:00:15. > :00:24.The long cherished ideal of a property owning democracy in Britain
:00:25. > :00:30.looks to be a thing of the past. For many of today's's under 40s, the
:00:31. > :00:37.prospect of owning your own home has become nothing more than a pipe
:00:38. > :00:40.dream. 9 million of us are currently living in private rented
:00:41. > :00:45.accommodation. Successive governments in the UK have promised
:00:46. > :00:50.to build more houses, addressed the chronic undersupply in some parts of
:00:51. > :00:56.the country. For me, it is more of a numbers game. I am more interested
:00:57. > :01:06.in the design of these homes. How can we better reflect the way we
:01:07. > :01:08.live our lives? I have been writing about architecture for 20 years. I
:01:09. > :01:13.am the architecture and design curator at the V and eight. I will
:01:14. > :01:17.be meeting our brightest architects to explore how some of their radical
:01:18. > :01:22.designs can help us live better. I will look at some of the best and
:01:23. > :01:46.boldest ideas for some of our homes in the future.
:01:47. > :01:54.We look at homes in the past and the future. In this exhibition,
:01:55. > :01:58.practising architects were commissioned to rethink three
:01:59. > :02:10.British staples of the British housing stock, the cottage, the
:02:11. > :02:20.terraced has flat. The architects have been given free rein to think
:02:21. > :02:25.about design think is space. The two projects I find most compelling deal
:02:26. > :02:40.with a traditional kind of British housing, the terrace.
:02:41. > :02:48.The terraced became a trademark of Georgian architecture in Britain.
:02:49. > :02:57.Living in one became a higher form of life. Terraces always served both
:02:58. > :03:02.ends of the social spectrum. The traditional two up, two down version
:03:03. > :03:08.became commonplace, particularly in the north of England. Row upon row
:03:09. > :03:11.of terraced streets were built is stone's throw from factories or mail
:03:12. > :03:19.is where most of the residents worked. Terraced houses typify
:03:20. > :03:24.British cities. Given all they offer, they are just as likely to be
:03:25. > :03:31.a big part of the future part of our cities as they have been of the
:03:32. > :03:37.past. The architecture practice was selected by Riba to think about how
:03:38. > :03:43.we might adapt the traditional terraced house. Their submission
:03:44. > :03:48.offers new and exciting possibilities in the housing market,
:03:49. > :03:56.via an interactive model. Tell me a bit about your work with terraced
:03:57. > :04:04.houses. You are rethinking the terrace for a new generation. The
:04:05. > :04:10.actual design of the terraced has has not changed. Our proposal looks
:04:11. > :04:14.a million. It has a traditional pitched roof, a recognisable design
:04:15. > :04:19.of a house. The way we are considering and adapting it is the
:04:20. > :04:23.way it can respond to consumer choice. Our intentions are that
:04:24. > :04:31.customers will have a much greater say about the design. This model is
:04:32. > :04:35.intended to demonstrate the possibilities. All of these are
:04:36. > :04:43.options for the same, basic envelope of the building. This is the basic
:04:44. > :04:50.shell and these are variations you can choose from. Within the model
:04:51. > :04:56.there is an open plan layout where you have your living room facing
:04:57. > :05:01.onto the garden. You might choose the two bedroom upstairs option
:05:02. > :05:04.which has all this space. The alternative would be the
:05:05. > :05:11.three-bedroom option. Instead of a voyage to get an extra bedroom. This
:05:12. > :05:18.is an interesting tool. You are demystifying design and allowing a
:05:19. > :05:22.consumer to have a voice. We have thought that architects are
:05:23. > :05:28.enablers. We create a framework in which people live out their lives.
