Homes and lifestyle Homes and lifestyle Unit 14

speakingspeaking

How important to you is your home?

Is it important to you that your home

is attractively designed and

decorated? Why? Why not?

Would you prefer to live in an urban or

rural environment?

I believe that the way people live can be I believe that the way people live can be directed a little bit by architecture. directed a little bit by architecture. (Tadao Ando, Japanese architect)(Tadao Ando, Japanese architect)

Imagine that you are urban planners. An area of old

abandoned housing in the historical centre of your town is to

be demolished and a new housing estate built in its place.

Together, work out a general design for the new housing

estate. Make a list of details you would include in your design

(e.g., what the houses would be like, inside and out; what

infrastructure there would be, etc.). Bear in mind the quote

above, and consider how features of your design will affect

the lives of those living on the estate.

Do you agree that it should be law that all newly built homes should be environmentally friendly and include energy-saving devices?

House in Sri Lanka by House in Sri Lanka by Tadao Ando Tadao Ando 

The House in Sri Lanka, or so called by the The House in Sri Lanka, or so called by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando who designed Japanese architect Tadao Ando who designed it, is set against a paradise on earthit, is set against a paradise on earth..

White sandy beaches, dotted with coconut palm trees and huts draped with leaves from these trees, weave in and out of cliffs in Mirissa, located at the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Crocodiles and water snakes splash in its rivers, black monkeys, wild elephants and even leopards roam freely on its land. Local fishermen languorously wait for fish to swim towards them on wooden sticks firmly wedged into the sand along the edge of the sea. The name of the house is perhaps enough to suggest its majestic presence: clad in exposed concrete, the house perches on top of a cliff, as if it were indeed a leopard whose claws edge towards the Indian Ocean.

Designed for a married couple, the three-Designed for a married couple, the three-storey house incorporates a glazed study storey house incorporates a glazed study for the husband and an artist’s studio for for the husband and an artist’s studio for his wife.his wife.

Light floods into this ground floor studio though a

two storey-high window, which is divided into four

by a large steel cross. The glazed study is located

on the first floor and is accessed via a zig-zagging

staircase, which ascends from the 20 metre-long

living room. Outdoor terraces also step between the

ground and first floors, while an infinity pool projects

over the living room roof. Furniture throughout the

house is monochrome, including a teak and

cardboard table designed by Shigeru Ban.