Housing Standardisation: Who Designs Our Homes and How Do We Live? (Event 2)

Join us on Tuesday, 21 January 2025, for a roundtable discussion on affordable housing: What is ‘good’ design? How can it be delivered?

The event is part of the exhibition Housing Standardisation: Who Designs Our Homes and How Do We Live? at the Building Centre. This exhibition explores recently built housing in England, Chile, China, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain, analysing their diverse housing systems and provisions through 37 in-depth case studies of affordable homes. It focuses on the experiences and everyday lives of residents, examining how design governance, housing standards, socio-cultural expectation, and home use shape perceptions of ‘well-designed’ and ‘affordable’ homes – and how these are highly contextual.

The exhibition is the result of the three-year Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project 'Housing Standardisation: The Architecture of Regulations and Standards'.

Co-organised with the Architecture Foundation, this roundtable is the second of three events in January with housing practitioners, discussing how housing design, standards, policy, and quality relate to affordability, equity, and lived experiences. Despite extensive standardisation and regulation, both the realities and perceptions of housing and design quality vary significantly across regions, countries, and households, affecting housing outcomes and wellbeing.

Roundtable Participants:

Kyle Buchanan (Director, Archio Architects)

Susan May (Head of Housing Design, Urban Design London)

Andrej Mećava (Principal Urban Design Officer, Hounslow Council)

Amanda Rashid (Principal Urban Designer, Hounslow Council)

Sam Jacoby (Professor of Architectural and Urban Design Research, Royal College of Art)

Guin Dimock (Senior Design Manager, Peabody)

David Stronge (Design Director, Peabody)

Emily Greeves (Director, Emily Greeves Architects)

Time and Venue

Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Time: 4:30–6:00 pm

Location: The Building Centre (Seminar Room B), 26 Store St, London WC1E 7BT

Guided Exhibition Tour

The exhibition curators, Sam Jacoby and Lucia Alonso from the Royal College of Art, will offer a free guided tour of the exhibition in the Window Gallery of the Building Centre before the roundtable, starting at 3:00 pm.

Tickets:

Regular Price = £7.50

Student Price = £5 (Use the code HOUSINGSTUDENT at the checkout)

Accessibility: 

If you have any questions regarding the accessibility of the venue, please email amy@architecturefoundation.org.uk