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Apr 12
2010
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It's a material world: part 3 from eco-designer Oliver HeathPosted by: Oliver Heath Tagged in: Untagged
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If refurbishing a home wasn't complicated enough, we now have to choose our materials with greater care and attention. You could see this as a limitation, but for me it’s an opportunity to create a style that embodies the philosophies of sustainability.
Luckily, there are ever more interesting materials to choose from as I found out when designing the Eco home exhibition at the Geffrye Museum in East London. It struck me that when designing eco homes there are masculine and feminine sides to consider.
The “masculine” focuses on the technical aspects involved in making it more efficient and practical things like new boilers, water efficient toilets and A-rated appliances.
By contrast there is a “feminine” element involved in creating a beautiful and nurturing home. Think fabrics, furniture and dressings.
How do you start an eco refurb? As you mean to continue of course: with lofty environmental intentions.
It's taken some time to realise that I don't like to make things easy for myself - but I do like to make things right. A year ago we moved into a detached 1960s four-bedroom house in Brighton. Hardly the designer home one might expect for a man, who enthuses about good sustainable design on TV, but it took a year and a half to find this ugly house on a nice street and I really believe this 1960s-style house offers us a golden eco-friendly opportunity.