we’re still leaking, and the house builders are still struggling to get things resolved long term.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:44:18 +0000

The lack of good design that rick deckard laments has much to do with the way in which many architects approach small residential projects. Small, cost-effective, livable residential units require too much engineering elegance while offering too little ego-gratification. Add in sustainability, and the problem gets worse. Too often, architect-designed houses show too little attention to the construction details and require a lot of costly on-site troubleshooting. The leaky windows Paul complains about are the result. Some of the details that need attention bring together high levels of annoyance with high levels of apparent triviality, and are just what ego-driven creative types would rather overlook. This inattention to boring details raises costs and makes such designs unattractive to builders.
For a house design to be cost effective, it has to be reproducible in fairly large numbers, leading to either too much monolithic repetitiveness on one site or too-scattered commonness on many sites. It’s humble design work, especially when, on top of the usual aesthetic and livability concerns, one has to create houses that are cheap and idiot proof, since low-end residential construction is often done by relatively inexperienced workers. Working with less money and less space demands a more nit-picking, fussy problem-solving creativity while striving for simple elegance.
Admittedly, there’s a lot of foot-dragging to contend with from lenders, building inspectors, and insurers, but this resistance can often be overcome with an impressive show of homework and documentation that demonstrates that similar construction and design techniques and principles have been employed elsewhere, and have proven sound. This is the kind of research a good grad student could do part-time, but it’s generally ignored, except in narrow technical terms. Relatively conservative construction environments also call for less flamboyant envelope-pushing, too.
Designers of affordable housing should ask themselves whether they’d want their less-well-off parents or children living in what they design, not only with regard to how well the design fulfills the human spirit, but also in consideration of those durability and maintenance concerns that can make a house a nightmare.

By: Iskandar Rafeh

Iskandar Rafeh — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:39:01 +0000

to a new vision

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:45:08 +0000

We moved into our Oxley Woods house in the summer of 2008. We bought into it for many of the same reasons as Rick above, we wanted something unique, different, we can’t stand the run-of-the-mill brick build boxes, mock this and that that spring up all over the place, and we couldn’t pursue the self build dream that we really wanted to (yet!).

Unfortunately, it’s fair to say that while we love the area, the look and feel of the houses and the estate, our property has been plagued with problems including several cases of rain water leaking in through windows and walls, and we’re still finding more months after taking occupancy!

Hopefully things will improve, but it truly does feel like life on the “bleeding edge” of home ownership!