Making one’s own home, to most people is their most treasured dream and most important possession later on. It is not mere bricks and mortar or a financial investment; it is a vital part of their life. Winston Churchill very aptly says that ‘You mould the building and the building moulds you’. Home is of extreme importance to everybody’s daily well-being. As such it is normally treated with dignity, and its character and contents are an extension of one’s personality. The design of a home should not thus be detached from the occupant but should be in full sync with the nature and understanding of the user, after all it's their castle!

|

The personnel needs of the user of the home and their likes and dislikes should be paramount. You would think this is stating the obvious. Yet it is a strange anomaly that, the vast majority of homes are designed without the tenants or buyers ever seeing their new home until after it had been built apart from a few individual houses. Almost everybody other than the very people who will live in the accommodation seems to be involved in the process. All the crucial decisions about the quality, production and appearance are taken by the housing organization, builder, the estate agent, the developer, the local authority, the architect, and the design teams;  all the people who’ll  actually  never be living in those homes. 

|

At times where volume house builders are now producing the majority of homes for commercial sales, a balance between private ownership and rented accommodation will continually change. The future occupants are hardly consulted despite of the fact that these decisions have a huge influence on them. The need to involve the users and the existing community in the housing procurement process is indeed obvious and much needed!

|