:05:29. > :05:31.The basic structure of the timber frame is consistent but the
:05:32. > :05:35.permutations people can choose our fast. I loved this way of selling
:05:36. > :05:55.it. It could be a new career. Emerging architectural practice were
:05:56. > :05:59.also commissioned to look into new designs for the terraced house. One
:06:00. > :06:04.of the main interest is the changing relationship dream public and
:06:05. > :06:09.private space in architecture. This is a project that thinks about the
:06:10. > :06:13.potential of the traditional boundary between two terraced
:06:14. > :06:18.houses, the party wall. Instead of it being a division, it opens up and
:06:19. > :06:25.becomes a social space is shared between two properties. What is
:06:26. > :06:35.beautiful about this phone is it has taken on a rock excess. All of these
:06:36. > :06:37.balconies, small internal gives enough connection with a neighbour
:06:38. > :06:44.without forcing you to cohabit. It is extreme but rather beautiful. A
:06:45. > :06:49.rich, interior world. Two of the founding architects have built a
:06:50. > :06:57.shared space for themselves, between two houses in North London. I have
:06:58. > :07:02.come to visit them to find out more about their challenging ideas for
:07:03. > :07:07.homes of the future. Tania, Tammy a bit about how this project came
:07:08. > :07:14.about. Where is the session with the party wall? We were interested with
:07:15. > :07:20.the idea of sharing. We have ideas about sharing the economy. We felt,
:07:21. > :07:26.could these ideas be applied to the house? Was working on the project
:07:27. > :07:34.with my other partner, Jessica. Both of us were on maternity leave. We
:07:35. > :07:41.wanted a shared space to have shared childcare. We felt it was a generic
:07:42. > :07:47.problem. The principle of shared space is evident in their own homes.
:07:48. > :07:54.Through an ingeniously designed triangle courtyard, which is both a
:07:55. > :07:59.private and communal space. We very much use that space together, not
:08:00. > :08:03.just for work, but it could be useful childcare and dogs to play,
:08:04. > :08:07.breakfast together. We felt there was a British cynicism about the
:08:08. > :08:13.idea of being able to share a space with someone. It is possible and can
:08:14. > :08:16.be very successful. Your project proposes sharing the most valuable
:08:17. > :08:23.parts of the house. Most people would think of it as family space,
:08:24. > :08:26.private space. What needs to happen to make that possible? Do you need
:08:27. > :08:34.to be best friends with your neighbours? There is such a shortage
:08:35. > :08:38.of housing, there has to be a shift in attitude. Housing needs to
:08:39. > :08:44.develop with the housing shortages. The younger generation are generally
:08:45. > :08:49.more open to these mixed communal living schemes. You get house
:08:50. > :08:55.shares. More and more people in a Georgian house went for a family is
:08:56. > :08:59.being lived in by six or seven separate occupants and advertised on
:09:00. > :09:03.the internet. That model is really coming through. Now there are
:09:04. > :09:14.examples of people building specifically for that purpose. Can
:09:15. > :09:17.architecture create social relationships, or good party walls
:09:18. > :09:26.with holes in them, balconies with holes in them, they can also do
:09:27. > :09:33.that? When we decide, we looked at creation and use social dimensions
:09:34. > :09:40.through architecture. Often it is the case that things come out of new
:09:41. > :09:44.models. That is an exciting thing. The future of the British home is
:09:45. > :09:58.currently under discussion some more exotic than North London, Venice. --
:09:59. > :10:04.somewhere more exotic. Here, but chosen theme was reporting from the
:10:05. > :10:10.front. The British Council selected the exhibition, home economic is,
:10:11. > :10:14.for the UK pavilion. Behind this submission is the youngest
:10:15. > :10:17.curatorial team ever chosen. What are some of the topics you are
:10:18. > :10:27.trying to examine with this pavilion? The housing crisis is
:10:28. > :10:31.about supply. Architects want to build thousands of houses but it is
:10:32. > :10:37.not up to us. It is about how life has changed and how that can be
:10:38. > :10:51.addressed regarding contemporary life. It is about how we live.
