Smart design will be key to successful delivery of modern urban homes

As I mentioned last week, the draft guidelines on apartments are due to be finalised over the next two months, together with the National Planning Framework. There has been much debate about what needs to happen and what changes can actually be effected in order to support sustainable home building over the coming decades and this relates to both houses and apartments, in urban and suburban areas. One point of consensus appears to be that space, be it indoor or outdoor, will be the ultimate resource. In much the same way as home owners and tenants will need to adapt to living in smaller spaces with their families, the construction industry needs to adapt to much smarter design in order to satisfy the lifestyle demands of the next generation of urban dwellers.

The Housing Minister specifically stated that we are coming to the end of suburban semis with front and rear gardens, this is simply unsustainable as we build towards Ireland 2040 and beyond. However, home buyers in Ireland are not quite ready to surrender their private outdoor spaces, regardless of how tiny that space might be. If anything, the tiny gardens, patios, terraces or balconies need to be designed as an extension of the total living space, which is incredibly challenging in this Irish climate. Private planners and developers will need to rise to this design challenge, we cannot allow this to be State led.

Earlier this week I was taking inspiration from cities that have been addressing this challenge for decades, like Beijing, Tokyo, Copenhagen, New York and Chicago, to name just a few and clear trends emerge. It is not just about creating outdoor rooms, the really smart design is through landscaping and extending that landscaping indoors, throughout the home, which is the very opposite to the Irish garden trends of the boom-era. This is quite similar to the biophilic or living wall (vertical garden) designs that have been creeping into modern office design in recent years.

Now, this might sound superfluous to many home builders, however, the built environment is changing quickly after many decades of stagnation and homes of the future will need to designed as lifetime homes. Increased urbanisation will do away with the concept of the ‘starter home’ as we know it in Ireland today. Families will not necessarily be relegated to the suburbs or commuter towns. In the future, trading up will be to larger, more modern and perhaps better located apartments that suit the needs of a growing and ageing family.

The key to smart design of small spaces is versatility and this can be more difficult to achieve outdoors. Of the international trends I spotted, it became clear that you do not need a green or grass area to create a stylish modern garden; low-maintenance paving with potted tall plants and bushy trees to break up the space and create different areas or zones will likely be well-received. Also, in Ireland we are not great at using colour in outdoor spaces, yet, this simple feature can be used to great effect to make a patio area look spacious, clean and fresh. The lighting ought to be incorporated into the design to complement the home interior, particularly if you are marketing the outdoor area as additional entertaining or dining space. As the New Homes market heats up, a well-designed outdoor space might just be the competitive edge that your development needs.

Ian Lawlor
086 3625482

Director / Business Development
Lotus Investment Group