An unanticipated 65k from an already tight budget to lower the existing drains for the surrounding 5 homes so that the vision for high ceilings could still be maintained? Someone pass the popcorn.
I missed where this is taking place though, anyone catch it?
Somewhere in South East London. Parts of the views look vaguely familiar, so although it wasn't mentioned in the show, I'd guess it's probably not far from the Sydenham Hill area.
And yes, I thought it strange that they would prefer that their building to be two extra feet higher than cutting the unnecessary extra cost. Maybe it's something to do with the boundary wall, I think you are not supposed to build higher than certain limit so that the neighbours can have natural light. Part of the building on the boundary however is full height, so that is confusing.
I quite liked last weeks, but this one just looked cold and awful. Didn't like the inside much either.
I like last week as well, I think that one is actually quite an impressive piece of work. The big difference with this week is the cost, this week the building cost 5 times or more to build than the shipping container one, and looks nowhere as good.
Probably the worst building I've seen on GD, did my ears deceive me or did they say they spent £1 million in it?
No that is what I heard too, I think it was £400,000 for the land and £600,000 for the build!! Not sure what the expensive bit were though.
That it was awful, looked like some offices from the outside. I thought the black wall was going to be smooth, but it just looked like a bad plaster job painted over. Still at least Kevin liked it.
I quite liked the container house of the hipster farmer as I felt he made the effort to make it sit well on the plot. Although I would have gone for having 3 containers width as 2 felt too narrow.
As for this weeks I felt they didn't make a great use of the courtyard which was a bit bleak. Also on a c shaped house like that I think more glass to look out on the court yard would have worked better rather than the poly carb walls but I expect that would have cost a fortune. Maybe a balcony running on the outside over the courtyard would have worked too rather than the small one over the porch.
I still can't believe that they paid £400,000 for what was essentially a back yard! Yes, I know it's London and housing and land prices are utterly exhorbitant, but that's just ridiculous.
An unanticipated 65k from an already tight budget to lower the existing drains for the surrounding 5 homes so that the vision for high ceilings could still be maintained? Someone pass the popcorn.
I missed where this is taking place though, anyone catch it?
155A Lordship Lane, East Dulwich. Land behind some shops
Mixed feelings about this week's. The overall house was not to my taste, but I loved the polished black plaster wall, and I like the shape of the house, with a central courtyard. But all I could think was how were the lovely dogs going to walk on that courtyard surface?! Not exactly conducive to them running around having fun. The kitchen worktop looked beautiful but is totally impractical.
How good were those Latvian builders though?! Really committed to doing a good job and getting things right. If I ever had a squillion quid to spare to build my own house I would be looking them up!
Yeah second week in a row now I've been left thinking the build looks amazing inside but completely let down by the outside.
Agree - blot on the landscape last week with the containers, but amazing inside, apart from that bath - same this week....interior stunning, exterior awful.
If you look at his website, almost none of his other house projects look like it; it was for him, then, really, not for publicity (though clearly it didn't hurt).
I thought it was beautiful; original, attractive, and recalling both Japanese art and post-war US industrial design. Great job.
The one thing that bugged me was with the final build the exterior had a sort of brown/golden paint.. looked a bit like varnish. To me it looked messy as if there were parts that had faded away and you could see white. Maybe it was intentional? It just seemed to look a bit sloppy and let the build down for me.
^_^ It was weathering steel, the best-known branded product being COR-TEN. It's treated so that the surface oxidises (rusts) slightly then stops, to form a microscopic layer of protection. The colour is intentional. In this build, it recflected the agricultural heritage of the site and the colour of the rocks.
There was nothing I liked about this - the back yard location, the design concept, the finished building, minimalist interior or the weird arty couple.
Irish container house was fabulous but this plastic/corrugated monstrosity was just dreadful. The only thing more ghastly than the roof was the eyesore of a bathroom and the Muriel-Gray-gone-to-seed tattified owner. Ah well, at least the house accurately reflected the occupants.
This house was not a home, more an art installation. Quite silly. The first thing my husband noticed when the final reveal came on screen was that there was no guttering. Can you imagine all that corrugated roofing in a downpour?
This programme, formerly one of my favourites, has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, and Kevin McCloud has disappeared up his own 'bee-utiful' downpipe. ;-)
This series has thrown up some of the least attractive designs seen on this show. Frankly awful design this week, and as for the cost of near a million, crazy.....
I have to admire the fortitude and staying power of the couple.
The building turned out to be less of a monstrosity than at first imagined, but still an incredible price even for London.
