ANYWHEREVILLE

this house stands on land
owned by the bournville village trust
set up by the cadbury brothers
of chocolate factory fame
the cadburys purchased land adjacent to their factory
and built a whole residential suburb
on the edge of birmingham
with shops around a village green
a school
a place of worship
spacious houses with large gardens
influenced by the arts and crafts movement
but no public houses
for the cadburys were quakers
one research study apparently found
that bournville is 'one of the nicest places to live in britain'
this house stands on the modern bit of the estate
which gradually expanded southwards into the countryside
till there was no countryside left
93 st denis road was built around 1963
when the beatles were singing 'she loves you'
and john profumo was getting himself into trouble
originally it was a small three-bed semi
though the previous owner extended it
adding a bit onto the kitchen
and two extra rooms above the garage
leaving a legacy of leaky flat roofs
and effectively turning it into a terrace
its cavity walls are built of reddish brick
the same brick as all the other nearby houses
likewise its concrete tile roof
pretty much the only feature that distinguishes it
from most of the other houses in the street
is its double-glazed windows
which are made of wood rather than the standard upvc
it's functional
it's structurally sound and isn't likely to fall down
it maintains a reasonably warm indoor temperature
though at the cost of several tons of co2 annually
it keeps out the wind and rain
it lets in fresh air and plumbs away dirty water
it provides comfort of a kind
but beautiful it isn't
nor does it provide much social or spiritual sustenance
in fact
it's a typical product of modern life
mass produced out of standardised parts
making it easy to build
to sell
to alter
to resell
it's a commodity rather than a home
it isn't responsive to the site
to local building materials
or to the climate
it makes no use of the sun's vast energy
granted it's flexible
in the sense that it's a hollow shell
with rooms that can accommodate different activities
but essentially it's a strong box
hooked up to an adjustable life-support system
that provides heating and electricity
and flushes waste out
unlike an igloo
or a cool adobe desert house
this building could be dropped almost anywhere in the world
and be ready to go
differences in climate
accommodated by the twist of a few control knobs
this house has not arisen
out of the interactions
between a particular set of people and a particular place
this is an anywherehouse
in an anywherestreet
in anywhereville
i'm willing to bet
that you dear reader also live in anywhereville
so how do we get from anywhereville
to somewhere more meaningful and personal?
we need to stand back
to learn and understand our specific climate
our specific environment and local resources
we need to know more about where we live
about who we are
and what we really want
we need to get more involved
and find elegant solutions to specific situations
we need to care enough
that we're not willing just to accept anywhereville