CASE STUDY HOUSES

Cressida Kocienski 2010

Dear Residents

We write to inform you of a decision taken by the

Housing Trust to implement a major refurbishment
scheme of Beacon Court, to begin primary implemen-
tation on the 15th of October.

The Trust has been in consultation with the for-

ward thinking Municipal Infrastructure, Strategic
Work and Residential Master Planning (SWRMP) sec-
tion of the Urban Regeneration Board (URB), in
response to recent media attention and debate
regarding the visibility of the Tower Blocks on
the estate.

To counteract initial disruptive proposals of the

demolition of the Tower Blocks, and rehousing of
the tenants, the decision agreed by all parties is
to move forward with a scheme introducing modifi-
cation of the current architecture towards a tac-
tical transparency.

Under the scheme all the large poured concrete

panels constituting the exterior walls, all ceil-
ings and floors, in addition to all the drywall
interior panels, decorative structural elements,
and doors in the Beacon Court block will be
replaced with prefabricated glass panels.

The panels and other structural elements will be

treated with a polarizing filter, that will allow
for complete penetration of daylight through the
block, removing the structure from its prominent
yet reticent visibility, and reopening vistas in
the Northern area of the city. This will effect a
significant improvement to the skyline and general
aesthetic appeal of the area.

Structural research has proven literal transpar-

ency to be difficult to attain and maintain – as
it frequently encounters problems of both obscu-
rity (its opposite) and reflectivity (its rever-
sal).
To maintain maximal transparency effect the light-
ing levels within all units on all floors will be
monitored and harmonized with those of the exte-
rior landscape, to prevent lapses into either. You
will also be advised to attempt to avoid touching
the glass walls, once they are installed, as this
will produce smearing and call attention to the
surface of the building.

Installation will begin on floor 14, on the East-

ern side, and spiral downwards in an anticlockwise
formation, over a fourteen month period – please
see the enclosed schedule for a breakdown of con-
struction benchmarks.

We advise that residents will not be required to

vacate the property during refurbishment, but will
be asked to clear individual rooms during the
process.

Phase two of the scheme, after successful comple-

tion and testing of phase one, will introduce
gradual replacement of all interior furnishings
and fittings with a transparent polymer, to fur-
ther decrease visual obstruction.

Each tenants’ possessions will be catalogued,

measured, and scanned on site, following the con-
struction path, and replicated in minute detail
using a 3D printer. The transparent Locum Tennens
of each item will be placed exactly in their
original position, thereby completing the work.

Any enquiries regarding the forthcoming improve-

ments to your flats should be directed to the
allocated tenants representative for submission to
the board.

Yours etc. etc.

Dear Mr Carter

Regarding our previous correspondence we hereby

write to inform you of the decision taken by the
planning board to repurpose the western aspect of
your potting shed at the request of the Collins
family, in residence at number 22 Marchmont Cres-
cent.

As you will be aware, the Collins’ have devoted a

considerable amount of time and funds to remodel-
ling their 40 foot garden plot, which backs imme-
diately onto yours, to mimic the sylvan infinitude
of the great tradition of 18th Century English
Landscape gardens.

Planning permission has hereby been granted to

them to allow for the construction of a façade to
cover the wall of your shed, which will be a semi-
circular Tholos modelled on the Temple of Ancient
Virtue. This will be in the image of a dome sup-
ported by twelve unfluted Ionic columns, and a
doorless arch. Please refer to figures 2 and 3 in
the elevations enclosed.

This addition to your structure will become the

primary aesthetic highlight of the entire garden
design, framed by a quincunx of dwarf conifers,
ingeniously honouring correct perspective, and
complimenting the neoclassical grandeur of the
columnar bird bath, palladian bridge, nymphaeum,
grotto, obelisk, ha-ha, and elegant water features
already installed.
The façade itself will be largely invisible from
your own property, and although there may be some
slight protuberance of the dome above the gables,
to all intents your view will remain identical to
its present state.

