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Individuality

Part 1 Project 2025
Finley Walsh
Cardiff University | UK
‘Individuality’ should become a necessary condition for architecture. It should be treated with the same reverence as ‘sustainability’, ‘lighting’ and ‘accessibility’; and, maybe, with even more.

With the government pledging to build 1.5 million homes by 2029 and ‘affordability’ already overshadowing the previously mentioned conditions; Britain’s architecture will shift from an assorted chocolate box to a packet of cookie-cut biscuits.

In an essay against urban sprawl in 1955, Ian Nairn warned, “that the end of Southampton will look like the beginning of Carlisle.” After decades of unconsidered development, Nairn’s fears have been realised. Either drive down your local A road or look in the dictionary. To define the word ‘Individuality’, the Cambridge dictionary provides this example: “The houses had no character and no individuality.”

This residential proposal is the antithesis of such a statement. The design becomes individual from Southampton and Carlisle by retrofitting a 1970’s industrial warehouse, drawing from the inherent character created by years of inhabitation and alteration. As well as the imposed ‘Individuality’ of the estate, resident adaptations are also encouraged. The
design champions ‘long life, loose fit’ and is prepared for the inevitable requirement for adaptability associated with an ageing population and intergenerational living.


Tutor(s)
Matthew Hudspith
Hayden Thomas
2025
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