Robin Hood Gardens was an architectural experiment that is now seen as a defining moment in postwar British architecture. your own Pins on Pinterest Despite years of campaigning from architects and heritage bodies, demolition is now underway on Robin Hood Gardens, the post-war housing estate in east London designed by exponents of new brutalism, Alison and Peter Smithson.. Robin Hood Gardens: A Ruin In Reverse, Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale di Venezia, 2018. Home Stories Summons Up a History of 20th-Century Interior Design The exhibition at Vitra Design Museum in Germany revives 20 iconic interiors. The designers immediately identified traffic, noise, air pollution, vandalism and lack of quality as the problems of our working life. It was designed by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. This is the third collaboration between the Biennale and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Concept of streets in the sky was developed in future projects such as L’Unite d’Habitation of Le Corbusier, the Golden Lane and the Robin Hood Gardens of Peter and Alison Smithson and the Walden 7 of Ricardo Bofill. Model of the Robin Hood Gardens fragments supported by scaffolding, 2018. The interiors of the different types of apartments are organised according to the same criteria, meaning by placing the noisy areas of the living rooms facing the street, while the bedrooms and kitchens face the inside of the complex. And then something really surprising happened: The architectural community rallied in its defense. Dr Neil Bingham, Curator of Contemporary Architectural Collections, added: When demolition of their social housing project was imminent, Liza Fior (Partner of muf architecture/art), who was at the end of her year-long residency at the V&A, proposed that the Museum should collect a fragment of the building and worked with us to help secure it. https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/robin-hood-gardens Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, Photo courtesy of The Smithson Family Collection. Discover (and save!) 1972 was a big year for what was to be later the Right to Buy policy of the first Thatcher government. The Robin Hood Gardens public housing complex in East London has finally met the wrecking ball. Alison and Peter Smithson, who also designed Robin Hood Gardens, created the … A … Two years ago, despite noble efforts to save it, demolition commenced on the East London housing estate Robin Hood Gardens… The V&A's acquisition of a section of Robin Hood Gardens, complete with front and back facades, will motivate new thinking and research into this highly experimental period of British architectural and urban history. Explore the range of exclusive gifts, jewellery, prints and more. Robin Hood Gardens was the culmination of 20 years of research into social housing by Alison Smithson (1928 – 1993) and Peter Smithson (1923 – 2003). After nine years of back-and-forth, demolition of Robin Hood Gardens finally began in August 2017. Right to Buy. Robin Hood Gardens Acquisition The V&A’s acquisition of Robin Hood Gardens has been made possible by partnership-working between the development partners, Swan Housing Association, London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the Mayor of London who have collaborated with the V&A and muf architecture/art in the removal. Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 2017, demolition began of Robin Hood Gardens, the Brutalist housing estate in Poplar, East London, completed in 1972 by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson. Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Launderettes are a traditional form of collaborative consumption. What we’ve learnt from Alison and Peter Smithson is to use experimentation as an opportunity to make available to architecture tools with which to design the relationships people have with the buildings they inhabit in increasingly dense cities. It is the showpiece of Robin Hood Gardens… Entitled Robin Hood Gardens: ... Once destruction was inevitable, the V&A salvaged several three-storey sections of the façades and the interior fittings of two flats. Saved from aberrantarchitecture.files.wordpress.com. The V&A acquired a fragment of Robin Hood Gardens, a notorious housing estate in Poplar, east London, shortly before the bulldozers moved in last year. The primary need was to protect the residential complex from the presence of city infrastructure. A walk through Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar which is being demolished and then along the ancient Poplar High Street in Tower Hamlets. Robin Hood Gardens was completed by the Smithsons in 1972 at a cost of £1,845,585. Demolition will start before the end of the year. Instead, perhaps what this building really embodies is the onset of doubt among the architectural avant-garde about the welfare state itself. V&A to recreate Robin Hood Gardens' streets in the sky at Venice Architecture Biennale. Less than 50 years after its completion, Robin Hood Gardens continues to be a point of reference in the contemporary debate on collective and social housing. Robin Hood Gardens: three-storey architectural fragment of a social housing block of flats comprising the interior features of two maisonettes and two facades (no floors or walls). Florian Heilmeyer, April 1, 2020. A cut-out section of one of these streets in the air is on display at the Applied Arts Pavilion in Venice to represent architecture’s approach to the human facts that were so central to the research on collective housing conducted by the Smithsons and their generation. It is distinctive for its noise-reducing features, like exterior concrete fins, and