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Garden city concept goes Dutch

As part of getting to grips with designing sustainable places for people to live, design students from Deltion College in the Netherlands have visited one of the earliest developments built in response to the garden city movement.

Originally designed around 1900 by Bournville Architects from Ebenezer Howard’s garden city ethos initiative in 1898, Bournville’s garden village has become much more than a garden suburb in Britain’s second city.

Today, Bournville remains one of the most enduring and successful examples of the movement’s principles. Garden cities have been created around the world and provide places and spaces where people choose to live.

In November, Bournville Architects and College joined forces to provide architecture, engineering and construction students, from its sister college in the Netherlands with a study, day.

Comprising a tour of current and existing projects, the students visited Selly Manor and Minworth Greaves ending with a seminar about the history of Bournville Village Trust. The students will build their experience into their Deltion College study module: Urban Design and Social History.

Adrian Millicheap, deputy director at Bournville Architects, says: “Ebenezer’s original concept doesn’t age as proven with the recent announcement that Bicester plans to become the next garden city.

“Although the Netherlands is at the forefront of contemporary design, the UK has been very successful in building communities that endure. The students’ visit to Bournville demonstrated how old housing can evolve to suit modern life.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Bournville Architects .