No wonder the Latvians hung in there, I would imagine their fees were still substantial, given that most others were either unwilling or absurdly expensive.
I don't even know where to start with this week's monstrosity. Looked like a pig shed with corrugated iron sheets and what looked like those really cheap plastic sheets you can buy. Bet all the surrounding neighbours love looking out at that eyesore.
The yard only seemed to have that holey stuff down (don't know what it is called) which is just plain silly when they have dogs. Dogs start running around on that and they will break a leg.
Awful interior. Silly totally impractical kitchen, living room with a couple of mismatched uncomfortable looking chairs, The bathroom!!!!! Awful awful awful. Who on earth has a toilet, basin and bath in different colours? I felt they did it just to show off "oh look how quirky we are".
They were both pretty strange, especially her. When Kevin kept saying people employed her because of her good taste I kept saying to my husband "what good taste". Weird clothes (that dress looked like a sack), shoes with socks like a child, horrible hair and extremely horrible tattoos. I don't like tattoos at all but there are nice ones and horrible ones and hers were horrible.
A million pounds for that horrible place is just a joke. I prefer my small 3 bed terrace to that pile of ****. Can we never have normal people with nice normal houses any more?
Comments
Yeah second week in a row now I've been left thinking the build looks amazing inside but completely let down by the outside.
I should have put "Tattoos"!! (Doh)
And yes, I thought it strange that they would prefer that their building to be two extra feet higher than cutting the unnecessary extra cost. Maybe it's something to do with the boundary wall, I think you are not supposed to build higher than certain limit so that the neighbours can have natural light. Part of the building on the boundary however is full height, so that is confusing.
Edited to add - this seems to be the same couple, and they used to live in Dulwich which is next to Sydenham. They did another house which is probably the one they sold to build the one shown in Grand Design -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1305460/How-Harry-Potter-magic-helped-conjure-modernist-masterpiece.html
Probably the worst building I've seen on GD, did my ears deceive me or did they say they spent £1 million in it?
Bet the neighbours loved that one!
No that is what I heard too, I think it was £400,000 for the land and £600,000 for the build!! Not sure what the expensive bit were though.
That it was awful, looked like some offices from the outside. I thought the black wall was going to be smooth, but it just looked like a bad plaster job painted over. Still at least Kevin liked it.
As for this weeks I felt they didn't make a great use of the courtyard which was a bit bleak. Also on a c shaped house like that I think more glass to look out on the court yard would have worked better rather than the poly carb walls but I expect that would have cost a fortune. Maybe a balcony running on the outside over the courtyard would have worked too rather than the small one over the porch.
155A Lordship Lane, East Dulwich. Land behind some shops
Grand Designs seems to have given up on anything remotely sensible.
How good were those Latvian builders though?! Really committed to doing a good job and getting things right. If I ever had a squillion quid to spare to build my own house I would be looking them up!
The Builders were the stars.:cool:
I thought it was beautiful; original, attractive, and recalling both Japanese art and post-war US industrial design. Great job.
^_^ It was weathering steel, the best-known branded product being COR-TEN. It's treated so that the surface oxidises (rusts) slightly then stops, to form a microscopic layer of protection. The colour is intentional. In this build, it recflected the agricultural heritage of the site and the colour of the rocks.
This programme, formerly one of my favourites, has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, and Kevin McCloud has disappeared up his own 'bee-utiful' downpipe. ;-)
The building turned out to be less of a monstrosity than at first imagined, but still an incredible price even for London.
No wonder the Latvians hung in there, I would imagine their fees were still substantial, given that most others were either unwilling or absurdly expensive.
"Lithuanians"!
The yard only seemed to have that holey stuff down (don't know what it is called) which is just plain silly when they have dogs. Dogs start running around on that and they will break a leg.
Awful interior. Silly totally impractical kitchen, living room with a couple of mismatched uncomfortable looking chairs, The bathroom!!!!! Awful awful awful. Who on earth has a toilet, basin and bath in different colours? I felt they did it just to show off "oh look how quirky we are".
They were both pretty strange, especially her. When Kevin kept saying people employed her because of her good taste I kept saying to my husband "what good taste". Weird clothes (that dress looked like a sack), shoes with socks like a child, horrible hair and extremely horrible tattoos. I don't like tattoos at all but there are nice ones and horrible ones and hers were horrible.
A million pounds for that horrible place is just a joke. I prefer my small 3 bed terrace to that pile of ****. Can we never have normal people with nice normal houses any more?