Comments on: PREFAB FRIDAY: David Adjaye’s East London House

By: bob240964

bob240964 — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:43:01 +0000

After finding articles about your house and David Adjaye, I fell on the site you dedicate to it. I can easily understand you’re very proud of this fantastic building – who wouldn’t – and went all the way through http://www.edsshed.co.uk, but only found the elevations. As an amateur architect, I had to try and reconstitute the floor plans, based on your pictures and other I found on the net, but I soon realized not all the rooms are displayed. I even looked for the size of the 1987 series 3 BMW parked in front of the house on one picture, and of Eames’ lounge chair in your living room in order to estimate the general dimensions of the house, but it all gave rather unsatisfactory, and sometimes contradictory results. Of course I should have known, but it has now become something af an obsession.

Could you please, by any means, provide me a copy of the floor plans ? I’d be extremely grateful to get even a quick sketch.

On the other hand I fully realize you could consider this as an infringement to your privacy, and understand you not willing to answer my request. In that case, thanks anyway for your patience on reading my poor English.

Thanks a million in advance.

bob240964@yahoo.fr

By: rich

rich — Tue, 22 May 2007 08:55:52 +0000

WHERE’S IT GONE?

IT WAS THERE A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO NOW ITS DISSAPPEARED!!!!

By: Jorge

Jorge — Sat, 05 May 2007 05:52:11 +0000

Thank you Ed, that would be greatly appreciated!

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 04 May 2007 23:23:40 +0000

Nice to read so much comment on my house both positive and negative.
Thanks to all of you who have recorded your delight in observation on these web pages.
The negative comments too are welcome and some points of view are simply misunderstanding of the limited images you see of a home not yet finished.
The Superstructure actually took only TWO days to construct. You can see it’s construction on my web site of the house at http://www.edsshed.co.uk/
I’m not sure what your Tobacco barns look like bob but part of the idea was to gain the look of the wood that I’d seen on farm barns in Switzerland. I like it but understand it’s not to all tastes.
Bruce, you’re right, better pictures will show windows that have an incredible view. The front of the house you see faces East and towards industrial buildings opposite and the road. The rear looks over rows of Gardens far into the horizon to the West and stunning sunsets. The window on the top floor is nearly 6m long. There are mostly large windows to the property giving incredible light throughout the day.
Thanks Manimal, there will be more pictures on the web site when it’s finished.
Inverted Pants man, are you a super hero ? The neighbours love the house. I’ve had much positive feedback and you’re right about the gates.
As Richie observes, they are just the old site gates which are actually covered in construction signs but the photographer has retouched them out in photoshop. There will be replacement gates soon that match the cladding.
Kiran, there will be interior images on the edsshed.co.uk site soon when it’s finished. You’ll see bright spaces with large windows and great privacy all round.
Richie, it’s actually triple height with a gallery at the front so you get the full height of the building inside next to the stair well.
Geoff, the roof is clad the same and though we had intentions to collect rain water for recycling the cost of the purification system were great so it got cut out when the budget got tight.
Jac, thanks for the wise words. The wood is a deep brown now it has been stained. The pictures don’t do it justice.
Elsa, these images and the story broke ahead of the completion date. I cannot stop a curious paper sending their photographer down to take pictures from the street. The images are now all over the internet.
Jorge, if you want more pictures you can talk to me. it’s my house so I’ve documented it along the way.
I shoot Architecture for a living so I’ll send you some nice pictures when it’s done.
Anna, thanks for the info about the research. Yes we have built a concrete floating slab to sit the superstructure on. We used hemp to insulate the walls. In an area where there is much subsidence it is a sensible foundation for the building. It is likely to be standing long after the Victorian ones around it.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:35:59 +0000

What are you taking about? This is ugly? Look at the rich texture of the dark wood. The high window would alow alot of sunlight into the home while at the same time the exterior view’s going to downplay the urban view. This is a “sleeper”. No one will notice it untill they take a second look. That’s a virtue in modernism.

By: anna

anna — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:34:49 +0000

… but having just had a better look at the Eds Shed website, I see that this little house does in fact have a concrete slab floor! Fantastic!

Also, for those of you who were talking about the underutilised roof before, it appears to be a usable deck space.

By: anna

anna — Tue, 01 May 2007 06:33:24 +0000

An *entirely* timber building is not ideal actually.