:10:52. > :10:59.Home economic emergence new kinds of domestic living across five
:11:00. > :11:08.different spaces. Chelator is collaborated with architects and
:11:09. > :11:25.designers to develop full-scale domestic interiors. -- collators. It
:11:26. > :11:32.felt to us it was changing time after time. It is becoming very
:11:33. > :11:37.impossible for our generation to own a home. Even decade to decade as we
:11:38. > :11:42.grow older and live longer. We need homes allowing us to live over a
:11:43. > :11:48.longer period of time. We asked a group of designers to respond to
:11:49. > :11:56.those periods of time. Each room deals with a specific time span,
:11:57. > :12:03.reflecting generations in our homes. Months, days, even hours. If you
:12:04. > :12:08.look at how we live, hour by hour, it is changing hugely through
:12:09. > :12:12.technology. 80% of us check our smartphones ten minutes before we go
:12:13. > :12:17.to sleep and ten minutes after waking up. That changes not only the
:12:18. > :12:22.way we use our furniture, we are using our beds more than furniture.
:12:23. > :12:27.Also the way we use our apartments and how we communicate from our own
:12:28. > :12:31.home to the outside world, the boundary between what is public and
:12:32. > :12:40.private. That has implications for the city. Even that minute by minute
:12:41. > :12:43.hand-held device is starting to influence the way we live and the
:12:44. > :12:49.way we use the city around us. The first room you come into deals with
:12:50. > :12:54.the timespan of hours. It is a calm, minimal quiet space. No one else is
:12:55. > :13:01.here. It is the sense of a shared space, very utilitarian. We need a
:13:02. > :13:06.place to put stuff. I love the idea this is... There is a transparency
:13:07. > :13:12.and calm. Maybe what we need is a place of Zen relaxation.
:13:13. > :13:20.But this isn't just a space for quiet contemplation. It is also
:13:21. > :13:26.meant for socialising. Behind the design of this room is one of the
:13:27. > :13:31.curators, Jack self. This is a common living room imagined for a
:13:32. > :13:36.future form of social housing in which 12 - 16 people share the
:13:37. > :13:39.space. We can't each afford a space of this kind, particularly in
:13:40. > :13:46.London, but if we pool our resources we can afford more. The idea is that
:13:47. > :13:50.sharing can be a type of luxury, not always a compromise. I don't know
:13:51. > :13:59.about you, but I am not sure about sharing clothes with my neighbours.
:14:00. > :14:03.In the next room are some rather weird looking oversized inflatable
:14:04. > :14:08.bubbles. Designed by a London art collective.
:14:09. > :14:11.This is thought of as a home for days, a kind of portable,
:14:12. > :14:13.collapsible, private space you can take with you.
:14:14. > :14:24.I'm just taking a look around my new house.
:14:25. > :14:34.This is a private space you're meant to bring with you in a suitcase,
:14:35. > :14:37.to where ever your nomadic existence takes you.
:14:38. > :14:39.It's for that kind of future traveller person.
:14:40. > :14:41.Inside here is supposed to be your Wi-Fi and your connection
:14:42. > :14:49.I would love to take one of these with me.
:14:50. > :14:52.How many times do we go to an Air B, where we don't
:14:53. > :15:09.I think this is a hygienic and convenient solution, I love it.
:15:10. > :15:12.Perhaps the trickiest thing of all is, how do I get
:15:13. > :15:36.The next space is devoted to the timescale of months. This blue box
:15:37. > :15:41.is part of an experiment that lots of architects are thinking about,
:15:42. > :15:45.how do you minimise your private space and maximise communal space.
