David Dempsey
Wow, what an idea!!!! I thought it was great, never been a fan of Professor Germaine Greer, but now - I think this was a fresh new idea. As we move forwards into the 21st Cent, we have to come up with new ideas and challenge old ideas. Is our skyline so important? I think we should look at Dubai and see how things could be done afresh in the future.I'm 100% sold - please let me know where I can place my deposit for my sky flat, and if you need help in getting the money for this project let me know.
Ron Kennor
Ms Greer's ideas for new style housing with a 'small footprint' are presumably fine for the masses but I as they wont have space for her authentic cobbled courtyard, like all architects, there is no way she would live there.I smell hypocracy and NIMBYISM.As for the new developments that are being built she should have asked the token young local couple what they would prefer. I'm certain they would opt for a 'dull' suburban home in preference for a futuristic home in the sky.The twee Cambridge and villages of her youth dont put roofs over peoples heads and there are still plenty of wide open spaces back in Australia if that is what she yeans for.
Ian Seager
A simply beautiful idea which would give a well needed shove away from the mundane, twee little boxes that people seem to aspire to. We have a chance to be creative & use all the wonderful technology we have at our disposal to create something that will inspire.
Gerald McMullon
Professor Germaine Greer made numerous strong points about the currently expansion of all villages in Cambridge. The new developments often feel added on and not integrated into the original village and there does not seem to be a strong sense of community. The scheme to deal with the pressure to build extra housing in erecting 75-storey 'needles' at first seems thought out but there are scores of arguments that I think most of us could come up with only a few minutes thought. Even so, clearly something different has to be done and I hope that the programme and future debate will bring out many alternative ideas.- 75 stories over 500 feet high. The needle shape may reduce wind resistance but the winds across the fens get strong enough to rip up fences and bend TV aerial masks.- Affordable housing is not only needed for 'professionals' such as nurses and teachers but also by council workers, those in the catering trade, those on modest incomes and single parent families. As one of the students suggested the wealthy never had a problem with hi-rise apartments but 8 towers with hundreds of families would be a problem or are the flats to be like those on the site of the Inland Revenue which sell for a tad short of one million!- No pets, no cars and with only a mono rail and cycle ways into the city. People in Cambridgeshire have needed better and more affordable public transport for decades. I am sure that the traffic jam on the A14 is not for the love of their cars or the easy of getting into the city.- Before people can declutter, minimise and shoe horn into hi-rise space regardless of how nicely done up with shared open space for parks, sports, restaurants and shopping the nature of people would have to change. - People still like to have their own space; their own escape from work and the outside world. For some the reverse may be true, where the place of work is an escape from cramped noisy and uncomfortable homes - particularly if family members can't afford to have a place of their own. The majority would like a detached house with it own fenced in gardens in a quite neighbourhood with a good nearby local school and away from busy major roads. - Would the expansion of these communities in the sky lead to behaviour of consumerism and a hatred of the old as seen in Hong Kong and Japan. Space is such a premium homes are small and so people like to show off with the ever ending change in gadgets and remodelling their personal space. This is not particularly green, but might drive the economy if there are in fact local jobs for people in the future.
Ian Wagstaff
I don't think the building Germain Greer suggested would work. It looked absolutely awful. Have a look at the buildings being built in Aba Dhabi and Dubai. RegardsIan Wagstaff
