Living with the Future
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Living with the Future is a television documentary series first broadcast on 15 January 2007 on BBC Four. It is a follow-up series to Living with Modernism, also on BBC Four.
In each episode, presenter Simon Davis visits the owners of a private house, then stays overnight so he can comment on what the building is like to actually live in. The preceding series visited older "classic" buildings (1930s to 1970s) where modernity was the key feature. In this series, buildings have been constructed in the last few years and often rely on cutting-edge materials (the glass walls at "Skywood") and have "green" elements of re-use ("Quay House" is a rebuilt dairy) and efficiency ("Drop House" glazing and walls).
[edit] Episode list
- 1. "Skywood", Denham, Buckinghamshire – rectangular glass box, with floating roof set by an artificial lake, reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion (architect/owner: Graham Phillips, chief executive of Foster and Partners)
- 2. "Quay House", Peckham – a live/work space for an architectural practice, with integral art gallery (architects: Quay2c)
- 3. "Drop House", Potters Bar, Hertfordshire – a white rectilinear building with a large drop shape in its heart, set in a street of typical large suburban houses (architect: Hudson Featherstone)
- 4. "Tilty Barn", Essex - a barn conversion for a family and their horse, featuring a stark white minimalist interior, flush fitting windows and stable (architect: John Pawson)
- 5. "BV House", Lancashire - a large "modern country manor house" with separate children's/visitor's block, composed of many different angular forms and clad with thatched walls (architect: Farjadi Architects and owner)
- 6. "Paxton House", Primrose Hill, London - A family house built in spare space between mews houses (surrounded on virtual all sides) or as the owner describing the narrow site - as a "missing tooth" - easily the most stunning and technologically advanced of the series - Focused on a top-lit slide away glass roof canopy over the central living space which is the social hub, and featuring a curved glass "lap" swimming pool, computerised lighting and heat control (near carbon-neutral). The house contained mini-apartments for his teenage children, and acoustically sealed doors (similar to those on refrigerators) separating the parent and children parts of house (architects: Richard and Heidi Paxton)
