The Actual House
THE ACTUAL HOUSE
The Actual House concept grew out of the original Be Your Own Architect Course, first staged in 1989. Many people were inspired in these Courses by the idea of the different kind of house that I spoke of. Because they could not ‘actually see’ one of these houses they felt a little at a loss. Things were still at an early stage. No designs had yet been constructed.
I decided to design an ‘actual’ house that people could see and experience. I saw this as a versatile framework which could be adpated to individual circumstance and need. I followed the strategy developed in the Courses for the the initial design development. This was quite difficult as this strategy was geared to the creation of totally individual design solutions — the shaping of the architecture specifically to suit the lives of those who would live within. The Actual House concept somewhat contradicted this idea of a totally individual design solution for each Course participant. I seemed to be embarking on the creation of a standard box into which anyone could fit! This contradiction seemed worth exploring however as many other issues were arising in the Courses which needed to be addressed — the time people had available to develop totally individual designs; the preparation of the necessary drawings; questions of building economics and planning issues – to name but a few.
In resolving these issues The Actual House Design began to evolve into a standard framework that could support a complete range of individual needs from common necessities such as Bathrooms, Entrance Lobbies, Bedrooms and Kitchen/Dining/Living Areas, to more specialised requirements such as Offices, Workshops, Sunspaces and so on. Coupled with the evolving versatility in providing for a complete range of individual accommodation needs, the design began to embrace wider issues such as economy of construction; healthiness; buildability; passive solar energy usage; planning ; interior flexibility and expandability.
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Two versions of the Actual House evolved from this – a single storey 100sm/1000sqft version and a ‘loft’ version capable of providing up to 150sqm/1500sqft of versatile floorspace. With both versions utilising a similar ground floor ‘footprint’ this granted immense flexibility in the creation of individual plans and further allowed for these plans, once built, to be changed with a minimum of disruption. Featuring highly insulated suspended timber ground floors and passive solar capability, the timber frame structures could be married to a variety of insulating and finishing materials and the entire building could be self-built with a minimum of previous experience.
During the Summer of 1994 the project was on display at the Be Your Own Architect Studio in Ballydehob, West Cork. This allowed for a free exchange of ideas with those interested in the concept and promoted the refinement and simplification of the design. Soon, the focus of attention began to turn to the creation of a full size version of the Actual House. Naively, I thought it possible to access some of the European Structural Funds flowing about to construct the initial prototype! The extent of my naivety only manifest itself after a series of rebuttals. The inevitable analysis that I had to bring to bear on these blockages yielded some interesting truths – there is no support for solutions that promote lower expenditure in the housing field; the construction industry is a law onto itself; modern economics are based on borrowings using Bricks & Mortar as security; the politics of growth depend on the creation of bigger and more expensive houses and constantly increasing consumerism; alternative housing solutions are a threat to established property values; fear is the primary tool used in maintaining this status quo. Within this web, the frustration that many people feel about mortgages and dreary houses abounds.
In terms of the development of the Actual House Design, once these blockages were identified they could be circumvented. Creative energy was therefore lavished on realising the goal of building the first one. This began by developing a set of technical drawings, securing the rights to the design and then subjecting several different versions of the Actual House the rigours of the Planning System — which it passed with flying colours! 3 Actual Houses have now been completed with a total of 5 Planning Permissions granted.
Individual versions of the Actual House can be developed as part of the Living Architecture Course
© Peter Cowman 2006