:15:46. > :15:50.This living pod, consisting of a bed and toilet in a small envelope is
:15:51. > :15:54.attempting to be one of hundreds of units ranged together, with communal
:15:55. > :16:01.eating and dining and working facilities, for a community of
:16:02. > :16:05.creative people. This is seriously minimal living, but perhaps if we
:16:06. > :16:10.want to live together, this is all we really need for private space. In
:16:11. > :16:13.this short-term residential pod, the rent would also cover the cost of
:16:14. > :16:19.cleaning fees, making doing the dishes a thing of the past. I like
:16:20. > :16:29.the sound of that. The other rooms offer yet more stripped back
:16:30. > :16:33.suggestions for future living. For me, home economics fits in perfectly
:16:34. > :16:36.with the spirit of what the Venice Architecture Biennale has always
:16:37. > :16:43.been about, a space for speculation and radical thought. What the
:16:44. > :16:48.curators have done this year is investigate a totally new lifestyle
:16:49. > :16:50.emerging from their generation. People on precarious short-term
:16:51. > :16:54.working contracts with very short-term lets for housing, all
:16:55. > :16:57.living in an unconventional spaces. It is that kind of lifestyle that
:16:58. > :17:02.might come to define the future of the city, and the exhibition this
:17:03. > :17:08.year investigate the impact that could have on the future interior.
:17:09. > :17:13.Experimental ideas certainly have their place in the housing debate,
:17:14. > :17:16.but back home what we really need are more bricks and mortar houses.
:17:17. > :17:22.Nowhere is the demand for new houses in the UK
:17:23. > :17:25.greater than in London where the housing crisis
:17:26. > :17:34.London needs to build 60,000 homes a year to meet demand but at
:17:35. > :17:40.It is clear, if we are going to hit that target with quality and beauty,
:17:41. > :17:45.we will have to look towards new models of design.
:17:46. > :17:47.Some of the capital's most interesting design
:17:48. > :17:50.projects are found on its outer edges and involve new forms of
:17:51. > :17:57.I've come to visit Barking, where my father hails from.
:17:58. > :18:00.It's a place of real East End charm and one of the most adverse places
:18:01. > :18:13.In the last ten years, Barking town centre has undergone a
:18:14. > :18:15.complete transformation, led by some of the best
:18:16. > :18:17.architects in Britain, and with some visionary thinking
:18:18. > :18:38.from the council about how architecture can change a place.
:18:39. > :18:44.In 2006, Barking and Dagenham Council announced plans to demolish
:18:45. > :18:51.the much maligned Linton 's estate. Built in the 1960s, the looming 16
:18:52. > :18:57.story tower block was once a hopeful vision of modern living. But by the
:18:58. > :19:03.1980s, like many of Britain's concrete towers in the sky, the
:19:04. > :19:06.dream had turned sour. Broken lifts and high crime rates robbed the
:19:07. > :19:16.estate of its appeal. Not many locals mourned the demolition of the
:19:17. > :19:20.blocks in 2008. What replaced the old estate is the William Street
:19:21. > :19:23.Quarter which, for me, contains some of the most beautiful and elegant
:19:24. > :19:32.housing built in London in recent years. In total, 470 new homes have
:19:33. > :19:36.been built, and all are under some form of rent control. The
:19:37. > :19:42.redevelopment took years to complete, in two phases. The second
:19:43. > :19:47.phase was the first privately funded social housing development in the
:19:48. > :19:50.country. And last year part of the scheme one hey RIBA prize for the
:19:51. > :19:59.best new architecture in London. These houses are unified by this
:20:00. > :20:02.beautiful brick material, mottled, beige brick, more familiar to us
:20:03. > :20:07.from Bloomsbury and Georgian parts of London. I love how when you get
:20:08. > :20:11.close to it, it has that quality. Even though the houses are designed
:20:12. > :20:15.by two different architects, they are unified by some of the same
:20:16. > :20:19.treatment of Windows, the way the door threshold works, and it comes
:20:20. > :20:25.together to create a family of buildings of extremely high quality.
