Can a home adapt to suit the owner no matter what age or physical condition? The designers consider a variety of homeowners in the retrofit to 81-87 Shakespeare Street. Their proposal looks to accommodate the following:

• Young professionals. Housing needs to offer users the opportunity to work from home and start up offices with low overheads. First time buyers may wish to rent a room to contribute towards the mortgage, so accommodation to facilitate this would be advantageous.
• Families. Housing needs to offer users the opportunity to cater comfortably for their family and future family members. The accommodation should support families bringing up babies, children, teenagers and young adults. Growing children require varying spatial environments at different times during their lifetime.
• Retired couples. Once the children have left home, the family unit condenses. The living space sometimes needs to adapt in accordance with this. More time is spent in the home, leading to alternative space requirements, such as office space, guest suites and storage for new hobbies.
• Elderly patient and carer. As the homeowner moves into the later stages of life they may be unable to live independently.The house should allow for a carer to live on site, reducing the need to move the homeowner, which is stressful and costly.

»Design intentions. These are to:

• create a zero carbon way of living
• create space that is adaptable so that the home can accommodate physical changes in user, avoiding the need for the homeowner to move. The design should be future-proof
• design with a view to engaging the user with the environment and subsequently the community. The observer can often be isolated and distant. The boundary between the observer and observed should become more integrated
• design spaces to stimulate memories and reflection that form the background to the occupier's life.

»Demolition, conservation and new build strategy
The existing building fabric is not without its merits. Not only is the existing building a declaration of typical Southwick domestic architecture forming a layer of the site's history, it also possesses embodied environmental strengths that the designers aim to preserve.

»Adaptability
The building can be arranged into a variety of layouts to accommodate users at various stages of their life. It is with this design intention in mind, that the house can effectively support its owner throughout their lifespan, providing them with the facilities that they require at the appropriate time. Pre-fabrication of the garden room and ground floor level allow the home to be easily adapted to accommodate changes to lifestyle requirements.

»Memory Box
The designers want to encourage the homeowner to venture beyond the boundaries of the traditional home and out into a 'socially interactive' yet secure zone. A common everyday activity such as climbing stairs brings the homeowner out into a more permeable part of the home. The homeowner can choose whether to simply pass through this space, passively engaging with the external environment, or alternatively has space to sit and read, actively engaging with the environment and community.

The memory box is a store for photographs, ornaments and symbols of life stories that represent the individuals within the house. This gives the home a 'personality', both internally and externally.

Environmental conditions. Measures include:

• Extensive use of daylighting: Light-wells are introduced into the building to bring light deeper into the plan.
• Locally sourced materials: Scottish larch is used for the cladding of the prefabricated units, with the wall cassette units being fabricated locally. Transportation to site therefore remains minimal.
• First floor accommodation benefits from high levels of insulation to the existing shell of the building. The ground floor level prefabricated unit adopts the Passivhaus criteria, creating an airtight thermal envelope.
• Low energy lighting is used throughout the house. The scheme makes use of micro-renewable energy generation with roof mounted photovoltaics, solar hot water and garden room roof mounted wind turbine.
• Rainwater is harvested and used for irrigation of the green facade. A grey water recycling system is used throughout.
• The building makes use of solar thermal heat generation, with centralised combined heat and power system.
• Solar gain is addressed by the green facade that provides the building with shading during summer months and heating during winter months.

The thermal mass of the existing masonry is retained and used to heat and cool the living spaces, collecting winter sun and providing night time purging during summer months.

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