New houses built in the UK are criticised for not providing enough space for basic activities. With the modern desire for en-suite bathrooms, study rooms and utility areas, more rooms are being crammed into the same footprint. The living room, kitchen, corridor and bathroom sizes have been reduced as a result. Often the lack of space standards has been blamed for allowing this, and has resulted in the UK having some of the smallest houses in Europe. So, where does the stuff in our lives feature (if at all) when designing today’s homes?

Join Architect and academic Elena Marco to explore how our growing appetite for 'stuff' influences the design of housing.

About our speaker:

Elena is an educator, practitioner, senior manager and researcher with a diverse and rich profile, building a top class reputation for the Department of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of the West of England, Bristol of which she is the Head. Whilst in practice, Elena built a strong profile in sustainable design at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, working on many pioneering and award winning projects, some as part of Europe-wide research initiatives. Now in academia, she continues to develop her research interests, which focus on the cross-over between health, sustainability and architecture. However, her PhD research touches a personal topic where she aims to understand how material possessions help to inform spatial storage design in a standardised house in the UK.

Externally, Elena has been selected by the Architects Journal as one of the 20 most influential Women in Sustainable Architecture in the UK, and has been part of the Judging Panel for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the Silver Medal (Part 2 design projects) category. She currently has memberships of the RIBA New Courses Group, the RIBA Sustainable Futures Group and is part of the Council of the Standing Conference of Heads of School of Architecture (SCHOSA) and Member of the Council of Heads of Built Environment (CHOBE).