RICHARD EDEN: Apple genius Sir Jony Ive who worked on the iPad and iMac as well as the coronation of King Charles, furiously rows with his countrymen over his ‘lazy’ and ‘pretentious’ designs for historic Cotswolds country house
He’s the design genius who brought you the iPad and iMac and made a £200 million fortune (and a knighthood) in the process.
So it’s not surprising that when Sir Jony Ive was considering changes to the historic Cotswolds mansion he bought last year for £17 million, he should have hired Foster + Partners, the architectural firm founded by Lord (Norman) Foster, a man which was perhaps even more praised. than Ive himself.
What could go wrong? Well, almost everything, it seems, judging by the derision that greeted the resulting proposals, which sought permission for numerous internal changes to the Grade II listed house from 1590, as well as the demolition of a tower and several buildings from the 20th century and the deletion of a tennis court and an outdoor riding school.
‘Buying a big house comes with a big responsibility – it’s not a toy,’ insists one local resident, before dismissing plans for a new studio and orangery as ‘lazy’ and ‘pretentious’, and adding a proposed service adds. area: ‘The callousness of this is breathtaking.’
Sir Jony, who designed the emblem for King Charles’s coronation, and his architects, who take care to state that their plans involved ‘detailed discussions with the Cotswold District Council and Historic England’, are subsequently criticized for proposing to increase the height of the walls. separates the house from the village.
Apple genius Sir Jony Ive has found himself embroiled in a planning battle after submitting plans to make changes to a Grade I Cotswolds mansion he recently managed
“The protected walls must not be tampered with,” warns one objector, who accuses 56-year-old Ive of wanting to turn the house into “a private fortress.”
If that isn’t enough to send the team back to the drawing board, they will struggle to find solace in other comments, which describe various aspects of the plans as ‘disingenuous’, ‘extremely ridiculous’, ‘unacceptable’ and without any form of criticism. public benefit.
A proposal to install a generator arouses particular contempt and suspicion. One of Ive’s neighbors argues that generators can never be completely soundproof, noting that at a parish meeting it was said that the generator would be used “if the family lost power.”
‘What does that mean?’ he asks. ‘In the event of a power outage? Or more regularly, if the conventional electricity supply is inadequate?’
But one proposal provokes more ire than any other: Ive’s desire for an underground parking garage. It has been labeled a “ridiculous vanity structure” by one objector – a theme echoed by others, one of whom points out that its construction will require the extraction of between 6,000 and 7,000 tons of clay, all at “the whim of one to satisfy a man’. ‘.
Pictured: British-born designer and leader of Apple’s industrial design team Sir Jony Ive
The impact on surrounding single-track roads will, several locals claim, destroy grass verges and cause endless delays – a dire prospect considering the work is expected to take three years to complete.
‘More thought needs to be given to the application. It should be rejected and resubmitted,” says one particularly persistent critic.
It’s quite a prospect. The current application, which is awaiting council ruling, has produced 293 documents, many of which are 30 pages or more.
Sir Jony, who despite his love of classic British cars – Aston Martins and Bentleys in particular – now puts his talents at Ferrari’s disposal, can perhaps take heart from one detail: no one has objected to his proposal for a swimming pool.