We do inform you that due to the weight of the

external cladding adhering to the shed wall, the
majority of the interior space of your shed will
necessarily be used to provide unobtrusive housing
for the considerable buttressing that must support
the exterior. We would therefore ask that your
possessions are vacated from the structure before
work begins on the 19th of April.

The maintenance of the shed and decoration will

remain your full responsibility, as it lies within
the land attached to the deeds signed in the
original purchase of the house, but the Collins’
have insisted that a small concessionary fund will
be provided for the upkeep of the façade.

We trust that any immediate or intermediate incon-

venience you may experience in the loss of the
currently assigned functionality of the structure,
in terms of both storage, and respite, will be
renumerated by the kind invitation made by the
Collins’ to visit their garden during the summer
opening hours named in the enclosed leaflet, and
enjoy the enlivening of the aspect that your
benevolent bequest will have granted them.

Yours etc. etc.

Dear Ms. Bellamy

We are pleased to inform you that the priority status

on your recent housing application has been duly con-
sidered, and you will be able to move into your new
accommodation on the 2nd of March.

Due to the increasing shortage of local authority-

funded housing stock in the city, and national cut-
backs in the public services sector, including those
of the emergency services, we are initiating a pilot
scheme wherein these services are merged under joint
administration, for review after the forthcoming
fiscal year.

Your allocated property will be a three bedroom

detached house situated on the Fire Department train-
ing ground. The property is a spacious, well-appointed
home with an en suite to the master bedroom, bathroom,
two receptions, downstairs cloakroom, large kitchen
and utility room.

We are informed that the Fire Department are seeking

to build into their instruction programme as much
authentic verisimilitude in the extinguishing of fires
as possible, and it is hoped that your contribution to
the scheme will allow for due development and targeted
skilling of trainee staff.

Whilst in residence it should be made clear that you

will be expected to participate in a number of super-
vised drills laid out in the basic training program
for firefighter trainees, attached in section four of
this document. This will involve a series of con-
trolled ignitions of your property and contents, that
will allow for the execution of taught modules in
oxygen exclusion, temperature reduction, and chemical
reaction inhibition protocols.

You will be expected to remain in the property during

the blaze, and await rescue from the teams of train-
ees, including the first responder medical unit, and
Emergency Care Basic unit for basic life support
operations. You will occasionally be called upon to
resist rescue using reasonable force.
The property is supplied fully furnished, in addition
to all basic household items, including electrical
goods, and consumables. Due to the repetition of the
partial or complete consumption of many items within
the property, and any subsequent water or chemical
damage, a budget has been allocated to allow for imme-
diate full replacement of any items affected by the
exercises, identically where possible, or of similar
brand quality where not. All items will be pre-vetted
for researched mean combustion indexes to allow for the
most authentic burn patterns. You will be advised to
minimise the nylon content of any additional wardrobe
and soft furnishings that you intend to purchase.

You will also have access to, and be required to make

use of, a car that is stationed outside the property --
although we do stress that the vehicle is non-
functioning in the standard sense, as it is constructed
from a metal silhouette. You may occasionally be
required to be rescued from the vehicle in a range of
conscious and unconscious states, as part of the
vehicle extrication module.

In the event that a genuine fire should break out

during the term of your tenancy you will be required to
memorise a series of fire safety codes and escape meth-
odologies, but within the terms laid out in section
five of the tenancy agreement you will be required to
actively forget these procedures and await rescue
during regulated fire and gas explosion incidents.

Please direct any enquiries regarding your forthcoming

tenancy to the regional manager’s office, and we cor-
dially wish you every success in your new home.

Yours etc. etc.

Dear Mr and Mrs Cooper

We are delighted to inform you that your property

has been selected to be the key component in a
forthcoming series of measures in strategic civic
development being put forward by local government
in consultation with the state-sponsored National
Committee for Municipal Advancement, or NCMA.

