'Not So Grand' Designs

The bloke down the road is having an extension built. The job is being done by Steve a friend of mine. The customer is, or was, a graphic designer. When work dried up in that field he turned his hand to decorating. He is meticulous, about anything he does and he took great pleasure and pride in designing the extension. He is proud of it but to most people the glaring omission in the plan is a window looking out into the garden. Instead he has a brick wall with cupboards on it. The daylight to the kitchen is provided by four Velux windows. I am a big fan of roof lights but looking up to the sky is no substitute for looking out on a lawn and trees. Most people these days are desperate to get as much light into their homes as possible and I fear that, should he want to sell the house, this will put off many prospective buyers.


Now I know that everyone is entitled to design their house the way they like it. So why am I annoyed by the way he has vandalised this once charming Victorian semi? Do I care how he dresses, what books he reads or where he goes on holiday? Not one bit, but somehow what people do to their houses affects me.

I don't think I'm alone in this. If I walk down the road and see an example of stone cladding or day glow fluorescent masonry paint over what was once perfectly adequate brickwork I feel some sense of outrage. If I see someone replace a slate roof with large concrete interlocking tiles I feel a sense of disappointment that they took the cheap option at the expense of good taste. Although most buildings are privately owned there is some sense in which we all have collective ownership of them. Architecture, even on a small scale, gives us a sense of well being and it is defines where we live. We take pleasure in seeing a well kept village, a lovely house or even a palace and we are excited by iconic structures such as The Gherkin.

Planning laws are in some sense our attempt to regularise individual expression for the greater good. Yet the evidence suggests that we built much more attractive buildings before planning permission. Why should a handful of councillors on a committee have any more idea about what should or should not be built than anyone else? If the bloke down the road wants to build a claustrophobic cell and shut out views of suburbia why shouldn't he. In fact he did, and they let him and though I support individual expression in theory, I can't help thinking that they shouldn't have.


Roger Bisby
www.selfbuilder.net