I would have liked to have started by telling you to close your eyes and listen to the following description. As reading with your eyes closed is difficult I suggest you read the description down to the line and then close your eyes, and imagine the scene, prior to going on to look at the second part of this article.
Imagine the scene
You leave the main road, and going around a small hill and some trees you enter a valley, and the road leads you towards a large stone gatehouse archway, as you get nearer, you see it is constructed in such a way, as to have nice looking cottage houses built into the gateway structure on each side. The gates are open, attached to the gatehouse are stone walls that goes off in each direction. You go on through.
Around the next bend the scene opens up in front of you, a stone castle, standing on a stone plinth, surrounded by a moat, and around this a collection of different styles of period homes standing at a variety of angles and well spaced, some of which are thatched.
The road winds it way to the castle and as you pass the homes you see that they, although looking like period homes, are all in exceptional condition and you start to suspect that the whole lot has been built only recently.
As you get nearer to the castle you realize it is also a modern structure, with many large windows.
As you approach the castle you have to go up slightly to be level with the bridge over the moat, and you drive onto paved stone platen around the castle, and as you look for the door you want, you realize that the castle is not a single house, but eight, one at each corner and 1 in the center of each wall, giving the impression of towers, linked together by a curtain wall. No cars are visible, and from the position you are at on the platen, you have a pleasant view across the valley and of the nice homes scattered around.
You enter one of the houses and this leads you into a generous hall with a window at the back from which you can see a garden, trees and some way away a large fountain. The interior of the house is similar to any quality modern home, and arranged so that most of the windows look out over the valley view, with bathrooms and other rooms where either frosted and stained glass or similar is used when looking out of the back, except for the large window at the rear of the entrance hall. You go into the garden to find a generous sized private garden that is not overlooked by any other house, and surrounded by trees and hedges tapering down as they run further from the houses, and at the end of the private garden is a short hedge and small gate, giving access to a shared octagonal seating area with stone benches and fountains. There is one alleyway from this central area that goes between two houses and through a gate in the curtain wall between two of the houses.
I hope this fires your imagination and from this start you can go on and add your own details.
The following additional notes may help
The alleyway at the rear of the gardens to the outer wall was to allow garden equipment to get into the garden, and ladders for maintenance, however having a locked gate, rear security was absolute.
Where had all the cars gone? no they had not all had to be at work to pay the large mortgages. They are parked within the plinth, but how do they get in and out. There are a number of possible solutions, firstly there could have been individual parking systems that came out of the stone platen, sort of car lifts come garages, secondly there could have been only a couple of these giving access to the underside of the plinth where parking is available and thirdly there could have been ramps down to storage in the plinth.
How about economic construction. I envisage this started from a flattish site and firstly the top soil was removed right out to the edge of the moat and stored, next a reinforced concrete shell structure was built to provide the framework, including the plinth and outer shells of the houses, not all that attractive and looking a bit like a giant car park. Into this frame individual homes was constructed, it could be concrete, bloc and stone or timber frame with a stone or render finish. The houses are in fact one floor larger than they appear as this is in the base of the plinth, and accessible from the plinth, where cars are parked and internal stairs.
The ground level inside the castle is still too low, and the base of some parts of the curtain wall is constructed before soil is used to fill the center to the reception floor level. This is achieved first by digging out the moat and using the spoil followed by using the top soil that had been previously saved. During this process a number of tanks are installed, so that rainwater collected off the plinth and roofs can be recycled and used to flush toilets, and there is a separate recycled supply to run the fountain. In addition some piping is laid for the heat pump, additional tubing being laid in the base of the moat, so that the heat pumps are able to completely heat all the properties. Additional water heating could be provided by adding solar panels to some of the roof sections inside the castle, that would not be visible from outside of from the ground within the castle, as the angle could be too steep.
Once the gardens had been set the curtain wall linking up the separate detached houses can be completed and paving and other finishes provided to that and the plinth. Bridge or drawbridge and other bits added.
The interiors of the houses can be unique, and even the outside shapes and sizes do not have to be identical as long as they are proportionate and look a part of the whole.
From the moat we are already driving some heat pumps to provide heating, but the moat could be substantial enough to allow fish to grow, providing a business opportunity as well as fresh fish to the village. Alternatively it could just be stocked with fish and anglers allowed, for a fee, to come and try their luck.
Another alternative is that the moat could form a part of a canal system around the village and be a major leisure facility for everyone who lived there.
Fire risk, might be a concern. Although the main structure would be of concrete, it would be wise to have a sprinkler system through all the houses, and to have access to a walkway around the top level of all the houses and curtain walls, and near to the gateway spiral stairs to allow escape to garden level.
All houses within the basic structure would have a lift shaft covering upper floors and down to parking level within the plinth. Lifts would be optional, but would allow any disabled residents the possibility of economically adding a lift.
The other homes that form the village and is not a part of the castle structure would be self builds using a variety of methods and styles. Much of the remaining ground would be open space or could have paddocks with ponies, sheep etc.
So could such a scheme be done, well the valley would have quite a lot of houses, when you include those in the gate house, individual houses in the village and those that form the castle. Adding up the plot values for each of these at the higher value given their exceptional situation, the economics could well stack up.
Would you get planning for such a development, in a valley where there was the scope to undertake this. That's a difficult question but you may do if approached the correct way.
This is not presented as a proposed project, although it may be viable and many might well like to live in such a place. I have presented this as a concept to encourage thought as to how composite properties can be used to form landmark buildings or to improve the architecture and enjoyment of an area.
As it is not proposed at this time as a real project, I have chosen to put it here under futuristic concepts, than under the new landmarks section.
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