On Monday the 25th of May a team of contractors,

under strict supervision from representatives from
the NCMA, will begin excavating a cylindrical hole
beneath your house, which will slice through the
foundations directly in the centre of the prop-
erty, and travel downwards into the bedrock to an
unspecified depth. The depth of the excavation
will remain classified information.

The hole will have an exact diameter of four

metres, and its edges will be machine hewn by a
specially adapted industrial drill, generating a
precise and entirely featureless circumference.

In addition to the vast void opened beneath your

property, the space inside the hole will be
extruded meticulously through your house where it
will halt at the rafters supporting the roof,
thereby creating an imperative containment zone
where the hole emerges from the bedrock.

In order to achieve this the contractors will cut

a precise line through the interior walls and
floors, and carefully remove all furniture, fit-
tings, appliances, and other matter falling within
the boundaries of the extrusion zone. We would
ask that you do not attempt any structural modifi-
cation of the property prior to when the work
begins.
We assure you that your property will retain full
functionality around the periphery of the removed
matter, and in keeping with the sensitive nature
of the project, you will be expected to comply
with and continue all normal domestic behaviours,
despite some modification of infrastructural func-
tionality within the areas of your house affected
by the hole.

We also guarantee that we have been assured that

the outward appearance of your property, as vis-
ible from the street, will remain unchanged, and
we would ask that your net curtains continue to
remain drawn, both during the cutting and excava-
tion phase, and when the work is complete.

We thank you for your co-operation, and further

stipulate that we must insist that you do not
discuss the forthcoming work with anyone not
involved in the project.

Yours etc. etc.

Dear Mr Goldblatt

We are writing to advise you that the planning

application for the extension of the M68 has been
given the green light, and construction will com-
mence immediately. As you have been made aware,
this progress in the development of the area has
been greeted with great enthusiasm by Council
members and local businesses. Enhanced connectiv-
ity for the area, in addition to the incentives
offered to promote the growth of light industry
along this vital artery is expected to fuel con-
siderable economic recovery.

As you are aware, your property currently faces

onto the A343, to which the Motorway extension
will connect with a slip road to allow for the
efficient continuous flow of traffic. According to
surveys carried out, the rising plane of the
planned slip road on the south side intersects the
upper planes of your property at a height of 4
metres. In addition to this, the large supportive
pillars also fall just inside the current square
footage of the property.

We have been informed that you have expressed a

desire to remain in the bungalow, despite our
recommendation that there may be increased expo-
sure to exhaust emissions and noise pollution. The
land from the adjacent lots has been acquired, the
residents comfortably re-housed, and demolition is
set to commence Forthwith. However, we understand
that your desire to remain in your bungalow
reflects the memory of your late spouse, Mrs Gold-
blatt, and so due to the decision of the board of
appeal we will not be serving a compulsory pur-
chase order in this case.
However, you must also understand that it is
imperative that a strict aerial symmetry is main-
tained in Motorway construction, and so the rati-
fied plans will not be altered. Therefore we offer
the following solution, outlined in brief below,
and continued in detail in section 2 of the
enclosed document.

Beginning in the dining room at the rear of your

property we will be reconstructing your house at a
1:0.65 scale, so as to effectively bring the roof
plane and walls of the bungalow to a relative size
where they are clear of the proposed construction.

All of the wall surfaces and built-in furniture,

including the fitted kitchen will be meticulously
re-scaled so as to appear identical to their pres-
ent state when in situ.

All of your free-standing possessions will remain

unaltered in scale, and it is hoped that their
slight bunching together will simply make your
home feel cosier.

In consultation with your GP we have been informed

that due to advanced spinal curvature, and muscle
wastage from the effects of aging, you should have
no trouble clearing any of the new doors.

Please make an appointment with the development

officer should you have any questions.

Yours etc. etc.

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