Home Economics
Working across the scales of dwelling, neighbourhood and region to shape a new vernacular which responds to this particular time and place with ambition for our collective future.
How can we reimagine low-cost housebuilding for an age where care for our environment is non-negotiable?
Sheffield is growing. According to the draft Local Plan due to come into force in 2024, over 35,000 new homes are needed in the city during the next 15 years.
Over this same period, the city is legally obliged to oversee a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, achieving net zero by 2030. Building these new homes in the conventional mould of the volume housebuilder is not an option.
This must be achieved in an economic context far removed from the south of England, where high land values support projects which dominate the UK architectural press.
In the east end of Sheffield, where much of this new housing will be delivered, a typical three bed has a monetary value roughly one eighth of its equivalent in outer London, Bristol or Cambridge. The revolution must be cost-effective.
Situated in the de-industrialising suburb of Darnall, we have worked across the scales of dwelling, neighbourhood and region to shape a new vernacular which responds to this particular time and place with ambition for our collective future.
Drawing inspiration from the other ‘home economics’, a practical exploration of ingredients (materials, context, culture) and methods (construction) have formed the basis for radical and credible proposals which demonstrate how a new generation of homes and communities can be built differently.