Take me down to the paradise city...
Willowater
Roger Dean has designed a sustainable village for life in the 21st century, to be constructed with a new building method and designed to be in harmony with the natural environment. He is currently bringing together a team of top British contractors, engineers, craftsmen and tradesmen to collaborate on the project to enable his vision to be realised in the UK.
He has recently developed his Home for Life concept into a blue print for a complete village with a style and class of its own. An exclusive but affordable new construction method creates the elegant curvilinear interiors, designed to be as practical as they are beautiful on the inside, with an exterior to complement and blend with the natural environment.
The living spaces created by Dean are the result of years of research that has given him a rare insight into how the human psyche relates to interior spaces. The curvilinear shapes don't just look good, they feel good. The way Dean uses space is not only practical but is also economical, making relatively small rooms feel larger.
The curvilinear nature of Dean's buildings utilises new and unconventional construction techniques, including the use of sprayed gunnite cement, rarely used for domestic dwellings but ideal for this type of earth sheltered architecture.
Dean's remarkable eye for detail is not just confined to the design and build, it covers every aspect of the project; from where to conveniently hide vehicles to the subtle human psychological response to interior spaces. The building includes innovative new ideas and a host of real value environmental benefits including, features to 'heal' the site after the build and causes the smallest possible reduction of the natural habitat.
Internal spaces are designed for optimum psychological comfort, the bedroom for instance not only looks elegant it feels tranquil and secure. The living areas lift the spirit and encourage well being. At first some of his ideas surprise but on closer scrutiny, rarely disappoint.
Dean's remarkable insight covers every conceivable aspect of what makes a comfortable and practical home environment that is affordable and a joy to live in. One obvious way to achieve an affordable rural revival is with this type of modular construction. It can create a complete environment from scratch, a brand new village - a blueprint for the future.
Designing for children has always been a passionate interest for Dean, many of his early architectural ideas were inspired by his research with children for his child's bed He found that children's psychological responses to interior spaces were unburdened with aesthetic considerations and they were very clear about what they liked and disliked. The bed he created from their responses was exactly the kind of space they wanted to sleep in, confirmed by thousands of youngsters exploring his architecture at recent exhibitions. Dean is currently working with Worcestershire County Council and Early Years experts on a design for a new Natural Learning School.
The drawing above is an idea for the entrance lobby for the school, where children arriving for forest school tours will disembark before exploring the building and the surrounding woodland.
Restaurants, shops, school, sports facilities, health spa and a hotel are all part of the infrastructure. There will also be a bio-dome maintaining a constant temperature so villagers can grow their own produce right through the winter as well as a recreational area with a chlorine free pool for children and adults. There will be the latest 'living machine' technology for dealing with waste. Advanced smart house technology and the very latest alternative energy to generate the power requirements. All designed to provide improvements to the quality of life for all the community.
A filling station with a variety of alternative fuels. Willowater will be designed to fit in with the local environment and cars will only get as far as the village perimeter.
Willowater will not be a sleepy backwater. It will be designed to house a vibrant community where high standards of sustainable practice will interact with modern day living and working. It will attract visitors from all over the world, who will marvel at many things including the remarkable balance Dean's architecture has achieved with the natural environment.
Visitors will need somewhere to stay. The hotel with a difference will also be of curvilinear design and benefit from Dean's previous hotel designs and a consultation process with hoteliers and users. It will include conference facilities and every thing you would expect of a top class hotel . It will also be an outstanding roll model for environmental best practice and yet another breathtaking example of elegant design in keeping with the local surroundings.
You can walk around the inner layout of your home in a matter of hours after the arrival of the shells. Insulation is then sprayed to the required thickness all over the exterior followed by gunnite concrete, also applied by a spraying technique.
Construction work takes a matter of weeks rather than months. Once the foundations and services are in, the rest of the building only takes days, this ease and short duration of the build time is what contributes to the relatively low construction cost. All that requires to be done now is the fitting out of the interior and the exterior landscaping to earth shelter the building.
Thanks mainly to the low construction costs, the interior fitting out is of the highest calibre. Craftsmen and crafts built fittings give a quality feel to the interior and only the very best materials, sourced from a sustainable supply are used.
Customers will have the choice of a number of room layouts and several room styles for each type of room. There will for instance be several sizes and styles of bedrooms and a choice of kitchen layouts. There will also be different styles of doors and windows. Heating will be under floor and there will be provision for open fires and log burners. An airflow management system, air conditioning and smart house technology will also be available.
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The Vision
"The village style community we propose to create will be a highly inspirational neighbourhood, a role model for community building. It will effectively address many of the critical issues sometimes overlooked; issues such as security, communications, the environment, sustainability, practicality, children and the less abled, spiritual amenities and materials.
"Home for Life is a concept that embodies the results of many years of research into the way people respond emotionally to interior spaces - the sort of spaces that produce a sense of security and well being as well as being practical and secure, spaces that are peaceful and tranquil such as bedrooms and home offices and kitchens that inspire and energise.
"The project will embody a wide range of important environmental credentials including being exceptionally energy efficient. Quick and economical to build with earth sheltered elements that blend well into the natural environment while also preserving the local habitat.
"Special attention will be paid to how the home fits into a community enhancing the sense of security, choreographing pathways and roadways in such a way that they do both a practical job of connecting as well as inspiring the user as they move through the village.
"Utopian dreams are seductive and invariably fall short of pre-determined ideals. We expect Willowater to be a learning process and we are sure to fall short of perfection. We also expect to build something incredible, using all the best practices and knowledge that the project team has acquired, something amazing that will be a huge step forward in our understanding of what a community can be, a real achievement and a real inspiration to both the people who will live there and to others who will dare to develop new communities in the future."
Roger Dean
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