Cube House

I think that I am still  involved in a professional role in the periodic supervision of a Cube House being built in Hull. I am not sure because to my knowledge it is not yet finished after 11 years.

This Cube House is a pure bred example, and not the shameful lip service to the genre which is starting to emerge in the brochures of the mass volume, low quality, speculative builders. Their versions have all the external appearance of a Cube House but merely as cladding to a very ordinary design and construction format. It is as though the Corporates all got a copy of Grand Designs as a Christmas present and went berserk taking on board the stylish bits but deliberately ignoring the essential substance.

Hence, you may see amongst the characterless acres of housing estates called such derivative names as Shipman Road (no Doctors have purchased there), Blackwater Way (actually flooded in 2007) and Wankley Dell (made that one up), the emergence of coloured composite panels, ceramic tile elevational treatments, excessive square metres of opaque glass blocks and some oddly angled masonry or mock-effect fibre glass attachments.

The sad thing is that these crude and insulting embellishments are being fully accepted and enthused about by the house buying public, or at least those who have the sizeable deposit needed to pass through into the Mortgage Lounge of the financiers to meet their colleague representative advisory person (CRAP) and be sold not just a mortgage but break-down cover and a raffle ticket.

The real Cube House I mention was started in 2005 and is, on my informal passings,not ready for first occupation(2016). The timescale involved is not, get lost Kevin McCleod, due to complex structural or planning issues but because the Architect, Builder, Project Manager, Funder, Navvy, Powder monkey and Tea Boy are all the same person and at the same time holding down a day job.

By definition the construction has had to take place on the occasional evening during the week and with a more concentrated effort at weekends, during Bank Holidays and any general vacation entitlements. Add to these constraints a strong sense of authenticity and respect for the Cube House and great attention to detail and you have, dah, dah, dah . daaar, an 11 year labour of love.

My first site visit, way back then, was at the steelwork stage. The bright red oxide finish was a bit overpowering as well as the sheer size and scale of the skeletal frame over three equivalent storeys but yet long and narrow in dimensions.

The building plot just taking shape was located on a narrow strip of land adjacent to a cemetery . In the earliest stages of emergence the locals and passers-by thought the structure was going to be a public convenience and even a crematorium for the internees which says a lot for the role of a bright yellow Planning Notice on a lampost or the actual validity of writing to all surrounding households to inform them of what was going to be built.

With the steelwork in place the intermediate floors were positioned and then the elevational finishes could be erected. The main south face of the house consists entirely of glass blocks, individually sanded to combat any lethal solar magnifying effect and then mounted and reinforced in a framework. The appearance is exceptional in texture and impact. The eastern and northern elevations are fitted with a grey thermally insulated panelling and to the west, full floor to ceiling windows over the three floors.

The interior provides great flexibility as there are no load bearing requirements. Natural light comes in a softened hue through the glass wall onto the stairways and with large glazed apertures and light wells illuminating efficiently all of the accommodation.

A stainless steel staircase is suspended above the ground floor and appears to float. At the front of the ground floor is the principal living area. A large open plan arrangement includes a kitchen. The space is open and airy to a full two storey height. There is a further day room behind a balcony above and with bedrooms and bathrooms beyond and above.

Internal floor area at over 2000 square feet  is more than double that available for the faux versions on a non-descript housing estate.

Of course, we are all a bit obsessed with how much a property is worth.

What price for 11 years of labour not to mention the thinking time during 11 years worth of waking hours?

What price for hundreds of journeys to and from the site, builders merchants and maintaining a lifestyle.

What price for missing out on time with family over 11 years?

It is not after all about price , it is about the underlying values.