:20:26. > :20:33.Behind the master plan, two of Britain's leading architecture
:20:34. > :20:38.firms. My dad grew up here and remembers when this was a classic
:20:39. > :20:42.early 60s slab of concrete with flats in it. That was one model of
:20:43. > :20:45.housing provision and this is very different. Tell me how this came
:20:46. > :20:50.about and what is different about this mode of housing. The
:20:51. > :20:53.interesting thing about Linton is that it was pioneering when it was
:20:54. > :20:58.built. Some of the pictures of inside the flats was very
:20:59. > :21:02.optimistic. By the time we got here, it was a very decaying estate, quite
:21:03. > :21:06.dangerous to live in, it had fallen apart through years of
:21:07. > :21:12.non-maintenance, and it became a symbol of the way barking had
:21:13. > :21:16.decayed. At that point, the council decided to say, could we design
:21:17. > :21:20.houses with front doors and a lower rise on all of that land? Instead of
:21:21. > :21:24.making it play grounds that no one uses, could we make it gardens for
:21:25. > :21:30.people, communal gardens for people, and that is how it came about. You
:21:31. > :21:34.and your practice have spent time thinking about the terraced house
:21:35. > :21:39.and trying to reinvent it. What is the benefit of a street of them?
:21:40. > :21:43.This was a real opportunity for us because of the first new streets in
:21:44. > :21:48.Barking since the 60s and allowed us to go back to traditional typology
:21:49. > :21:53.of family houses, with front doors next to each other, and a mews house
:21:54. > :21:58.which, traditionally, is for utilitarian purposes, and here we
:21:59. > :22:02.can allow it to be very intimate. The buildings are close together and
:22:03. > :22:07.we can appropriate the space itself as an extension of the family home.
:22:08. > :22:14.That is the heart of the community that we tried to engender. He worked
:22:15. > :22:17.on the 2-macro- story houses. They have three bedrooms inside, lovely
:22:18. > :22:22.back gardens, they are a bit smaller. To balance the street, we
:22:23. > :22:26.used the gable end, this pitched roof, which we felt gave it an
:22:27. > :22:30.accent and made it more symmetrical. The big feature in both is the
:22:31. > :22:34.kitchen window. The great thing, kids are a school today, but kids
:22:35. > :22:40.can play in the street and people can look through the window when
:22:41. > :22:45.washing the dishes and you can enjoy a passive surveillance, so it feels
:22:46. > :22:49.safe. It feels high quality, particularly the material. How did
:22:50. > :22:53.you achieve that? From an early stage one of the mantras was that if
:22:54. > :22:56.we pick a good brick it will give quality to the building, and that is
:22:57. > :23:01.true of the landscape and the building. That is what we have got.
:23:02. > :23:05.We picked a fine brick with a lot of texture, slightly unusual, and that
:23:06. > :23:10.gives it the feeling that you don't know if these houses are worth ?2
:23:11. > :23:14.million or anything. That is the whole idea, there was an ambiguity.
:23:15. > :23:18.The other thing is the Windows. Although they look a bit like
:23:19. > :23:23.Georgian houses, the windows are very big, so they are also full of
:23:24. > :23:29.light, which is something else that is special. High-quality houses, a
:23:30. > :23:33.beautiful street. Why can't we do this more often? I wish we could and
:23:34. > :23:37.people are trying but it takes a long time. There are a lack of
:23:38. > :23:40.models for people to see how it works, so that is one of the great
:23:41. > :23:45.things about this and we hope it inspires other people to do it. It
:23:46. > :23:49.is almost so simple, the front doors, the family community, all
:23:50. > :23:54.recreated again. In a way, I think it is one of the biggest communities
:23:55. > :23:57.ever made, Coronation Street. This is almost Coronation Street in
:23:58. > :24:02.Barking and the community that is there is here, too. Barking Council
:24:03. > :24:04.always wanted the bulk of the residents to come from local
:24:05. > :24:12.families who used to live in nearby estates. It is lovely, this big
:24:13. > :24:18.opening. This woman now lives in one of the new terraced houses and moved
:24:19. > :24:23.in six years ago. We are sitting in your lovely garden with the sound of
:24:24. > :24:27.trains in the background, a really nice outdoor spot. How did you end
:24:28. > :24:33.up living in this house? I lived in a flat all my life. I came from a
:24:34. > :24:38.tower block, the seventh floor. It had a nice view, but no garden or
:24:39. > :24:43.green space. For me, that is a luxury. Tell me about this house and
:24:44. > :24:49.how it suits your family. Do you feel it is well designed for a
:24:50. > :24:54.family house? Definitely. I came from a tower block, a three-bedroom
:24:55. > :24:57.property but very congested. I had two bedrooms which were box rooms,
:24:58. > :25:07.where I could not even fit more than a bunk bed. No wardrobes. Even my
:25:08. > :25:15.room was with a very tiny double bed and a wardrobe. Now, to have the
:25:16. > :25:20.space and everyone has their own room and they can appreciate that.