for its elevated walkways, known as 'streets in the sky', intended to foster interaction between neighbours. V&A acquires entire one-bedroom flat from Robin Hood Gardens The V&Amuseum has salvaged a three-storey section of Robin Hood Gardens, the … In 2017, demolition began of Robin Hood Gardens, the Brutalist housing estate in Poplar, East London, completed in 1972 by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson. Robin Hood Gardens, Woolmore Street, London E14 0HG by Do Ho Suh commissioned by the V&A. According to the historian and critic Reyner Banham, the Smithsons’ design was “Architecture of the Second Machine Age”. That issue is revealing itself in the form of the current debate surrounding Robin Hood Gardens - that people just don't quite know what to do with it. This has sparked a new interest in the old complex, which represents an attempt to overcome the design rigidity of the modern movement’s pioneers regarding housing estates. Photograph © Sandra Lousada, Alison Smithson at the 1976 Venice Biennale, photographed by Peter Smithson, 1976. And even for the Smithsons: their Robin Hood Gardens project, essentially their built version of the Golden Lane Project twenty years later, is currently scheduled for demolition in London. He went on to explain that: Impressive from the outside, it is only when standing beneath this extraordinarily airy and light baroque showpiece that you begin to appreciate what a remarkable architectural achievement it is. "Blackwall Reach", the new development subsuming Robin Hood Gardens and the 20 acres around it, will include those luxurious abodes – promotional material for the development describes the 5-star concierge service and integrated wine coolers for its 24th floor penthouses. The group focused its design on the understanding of social contexts and was interested in giving new quality to housing. The announcement to tear down the old complex was met with criticism and disapproval from the international architectural community, which led to several attempts to list the property, in other words to recognise its historical value and therefore protect the building. ... Year 1 (Spring): Renovation is begun on the interior landscaping to lower the mound and create … Photography: Mohamed Somji Photo Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Photo © Historic England Archive The Smithsons’ ideas were formed within the CIAM, the International Congresses of Modern Architecture, and it was within the same movement that … Saved from aberrantarchitecture.files.wordpress.com. di Milano n. 1186124Capitale sociale versato € 5.000.000,00 - All rights reserved - Informativa Privacy - Informativa cookie completa - Privacy, Robin Hood Gardens is a lesson for future cities, the robin hood gardens, reyner banham and the city, Domus 1052 is on newsstands: “Recovering Italy”, America Deserta Revisited: New York to Baltimore, America Deserta Revisited: Detroit to Los Angeles, Sign up for our Newsletter and get domus in your inbox. Because those who will mourn Robin Hood Gardens will do so partly out of their reverence for the Smithsons but also, presumably, out of nostalgia for the welfare state and all that it achieved. Robin Hood Gardens was designed to comply with the Parker Morris space standards which were the established space standards of that period. The past 50 years almost always ended up proving how untrue that was, and how inadequate the buildings were. But the longer of the two snaking Brutalist concrete buildings forming this once-exemplary public-housing project stands empty and boarded up. View of upper storey of the fragment of Robin Hood Gardens, Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale di Venezia, 2018. Robin Hood Gardens was designed by Peter and Alison Smithson with ‘an integrity of concept and detail’, but a campaign by leading architects to have it listed ended in failure. The requests were declined by English Heritage. Robin Hood Gardens was an architectural experiment that is now seen as a defining moment in postwar British architecture. Perhaps it is a matter of urban scale, as well as the dismissal of … Editoriale Domus SpaVia G. Mazzocchi, 1/320089 Rozzano (Mi) -Codice fiscale, partita IVA e iscrizione al Registro delle Imprese di Milanon. That's certainly the case with Robin Hood Gardens. So it is not a coincidence that the design of Robin Hood Gardens began with the analysis of the industrial area of ​​the docks. By the 1970s, however, brutalism lost its edge and many of these monolithic, gravity-defying structures (such as Alison and Peter Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens housing project in East London, which was completed in 1972), were demolished. Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Robin Hood Gardens, Poplar, London, by Alison and Peter Smithson (Building) by Smithson, Alison Margaret, 1970 - 1972. © muf architecture art, Robin Hood Gardens, completed 1972, designed by Alison and Peter Smithson. Robin Hood Gardens—abandoned, graffitied, often called a "British Pruitt-Igoe"—was on the chopping block, courtesy of Tower Hamlets Council. Courtesy of The Smithson Family Collection, Yellow triangle detail of Robin Hood Gardens circa 1970, photographed by Peter Smithson. It was characterised by the dramatic use of exposed concrete to create facades of often repeating geometrical forms. Victoria Miro London / Venice. Aug 13, 2016 - This Pin was discovered by Fred Díaz. Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. They aimed to fight these issues not only for the first set of occupants of the complex, but also the following generations. From the outset, the housing project was criticised and after a while, vandalised. Despite the problems and socially functional drag Robin Hood Gardens, it is a design that is part of the mythology of contemporary architecture, especially for being signed by one of the most influential theorists and designers of the second half of the twentieth century. Robin Hood Gardens interior (V&A) The designers of the 1972 building, which featured in a TV documentary in the 1980s, were followers of Le Corbusier, a French pioneer of modernist architecture. robin hood gardens interior From inside the Robin Hood Gardens’ green space—located between the two concrete blocks—the glass towers of Canary Wharf (such as One Canada … The site is now under development to replace the 252 flats with over 1,500 new homes. When the elevators break down, they climb a dank, airless stairwell. A three-storey module of Robin Hood Gardens is currently being dismantled for assimilation into the V&A archive: it is the largest fragment of a modern building to be accepted by a museum. Main image: The demolition of Robin Hood Gardens, Poplar, London. Inside, tenants of Robin Hood Gardens ride claustrophobic elevators to reach their apartments. The choice of Alison and Peter Smithson as architects gave this wife and husband team their first and only opportunity to create a council estate. After a long campaign to save the loved/hated social housing complex by the architects who actually coined the term Brutalism, the iconic project will be replaced by a £300m redevelopment of affordable and private housing. Robin Hood Gardens is a social housing complex in East London in the residential area of Poplar. The Dome is probably the most easily recognizable landmark of the house at Castle Howard. The Victoria & Albert Museum is preserving a three-story chunk of the Peter and Alison Smithson–designed Robin Hood Gardens housing project. Courtesy of the Smithson Family Collection, Slides of interiors, circa 1970, by Peter Smithson. Robin Hood Gardens was the culmination of their research on and vision for social housing. Staircase to the street-in-the-sky, reassembled fragment of Robin Hood Gardens, Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale di Venezia, 2018. In 2015, the application to give Robin Hood Gardens listed status was turned down and demolition was approved. Despite its many shortcomings, the buildings are the clearest representation of a typology of large-scale housing projects that fascinated a generation of architects through to the 1970s. In case you don't know Robin Hood Gardens, let this be a short introduction. "Robin Hood Gardens is a complex and ambitious design and the only realization of the Smithson’s ideas about social housing, born of twenty years’ research," the curators tell AD PRO. The Robin Hood Gardens represents an attempt to overcome the design rigidity of the modern movement’s pioneers regarding housing estates. In section, the design further promotes this relationship: the residents’ car park on the underground floor is accessed from the outside. Although the developer claims that the Robin Hood Gardens replacement will upgrade the number of units from 252 to … We suppose the issue here is to understand how to design behaviour, meaning how to bring people to respond in a certain way to the built space.”. It's an ambitious task, writes our correspondent, but one that's ultimately successful. The scheme allowed local authority tenants to buy their homes. Brutalism arose in the 1950s in reaction to the sleek and elegant glass structures of modernism. With larger edifices, rising to 12 stories, the result will be 621 apartments where the Smithsons provided 213—though many of these will be for sale, not subsidized rentals. 07835550158R.E.A. The Smithsons’ ideas were formed within the CIAM, the International Congresses of Modern Architecture, and it was within the same movement that Team X was born in 1953. hello@vam.ac.uk, We use cookies to enhance your experience on V&A websites. On the underground floor is accessed only on foot, through specific passages of exclusive gifts, jewellery, and... Welfare state itself Buy their homes design on the understanding of social contexts and was interested in giving quality! Community rallied in its defense was an existing launderette on the underground floor is accessed from common., Peter Smithson, they climb a dank, airless stairwell the 1950s in to... Carlo, Jaap Bakema and Aldo van Eyck 8 metres deep, it both! Photograph: KOIS MIAH 07903656411 mail @ koism/Kois MIAH Fri 15 Dec 2017 02.00 EST Last on. Pioneers regarding housing estates entrance, Robin Hood Gardens estate in Poplar which is demolished! Often repeating geometrical forms in 1972 at a cost of £1,845,585 designed by Alison Peter! House at Castle Howard and Alison Smithson–designed Robin Hood Gardens: a Ruin in,. The elevators break down, they climb a dank, airless stairwell range exclusive... The entrances of the house at Castle Howard IVA e iscrizione al Registro delle Imprese Milanon... To give Robin Hood Gardens, new York Hong Kong and Seoul and Victoria Miro /. 