Alexandra Road Camden
August 27th, 2010
UPDATE: Film of the estate at 8:00 Architecture_at_the_Crossroads
Made famous by The Bill on location, designed by Neave Brown under Sydney Cook as part of Cook’s Camden, and well known as one of a series of Modernist housing estates across London, Alexandra Road stands as a landmark both literally and metaphorically in the history of post war housing.
London Housing Design Guide launched
August 18th, 2010
UPDATE 2/3/17 The London Housing Design Guide has been superseded by the London SPG on housing This includes the design standards which makes it mandatory for all housing projects in London.
Mae Architects and the London Development Agency (LDA) have published the new London Housing Design Guide (interim edition), setting out guidelines for all new public homes in the capital.
Download a copy from the London Development Agency -> here <-
Click image above for full page
The London Evening Standard has a good review of the guide here:-
https://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23868332-boris-the-builder-the-mayors-vision-for-london-housing.do
Mapping existing housing standards from CABE
https://www.cabe.org.uk/files/mapping-existing-housing-standards.pdf
Go away you’re poor
August 16th, 2010
Following the report from the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research entitled “High Density Housing – The Impact on tenants” I have come to the conclusion, along with other indicators, that the current attitude of developers and some housing associations to their tenants is “go away you’re poor”.
HIGH DENSITY HOUSING – THE IMPACT ON TENANTS:
From Building Design 14/6/13
Cassie O’Keyboard | 12 June 2013 1:54 pm
Another interesting thing about this typology of having maisonettes over flats is that there isn’t any shared circulation space so the residents don’t have to pay a service charge. Particularly for social housing this can make a big difference to how affordable it actually is to live there.
The second article in the series linked below:-
Hope VI – or go away you’re poor II
Maydew House
August 12th, 2010
DKH – Dog Kennel Hill Apartments – C20th Society walk
July 17th, 2010
Summary: Do I like the flats? No. Would I live there? No. Why not? It’s the general flimsiness of the thing as if it’s been built like an aircraft for a safety factor of 120%, i.e. just strong enough for the job but with very little redundant support.
Go and see for yourself and then write to me and let me know what you think. It’s just my opinion.
‘DKH’ is a new build, private housing development with 19 apartments creating a beacon housing scheme utilising timber louvres, mesh panelling and stone gabions, RIBA Award Winner 2008, John Smart Architects 2007.
From Open House Brochure 2009 p.54 Southwark
SSE elevation from Dog Kennel Hill
All fur coat . . . . .
Dawson’s Heights Estate – C20th Society walk
July 17th, 2010
What follows are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the C20th society
Dawson Heights. Architect Kate Macintosh here seen revisiting the building she designed in the 1960s.
Great lady, great building, . . . today the C20th Society went on a tour of buildings in South London culminating with Dawson Heights
Maiden Lane Estate – Camden
July 6th, 2010
November 8th 2018 UPDATE: I went round Maiden Lane with a resident and two friends earlier this year to see what had been done. The new blocks are out of scale with the older blocks while mimicking them architecturally; and the sunken gardens are badly shaded.
The estate has had a coat of paint and some repairs from the profits derived from sale of private flats in the new tower.
UPDATE: Film of the estate at 12:38 Architecture_at_the_Crossroads
THE GOOD NEWS . . .
When I walked onto the Maiden Lane Estate (“by the great Scottish Corbusian architects Benson and Forsyth” – Douglas Murphy) I hated it, run down and flaking paint. When I left an hour later I loved it, a strong Art Deco feel and the knowledge that there’s nothing wrong with it structurally, it just needs badly tidying up and painting. Why won’t Camden Council do it up?
Click photo for larger image
I love the Art Deco towers, I don’t know what is inside them but they are reminiscent of a 1930s Odeon cinema.
Donnybrook Quarter – 2006 – Peter Barber
July 2nd, 2010
Click image for area photograph
Donnybrook is wonderful, obviously. Go and see for yourself. After all, if you import a Mediterranean housing typology into an English climate what could possibly go wrong?
This used to be a longer article. Edited 23/11/17
Designs on London – LFA – 29/6/2010
June 30th, 2010
Who’s driving what gets built and how can we do it better?
As part of the London Festival of Architecture an event took place in the Gallery at 77 Cowcross Street on Tuesday evening 29th June. Those speaking were the following:-
David Birkbeck, Chief Executive of Design for Homes, chaired the event and speakers included: Alex Ely, partner at MAE Architects, Sadie Morgan, partner at DRMM, Dick Mortimer, Development Director at Family Mosaic, Chris “Good Evening Glastonbury!” Brown, Chief Executive at Igloo, and finally, David Lunts, London Regional Director at the HCA.
The evening started at 1800 with an introduction from David Birkbeck followed by a short talk from each of those present beginning with:-
Sadie Morgan who talked about the difference between ideals and practice in designing flats, and showed a succession of slides outlining the path from proposal to completion and the changes therein caused by the constraints of different building regulations.
Alex Ely showed slides of projects in Germany and the Netherlands where good design had been achieved with a minimal design brief and one I think in England where the brief had been 143 pages and turned out to be blue and ugly.
London’s Byker Walls – Lefevre Walk E3 & Southwyck House SW9
June 26th, 2010
UPDATE: 20/3/18 I’d feel happier about this block in rapidly gentrifying Brixton if https://www.frendcastle.co.uk/developments/ weren’t taking an interest in it. Are others too?
UPDATE: 7/2/14 I heard yesterday that Southwyck House has been refused listing by EH and so we can no doubt look forward to London’s only barrier block being “redeveloped” at some stage for the benefit of an increasingly gentrified Brixton.
While going to see Peter Barber’s Donnybrook this afternoon (26/6/2010) I came across the longest line of single aspect houses I’ve ever seen, 270m according to Google Earth, and less than 200m from Donnybrook.
Taken from the footbridge, click photo for larger image
It’s like a smaller version of the Byker Wall in Newcastle, built to shield the residents from a dual carriageway, the motorway was never built. Not having studied it myself I am informed by a commentator today (3/10/2010) that the flats have windows overlooking the road (see Comments below). A quick Google of the road adjacent shows it to be Lefevre Walk.