:25:21. > :25:24.One of the noticeable things is the size of the windows and the amount
:25:25. > :25:29.of light it must let in. Has there been a good part of living here?
:25:30. > :25:33.What is the effect? They are really nice, so you can appreciate the
:25:34. > :25:39.weather, appreciate your garden. I never thought I would appreciate a
:25:40. > :25:43.garden, even do gardening. I appreciate my herbs, I do
:25:44. > :25:48.vegetables, I have a great tree and the victory. Even if it is raining,
:25:49. > :25:54.push the blinds and appreciate the rain. What did you like about it
:25:55. > :25:57.when you first saw it? When I saw it first time, bearing in mind I have
:25:58. > :26:04.never lived in a house, so I was very much the ball minded. One
:26:05. > :26:09.reason was the security. Living on the seventh floor, you feel quite
:26:10. > :26:13.secure. Coming here, I was very concerned about a new area with new
:26:14. > :26:17.people, living on the ground floor. You don't know if you are going to
:26:18. > :26:23.feel that way. I am single mum with three children. When I came in, I
:26:24. > :26:28.entered the property to have a look and when I saw the bathroom
:26:29. > :26:32.downstairs I just fell in love. And is it nice, the street, how it
:26:33. > :26:35.works, being able to look out from your kitchen and have the
:26:36. > :26:41.interaction with your neighbours, which must be different to a tower
:26:42. > :26:46.block? Yes, it is different. There is a lot of compassion. By now, we
:26:47. > :26:53.all know each other. If we see an ambulance going, we go and ask. If
:26:54. > :26:58.the police come, we are concerned. There is that empathy. Do you think
:26:59. > :27:01.the community here is proud of the buildings, do they like where they
:27:02. > :27:07.live and appreciate the quality? Yes. I think that is a very wise
:27:08. > :27:15.move from the council, to build good quality housing, because it is civic
:27:16. > :27:18.pride. It enables social responsibility along with it, so
:27:19. > :27:22.people are looking after their property. Most of them really try to
:27:23. > :27:29.look after their front garden and also back garden.
:27:30. > :27:36.These terraced houses are the undoubted highlight of the
:27:37. > :27:41.development for me. They do not seem likely to become stigmatised, like
:27:42. > :27:44.the tower blocks of old. And this is state proves that social housing and
:27:45. > :27:50.be affordable, desirable and well-designed. The New London mayor,
:27:51. > :27:55.said the calm, says he wants to tackle the issue of affordability of
:27:56. > :27:59.housing in London. And he could do worse than coming down here to look
:28:00. > :28:03.at this project. It is simple, elegant, beautiful, dignified, and
:28:04. > :28:05.for me and has relevance across the country as a prototype of the
:28:06. > :28:11.housing we should be building in future. That is it. But finally,
:28:12. > :28:15.here is a short clip from a quirky housing film screening as part of
:28:16. > :28:20.the Sheffield documentary Festival this weekend.
:28:21. > :28:28.# Some of us gay and some subdued # Some of us are just plain squares
:28:29. > :28:31.# Greet the blend of the old and the new
:28:32. > :28:33.# And this is ours and there's # Modernisation is better when
:28:34. > :28:39.discreet # Design and scale in harmony
:28:40. > :28:43.# Enhancing the original character of the street
:28:44. > :28:44.# Positive improvements that all can see.
:28:45. > :28:48.#