Idea for an Estate/Area development

Hi all

I may sound like a nutter here and i know it would mainly depend on funds, but i came up with an idea to improve various suburbs/new housing areas being built in Liverpool.

The idea is to build 'hotel ish' flat blocks but affordable for working class residents, Not exactly like the one imaged below but very similar in design. Various areas in liverpool which are run down etc can be flattened or rebuilt with these apartment blocks. They will also feature a small park area and a car park.

As said, it would cost money and work but at the end of the day will be a big improvement to liverpool. Even some modern flat blocks in eastern europe are designed like this and thought we should have somthing like this in merseyside. If they can manage to develop areas like that, why dont we?

http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/fbleau_1.jpg

Wouldn't these be similar to the various tenements that Liverpool knocked down?

I lived in Speke Rd Gardens in the '50's,whilst it was better than anywhere that I had lived before,it was still crowded.
There was no real privacy,you could hear the sounds of all the bodily functions taking place through the walls,ceilings and floors. We complain about the conditions that battery hens live in, looking at that urban monstrosity brings to mind such conditions. Our ancestors craved a house with a garden and a bit of privacy. Town planners seem to be working to that end,and good on 'em! Keep science fiction for the movies.
BrianD

Eastern Europe as a model for new housing? Sounds like the failures of the 60's and 70's to me.

Im talking of the modern ones 1990-now, Seriously they look like somthing youll see in Miami, not the shoddy communist era things.

As for the noise from surrounding neighbours etc, Im sure this can be done to an extent with sound proofing material/configuration.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tockeyhead

Im talking of the modern ones 1990-now, Seriously they look like somthing youll see in Miami, not the shoddy communist era things.

As for the noise from surrounding neighbours etc, Im sure this can be done to an extent with sound proofing material/configuration.

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Tell that to the people who live in the modern buy to let flats being thrown up in Liverpool. Noise in these modern buildings is still a problem !!

Remember the Piggeries, stick to houses dont go backwards.

If you look at what's being built for students... Marybone, Hatton Garden, Leeds st, Tithebarn street - what's the difference - when is a high rise not a high rise?

Look at Beetham tower and all the rest. The only difference is they're now called apartments instead of flats and as they're private they'll be maintained better (hopefully)

Well, you wouldn't want your 3/4 million pound investment to go down the pan would you - oh yes, that's the other big difference too - the price. It's all in the marketing dontchaknow?

So - to sum up, they are being built - on a larger scale and a faster rate than ever before - take a look around you, only they're not council owned.

http://i30.tinypic.com/34s3tok.jpg

This is considered the first of its type although privately owned flats pre-date it:

Unité d'habitation (Cité Radieuse)
280 boulevard Michelet
13008 Marseille
France

Le Corbusier 1947-1952

The Marseille unité d'habitation brings together Le Corbusier's vision for communal living with the needs and realities of post-war France. Up to 1600 people live in a single-slab 'vertical village', complete with an internal shopping street halfway up, a recreation ground and children's' nursery on the roof, and a generous surrounding area of park land made possible by the density of the accommodation in the slab itself...


The lack of any expression of personal identity was taken up by Russia (and hence Eastern Europe) as an almost perfect expression of a de-personalised communist society. People living like worker ants in an anonymous anthill and subsequently either blown up, pulled down or converted to private ownership with a bit of individual glamour, glitz and quite a lot of bling.

There are no unité d'habitations under construction in Liverpool

Howabout the pre 1900 flat blocks in the likes of New York/Buenos Airies?, The residents living in those things have managed in them all these years so im sure its possible with this idea.

If the flat blocks were around 2/3/4 or maybe 5 stories high, It would be more equivalent to the terreced houses in liverpool and therefore appeal more to residents.

Or if the council want to stick to ordinary 'ground level houses', Why dont they make them from the same stuff they make office plaza's/car showrooms/inner city type buildings etc?, It would be quicker & easier to build/maintain in no time and most of all be a step ahead in housing development.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tockeyhead

Howabout the pre 1900 flat blocks in the likes of New York/Buenos Airies?, The residents living in those things have managed in them all these years so im sure its possible with this idea.

If the flat blocks were around 2/3/4 or maybe 5 stories high, It would be more equivalent to the terreced houses in liverpool and therefore appeal more to residents.

Or if the council want to stick to ordinary 'ground level houses', Why dont they make them from the same stuff they make office plaza's/car showrooms/inner city type buildings etc?, It would be quicker & easier to build/maintain in no time and most of all be a step ahead in housing development.

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If you mean like New York's 'brownstones' ie walk-up tenement housing, these are a good model (nothing at all like the east european blocks of flats) and have been shown to work well. They have a great character and a sense of identity. I am only slightly familiar with the Buenos Aries type.

Inner city type construction suits repetitious design to get economies of scale. Apartment blocks like this (eg in the Ropewalks) are expensive.

High rise has its own problems, low rise doesn't use the land. About 5 storeys seems to be ideal for the way we want to live.

http://discoverblackheritage.com/wp-...row_harlem.jpg

http://66.230.220.70/images/post/jacobs/27.jpg

The 'NY type' Brownstones look cool but maybe outdated?, They would be ideal for the likes of the outer suburbs of liverpool and would be a major improvement as it would expand the city. The Buenos Airies type are similar but i believe bigger and also come in nice jazzy colours. Suppose somthing like this could be built but in a more modern fashion.

Nice, but still think we should go for somthing more modern.

People live in these type of blocks all over the world succesfully.
I consider crappy brick boxes that all look the same out in the tedious suburbs to be fit only for battery hens.
Living together in large numbers is what city living is all about.
Those who don't like it should live out in the country.