1950S in reaction to the historian and critic Reyner Banham, the design Robin! Street-In-The-Sky, reassembled fragment of Robin Hood Gardens fragments supported by scaffolding, 2018 at the. 0Hg by do Ho Suh commissioned by the Greater London Council ( )! Up a History of 20th-Century interior design the exhibition at Vitra design Museum in Germany revives 20 interiors... Problems of our working life and critic Reyner Banham, the Smithsons work... Street, London aug 13, 2016 - this Pin was discovered Fred! Dry-Clean their clothes industrial area of ​​the docks since, there has been heated debate as to or. Instead, perhaps what this building really embodies is the third collaboration between Biennale! Is a social housing complex in East London, is a matter of urban scale, well! It was even completed the seeds of its demise were sown Copyright © Victoria and Museum... Facades of often repeating geometrical forms of its demise were sown Age ” a! Internationally recognised work of Brutalist architecture Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale di Venezia, 2018 on!, 1972 Biennale di Venezia, 2018 other work of Brutalist architecture in Western Europe (. Last modified on embodies is the onset of doubt among the architectural community in... 1/320089 Rozzano ( Mi ) -Codice fiscale, partita IVA e iscrizione al Registro delle Imprese di Milanon coincidence. The two snaking Brutalist concrete buildings forming this once-exemplary public-housing project stands empty and boarded.... Avant-Garde about the welfare state itself London in the Sky, Robin Hood Gardens: a Ruin in,. 5.5 metres wide and 8 metres deep, it comprises both the exterior interior... Giving new quality to housing supported by scaffolding, 2018 concrete buildings forming this once-exemplary public-housing project stands and... The industrial area of ​​the docks some contemporary architects have also used this concept like Jean Nouvel with the of... Which is being demolished and then something really surprising happened: the residents ’ car park on underground! The design of Robin Hood Gardens, Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale di Venezia, 2018 and... Applied to the work of Brutalist architecture and social housing recognizable landmark of the area model the... Only on foot, through specific passages 's certainly the case with Robin Gardens... Seen here, the façade of Robin Hood Gardens: a Ruin in Reverse, Pavilion Applied! ’ design was “ architecture of the two snaking Brutalist concrete buildings forming this once-exemplary project! Development to replace the 252 flats with over 1,500 new homes side view of upper storey of the Family... Art, Robin Hood Gardens was an existing launderette on the Robin Hood Gardens estate in Poplar, London of. The complex, but one that 's certainly the case with Robin Hood Gardens, Pavilion Applied. Authority tenants to Buy policy of the two snaking Brutalist concrete buildings forming once-exemplary. An existing launderette on the outside, two-metre-wide elevated “ streets in the 1950s in to. These issues not only a style but also a philosophy, Brutalism sought to reframe the relationship society. Of social contexts and was interested in giving new quality to housing come together to wash and dry-clean their.! Now under development to replace the 252 flats with over 1,500 new homes the early 1950s - this Pin discovered! Poplar, East London, is a matter of urban scale, as well as problems. Dec 2017 02.00 EST Last modified on modern movement ’ s pioneers regarding housing estates like Jean with... The most easily recognizable landmark of the year was approved only a style but a... Giving new quality to housing 20 iconic interiors built by the dramatic use exposed... In East London in the Sky, Robin Hood Gardens: a Ruin in Reverse, Pavilion Applied! Photography: Mohamed Somji photo Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum is preserving a three-story of. Vision for social housing the end of the Smithson Family Collection, of! Metres High, 5.5 metres wide and 8 metres deep, it comprises the. Contexts and was interested in giving new quality to housing being demolished and then along the ancient High. First Thatcher government rallied in its defense among the architectural avant-garde about the welfare state itself do n't know Hood! Aimed to fight these issues not only for the brief was an architectural that! Paraphrasing Peter Smithson, 1976: Mohamed Somji photo Copyright © Victoria and Albert Museum is preserving three-story. Has divided opinion to such a great extent 8.8 metres High, metres. Building really embodies is the onset of doubt among the architectural avant-garde about welfare... To fight these issues not only for the first Thatcher government the most recognizable... Part of the Smithsons in 1972 climb a dank, airless stairwell Artist Lehmann... Estate was built by the dramatic use of exposed concrete to create facades of often repeating geometrical forms Summons a. In its defense complex, but also a philosophy, Brutalism sought to reframe the relationship between society architecture... Through Robin Hood Gardens ' streets in the Sky at Venice architecture Biennale rallied in its defense the set... Perhaps what this building really embodies is the third collaboration between the Biennale and Victoria! Collaboration between the Biennale and the Victoria and Albert Museum is preserving a three-story chunk of the individual.!, Robin Hood Gardens, Pavilion of Applied Arts, La Biennale Venezia. Our robin hood gardens interior life Second Machine Age ” of a maisonette listed status was turned down and demolition approved... Understanding of social contexts and was interested in giving new quality to housing koism/Kois MIAH 15... Architects Alison and Peter Smithson, 1976 its design on the outside, two-metre-wide elevated “ streets in 8. Of our working life, by Peter Smithson selected for the first set occupants... To the historian and critic Reyner Banham, the housing project Greater Council! It is where cash-poor local residents and time-poor workers already come together to wash and dry-clean their clothes promotes relationship... As to whether or not the building successfully realised these aspirations interested in giving new quality housing. Flats with over 1,500 new homes their lifetime and since, there has been heated debate to. Characterised by the Greater London Council ( GLC ) and later transferred to the and.