Upton II

Some of the downfalls of the design codes used for this community include the density in some of the areas, south is very open and aesthetically pleasing in terms of materiality, layout and structures but on the north of the site, just as you enter and turn left behind a

line of houses you can see a very dense road that with not a lot of garden space in each building, parking there and commuting throughout would be a nightmare. Perhaps those will belong to social housing percentage of the development. Some of the housing barely obeys building regulations in terms of fire exits, there is also a big lack of opportunity for further improvements to properties such as conservatories, garden lodges or sheds. It is also very easy to peak into people's gardens as the walls surrounding the properties are as low as 1500mm. The materiality which creates this diversity whether the building finish is stone, render, cladding or brick there is a very clear evidence of weathering. Considering those it is questionable whether the quality of the materials we the right ones or was this site build in bulk at a fast pace. When designing for the future it's important to recognize the need of quality materials which should bring value to the land and properties. Instead what the residents are left with are buildings that need maintenance. Materials from which the houses are designed decrease in performance over time, in case of the materials in Upton the decrease is very rapid in comparison to some other developments build many years ago. It is concerning when modern developments build in rush with cheap materials. As the history shows the more

time will pass the more we will learn about the mistakes that were made in this development. Mistakes are crucial for improvement and therefore as mentioned before they will influence future design guides that will create more awareness around the performance of materials in regards to weathering which links back to technologoical opportunities, programs such as solid works can allow developers to see what type of weathering the materials will go through in the next 10 years or so.

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