We entered the Bristol Housing Festival design competition for 100% affordable family homes held by Brighter Places, for a site on Midland Road in Old Market, Bristol, last summer. The competition stipulated the number of flats required which got us thinking about housing density and built forms in the Bristol context.
We think this is something people care about, and it is reported in the news. A recent poll in a local paper asked: “Should new homes in Bristol be built on greenbelt land or should there be more high rise flats?” Furthermore, in the UK we generally don’t associate high density or high rise accommodation with family living – that is confined to the low density developments of the suburbs and countryside. This binary choice reflects how the issue is often perceived but misses many good options which provide good quality housing, at medium to high densities, and at low to medium rise.
How to achieve this? Take inspiration from places where people choose to go on holiday for city breaks and are generally considered beautiful, livable places. For example, walking around Barcelona, Paris or Vienna it is generally medium rise, dense, vibrant neighborhoods with shops and services that are the norm. They are not alone, much of the world is like this.
But, in Bristol we also have a history of building at this density and often these are desirable places to live. Take the compact terraces of Southville, Totterdown, Montpelier, Kingsdown and parts of Clifton, these are just a few examples. The UK also has numerous historic examples of purpose-built flats, such as the mansion blocks found in many of the most prestigious parts of London, the list could go on, and these examples barely scratch the surface.
The story is not a new one and was well described in the book “Cities for a small country,” by Richard Rogers and Anne Power, released in the year 2000. Thinking has moved on since then with urban placemaking concepts codified in Bristol’s Urban living SPD guidance which references recent projects such as Wapping Wharf, The Paintworks, Junction 3 and Gainsborough Square as good examples of high density developments. None of these are high rise flats pierce the skyline.
It was great to take part in a competition focusing on medium rise housing which has an important role to play in the makeup of our cities and may benefit from more attention.
Our proposal integrated a number of concepts such as: ensuring each flat had its own front door accessed directly off of a communal ‘street’ and the flats were dual aspect. There was a central courtyard of private amenity space that opened up a diagonal route through the proposed block to connect the walking desire lines. We also wanted to ensure the development was true family accommodation, with space to park a pram near the front door, dedicated spaces for home working, and plenty cupboards for toys. To the main road we aimed to provide visual interest and pleasing proportions in the external façade based on our exploration of local architecture and the examples discussed above.