Urban miff

The other thing that's been happening here over the last couple of weeks is decorating. Our tenant declared that he was leaving about a month ago, and his contract only required that he give us a couple of weeks notice. You'll have noticed from the pics in the 'Joshy' post, that Daile was wearing a paper suit, and that Josh and Emma were covered in paint. Its a mixed experience, by which I mean that its satisfying, AND frustrating.

We're trying to pretty up our house and we're painting it inside using the same sort of colours that we used in the house in London. The difference is that the substrate is cheaper, and the basic design is working against us. There are no lintels above the windows, and the holes in the walls are plugged with aluminium sliding windows that are anodised in dark brown, with no other 'frame' around the windows. Its not required. The aluminium does all that is really needed from a functional perspective, but nothing that is needed from a visual perspective. I can't really express it.

The house is a fairly classic mass produced Australian house. Its made from brick and cheap fittings, and suffers from the same utilitarian design standards as almost all the houses that comprise this kind of stock, both here, and to a different but similar degree, in the UK. I don't think we really appreciate the way that British Architecture is influenced by earlier periods of design. Even the modern UK stuff that is built really cheaply is 'based on' the more solid building concepts that were used in earlier times, but it could be that just because modern British houses are mixed in with older houses, that the effect is less obvious. Over here, the architecture is relatively lightweight - governed by the heat. From the 60's to the 80's the then premier of Queensland was not sympathetic to such 'flimsy' concepts as quality design, rubber stamping the destruction of many of the older, and notable buildings, that otherwise would have represented some heritage to ameliorate the lack of any in the new stock. I'm not saying that we build them better in the UK, because that's not true. But there are almost NO buildings that are 'inspirational' here. SOME of the houses on the street in Shailer park where our land is are from a personal perspective.... but aside from one or two official stone faced university buildings in central town, there isn't any stuff that has an air of history, an air of substance - of a time when things were done properly.

Its funny, but the lack of heritage really alters the 'experience' of living somehow. I can't really pin it down, but I suppose its a bit like the recharging effect that you get when you hang out among trees and nature for a day or two. If you hang out amongst beautiful buildings, you have a sense of balance. Without the copious trees that characterise the Australian suburbs, it would be even more stark. Hey I'm just a Pom.... Its the way I'm built.

On the other hand, I do think that many of the newer houses are really great. They do take into account that we need to feel at home, not just be at home - and that this is a function of the design, the aspect, the flow of one area to another, the appropriate use of materials etc. The local councils are very protective of the trees and the local fauna and as a result, the housing density is lower, allowing for lots of trees - and that is really good. But we'll never have the architectural heritage. It's like living in Stevenage... with more trees.