The Centre for Design at RMIT University did some research into what the most ecologically sound method of house building was overall with regard to embodied energy and energy used during the lifetime of the building. In a warm temperate climate at least, concrete slab (partially recycled content) with a timber framed and lined structure above it was the most sustainable in terms of energy.

All timber buildings don’t have enough thermal mass and therefore change temperature too easily and concrete/brick homes require too much energy to manufacture in the first place.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:54:32 +0000

Hey guys! We’ll be adding a few more pictures later on during the month of this residence as soon as we get them from the architect, as well as more information on this residence. So keep watching the site for an update.

By: Moom

Moom — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:57:17 +0000

...more info here:edsshed.co.uk

By: Moom

Moom — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:53:12 +0000

Ahem… those of you looking for more photos might want to check out the Eurban website, and look for the ‘Northchurch House’. Judging from the house next door, the window sizes, and the position of the front gate, that’s the place. Sadly, it still doesn’t give much idea of what the other two sides look like, though.

I think these pictures are hobbled by the lack of a garden and the overall choice of colours – together with the pale-ish brick walls surrounding it, the dark timber cladding gives the whole thing a bit of a ‘washed-out’ feel, imho. when that tree in front is in bloom, it’ll look lovely. Personally, I’m reserving judgement – I think the inside spaces could potentially be wonderful.

By: Reden

Reden — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:02:59 +0000

looks interesting! where is the roof?

By: InvertedPantsMan

InvertedPantsMan — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:20:40 +0000

yeah! give us your plans and sections!

/angry mob

By: elsa

elsa — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:40:16 +0000

I truly like this site and the architecture you show here but why do we never get to see the plans and drawings for the houses you show!?! it would mean so much for the understanding of whether its really a good project or just a nice eco facade.

By: Jac

Jac — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 01:38:46 +0000

This flurry of “ugly” opinions is one’s own. I think it’s beautiful in the minimalist sense. For me, i love that particular shade of brown and the texture is so subtle, very comforting. Pity there aren’t interior images, it seems all white in there. There is an outline of a window on the right side (2nd pic) and there might be more windows at the back, cos we can only see 2 sides. Give credit where it’s shown, alright?

By: Geoff Cohen

Geoff Cohen — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:17:37 +0000

I thought to myself, imagine walking up to this structure, is this something I could love. Sadly, the answer for me is no, this does not move me and I agree that the neighbors would be calling it a monstrosity of a house.

Compared to so many pre-fab structures that have elegance and lovely characteristics, I don’t see how this could thrill someone, but to each his (or her) own.

I wonder about the roof as well…a green roof could be a virtual park for the residents.

By: Richie

Richie — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:40:40 +0000

I suspect that more photographs, and possibly floorplans, would reveal the design to be more worthy of respect and appreciation. I can’t imagine that the mismatched plywood gates are a finished design detail ? They do seem more like a job site security measure, rather than a finished aspect. So many details are missing, such as the window placement on the other 2, non-visible, sides and what the apportionment of interior spaces are. I do find myself curious about this buiding as I’m a fan of double height ‘cube’ like designs as a simple, low cost, dwelling concept. I’ll have to reserve further critique until more of the actual house is visible.

By: Kiran

Kiran — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 05:45:22 +0000

like it. I agree with a generic need for more windows, but it is in a crowded suburb, and how many of us really want our neighbours to know all we’re doing? It fits its environment well.

Would be fun to have interiors pics too

By: The Revolution Corporation

The Revolution Corporation — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:15:16 +0000

This is my choice for Prefab Friday:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=453&storycode=3085687&c=2

By: The Revolution Corporation

The Revolution Corporation — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:01:43 +0000

i get the aesthetic (on a balnk canvas), but don’t think it fits this site. i appreciate the drama of directed view (like Ando does so well) & hope that the other side of the building has some great view windows. wood is going to look shabby in short order.

By: InvertedPantsMan

InvertedPantsMan — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:27:34 +0000

I think it’s a lovely building and if I was the neighbour in the unanimous brik house I would be so jealous. If you cannot distiguish this beuatifully detailed house from a barn you obviously have a badly develloped eye for modern architecture. The plywood gate does seem to bee a bit out of place though if you ask me. I’ll bet the interior is a feast of lightness and clarity in shrill contrast to the somewhat closed interior.

You might want to check out http://www.kortekniestuhlmacher.nl/ for another episode of prefab friday if you like solid timber framed buildings. If you haven’t featured them already that is.