Bungalow dilemma

[Pacer]

Is it just me- or is a terrible tragedy, and one sense unpatriotic- considering that it is destroying out beautiful country.


http://media.daft.ie/Dunnes-Stores-S...ZsPTYwMA==.jpg

I would say its just you, you odd dog

[barrym]

Any of you guys got any ideas for the next generation of Irish houses?

I hesitated to react to this thread; smacks of middle class looking down the nose. However, this message invites.

IMHO we don't necessariily need new ideas but better implementation of the existing stuff. For example, most planning permissions in rural areas have landscaping requirements, but they are almost never checked. Also, the present planning rules mean that planners are almost required to give permissions for 'as the other one' applications - you can appeal on the basis 'he got permission for that bungalow bliss house why not me?' In addition, supposed planning consultants know that all they need to do is change the names and locations on previous applications.....

If we changed these two things we'd be making progress. Trees grow quickly in Ireland!

Bye, Barry

[Clareboy]

' Bungalow Blight ' and ' Mansion Mania' have destroyed our once beautiful countryside and as a nation we should be ashamed of ourselves. Since the 1960s, irreparable damage has been done to a land that once inspired poets, writers and painters. As a nation, we are drowning in a sea of vulgarity, ugliness and mediocrity. This must be the only country in the world where people are allowed to spoil a landscape heritage just because they desire to show off their new found wealth by building a monstrosity on a hillside.

[Clareboy]

I used to do a lot of business in Yorkshire in England in the 1990s. One of the most striking things you noticed when you drove around the countryside is how new houses and buildings blended in with older, existing buildings. It was a requirement.

What we have in Ireland is a mish-mash of monstrosities. Horrid white plastic looking Roman pillars on bungalows next door to beautiful older houses or historic buildings. Different coloured roofs/slates. Different coloured stonework. Totally different shapes to anything already there. PVC reigns supreme. Some houses you could mistake as space observatories. While taken in isolation they may be nice houses but when viewed from a slight distance beside existing architecture they stand out like Josef Fritzl at a teen disco.

It's a disgusting legacy to the Celtic Tiger. The fact that a lot of them are vacant is even more of an insult. The planners should be shot.

Very well put - the tragedy is that ' bungalow blight' really began in the 1950s and has continued since. Most Irish people are now disturbed by a landscape without houses in it. As a guy once remarked to me on a bus as we drove through Co. Mayo - " dis is an awful place, there isn't a house or nothing here"

[Clareboy]

I used to do a lot of business in Yorkshire in England in the 1990s. One of the most striking things you noticed when you drove around the countryside is how new houses and buildings blended in with older, existing buildings. It was a [U]requirement[/U

I am always amazed when I travel around the UK, a country of over 60 million people and see the glorious unspoilt countryside and beautifully conserved villages. In Ireland, all one has to look at are a load of gaudy bungalows and some vulgar trophy houses perched on nearly every hillside. From Donegal to Cork, there is a depressing sameness about the totally inappropriate imported styles of architrcture. As a result of the uncontrolled ribbon development of the open countryside, our villages and small towns present a picture of dereliction and decay. Basically, we have screwed up big time!

[barrym]

Interesting that this old chestnut arises again. I assume 'Clareboy' means you're from Clare? IMHO Clare is one of the worst examples of 'show off' housing.... I think it is maybe 'cos of the number of returned yanks??

It should now be possible to manage the situation, the number of planning applications is way down so inspection should be easier, except of course they won't have a budget for inspections??

It is also very dependent on local interest. In my area the Enforcement people are active, they follow up on emails etc., about developments.

The whole situation is aggravated by the decision to require CoCos to give permissions for one off housing on family land for family members. Again though this depends of the CoCo, our local one applies rules like are you going to live there permanently, is there another (new) house on the land?? etc.

Overall though, the requirement to landscape should be applied.

Bye, Barry

[TheTinker]

Is it just me- or is a terrible tragedy, and one sense unpatriotic- considering that it is destroying out beautiful country.


http://media.daft.ie/Dunnes-Stores-S...ZsPTYwMA==.jpg

I do think it's a tragic design problem, but rooted in the same 'think inside the
box' mentality that is the nature of a small island. There has long been a chip
on the shoulder when it came to ostentatious displays. That and the need to
do things cheaply kicked off the ball in the 60's and 70's to give the
unimaginative blight on the landscape.
After that, the brown envelope economy really took over. I think we have
ourselves to blame for not recognizing and addressing the culture of sticking
it to 'the man' to get what you want and everyone else be damned.
The 'inappropriate deference to authourity' was always a veil for a late night
backstabbing.
So why build a house for 100k when you can build one for 130k that would
fit right in?
I would say 30k has a lot to do with it.

[roc_]

I would say 30k has a lot to do with it.

I would say it's more a case of an aesthetic and design sense rooted in the almost totalitarian narratives that emanate from the Irish political PR machinery and RTE, and the technical training institutions that are spawned by these narratives. It is very difficult in this country to think or do something that is not on the 'agenda' or 'curriculum'... Really, think about it... I'd add that's it's only people who have spent some time living abroad in more civilised places who are adequately aware of this state of affairs, judging by some of the comments on this thread.

[slx]

I don't actually mind the look of most of the bungalows, even if some of them are rather inappropriately placed in terms of access to services, water, sewage, transport and their environmental impact.

What really gets to me is completely inappropriate suburban houses / small housing estates that look completely out of place plonked in the middle of the countryside or stuck on the end of what is otherwise a quaint village.

We definitely didn't excel in terms of complimentary and suitable architecture.

That being said, I also don't think we should get over-prescriptive about design either. The worst aspect of the new build here is those little neat rows of identically bland houses in the suburbs.

We had a great opportunity to do something far more creative, but we didn't.

Also, most of the new build will 'soften' over the next few decades as their gardens and vegetation grows up and colours of buildings get changed a bit by their owners.