Hi.
Stroud CoHousing is a fairly large development of terraced housing/flats with communal spaces, rooftop Solar PV and Water Heating, Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS), and other innovative features.
Stroud CoFlats is a single building divided into a number of flats, with a micro wind-turbine and other features.
The Exchange is a single building, eco-renovated with pellet-boiler, underfloor heating, solar PV, and a shared ‘hotdesking’ workspace, and meeting rooms shared by a variety of community groups.
Stroud Car Club has several cars available for members to loan, parked at a variety of locations around the town.
I can supply more information on any/all of the above if it would be useful to people, and if I can find time!
Sounds amazing!
What? This sounds absolutely amazing. I, for one, would like to know more about it. I also suggest you leave comments to Simone, in Italy, and Dante, in Germany, and suggest they check out what you are doing. They are involved in projects in the same vein.
Are we talking of here?
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yes, the map is correct
also. Poundbury is controversial. Not sure you do want princes in quebec (people fight wars to get rid of them, remember!)
Walt Disney tales
As far as I can see, girls will always want princes, unless the cultural industries does something about it. Little girls grow up watching princes movies, and reading about princes stories. We should file a complaint to Walt Disney. The money princes sometimes invest in projects, is more what I had in mind.
So, controversial hey? You will have to explain me this over a beer, one of these days.
Poundbury
What I mean is, there are questions about how positive a development Poundbury really is. I think it was covered in an issue of the Land magaine, but the article isn’t on their website (most of their articles aren’t, but it’s well worth subscribing to their magazine) - still check out their other articles: http://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/
And yes, Disney need to make a film about guillotining royals rather than kissing them soon!
What are the obstacles to changing architectural environment?
There are very innovative projects of smart communities, sustainable architecture and urban planning, being done in the UK and other European countries.
Recently I learned that the Prince of Wales has funded the construction of an entire innovative village, Poundbury, a model for urban development in the New Millennium. [Whoa, I wish there were a couple of princes in Quebec too…]
Am I wrong? There have been numerous projects of energetically autonomous dwellings taking places in various countries, but cohousing projects of the nature that you described are not very common.
Six years ago, I wrote the business plan of a mobile home company aiming to export their very affordable sustainable green mobile homes in Asia and South America. I found that this writing exercise was quite complex, since I had to describe in great detail new processes and materials. But I found it exciting to look for sustainable affordable solutions.
What to you think are the obstacles to changing the current architectural environment?
Contemporary architectural thought seems to be narrowly focused on concepts largely superficial, like irrational insistence on high-tech materials — in fact this superficiality is linked with the wider society.
Do you see a change occuring in the training of architects? Does it include learning of any analytical methods?
Do you think that architects today are better at conceptualizing structures in terms of their underlying organizational principles?
I would be pleased to learn more about the Stroud initiatives.