small spaces

went to the V&A exhibition of small scale architecture today. all 7 of the final structures were great in their own way but these wooden ones below were definitely my favourites. each one of the pieces served a different purpose: study, play, performance, meeting place, work, relaxation and contemplation

box

so here is the final piece which i worked slavishly over! although i wasn't able to completely finish the model to the standard i wanted with the communal garden in the centre

overall i have mixed feelings about this, whilst the brutalist features of the building definitely sum up for me what a lot of big estates feel like, i don't feel like i've really made a success of the interior walls or roof. unfortunately this only really became obvious once i'd finished the blocks

anonymity

this is one of the worst things about brutalist architecture and high rises in general

basic sketch of what the final brutalist/victorian building is going to look like. it's a cluster of four corner buildings centred around a communal garden which will be kept private by four large gates that join the blocks together. it will have a harsh concrete exterior with an unexpected redbrick internal façade with balconies overlooking the garden. from the outside the building resembles any other concrete block but at a closer glance through the gates the inner beauty of the building and its landscape can be glimpsed

i feel like perhaps i've crammed too many ideas (as usual) into one here but essentially the main aim is to create a private retreat from the restless inner city, just like a victorian terraced garden square and combine it with the positive social concepts behind many brutalist housing estates

brompton

below photos of victorian redbrick terraces and their private garden squares. although most of the private gardens are close to very busy streets like this one which is a stone's throw from the v&a, most look like hidden gems with hedges and trees helping to maintain privacy in the busy urban environment. quite different from a lot of cheap housing estates where there is usually little privacy or upkeep of landscaping

beginning of a new design for a hybrid brutalist tower block/victorian terraced house

taking the best principles of both architectural styles to find a new middle-ground architecture; a balance between form, function and affordability with the aim in mind to create an imaginary type of socialist housing that redistributes the best and worst of London's architectural heritage equally amongst its residents

+ awesome illustrations atwww.evoltaste.com

(source)

light, colour, performance and architecture combined in the annual festival of lights in Lyon

soulless

robin hood gardens

trellick tower

another brutalist design, don't think this turned out as good as the first set of towers though

terraces

map

an idea for a final piece. it's a map of old (pre-industrial revolution) London, central and greater London, the outer metropolitan area, the south east and the greater south east. the idea is to show the expansion (past, present and future) of a city into a mega-city/region in the form of a pop-up map which also illustrates the architectural changes

mix

some initial tests in photoshop, not sure what i think, kind of obvious but a start

barbican

genius i

ben and sebastian

i want to meet these guys!

gothic

photo i took of the entrance to Holly Village in North London. one of the earliest examples of a gated community in the country and from what i could see of the houses inside they looked amazing with towers and turrets and ornate wooden detailing

Henry Astley Darbishire who designed this hamlet also designed houses specifically for working-class Londoners as part of a trust whose aim was to improve the lives of the poor by building better housing for them

future perfect

the perfect home

maybe a little over intellectualising and analogising of architecture, nonetheless a really interesting programme that explores the effects that architectural styles have on people's happiness and problems with the appearance and design of many housing developments in the country today

for this project i'm sort of focusing on the evolution of architecture in expanding cities and how shifts in priorities affect the change in style of buildings. as well as illustrating the growth of a mega-city i want to design a fantasy building that looks at some of the problems faced by large scale urbanisation

eyesore

my photos of brutalist design robin hood gardens in East London, it really is as ugly as it sounds

fancy

a couple of photos i took today of the mansions off of High Street Kensington, all of which are comprised of lots of smaller apartments. this yellow brick one was my favourite

example of compact housing Kensington style

clearer

for the moment i'm looking at contrasts in architectural styles, like the Victorian redbrick houses of Hampstead and Maida Vale versus the brutalist (social housing) estates of Robin Hood Gardens, Trellick Tower and the soon to be demolished Elephant & Castle Heygate Estate

i hope to capture some of what it might feel like to live in these very different types of buildings and using elements of the two (which are generally either loved or loathed) combine them to create a more balanced type of housing for everybody