Join photographer and educator Anthony Palmer for a walking tour of two Brutalist housing schemes in east London; the Balfron Tower (Erno Goldfinger) and Robin Hood Gardens Estate (Alison and Peter Smithson) which were both designed in the 1960s to offer radical solutions to housing needs but now have very different futures.
Designed by Erno Goldfinger, Balfron Tower is a listed building within the Balfron Tower Conservation Area. In the last decade it has undergone a controversial refurbishment changing its tenure from the social housing it was originally intended to be. By contrast the Robin Hood Gardens Estate designed by Alison and Peter Smithson failed to gain listed status and, despite a high profile campaign to save it, is now undergoing phased demolition to make way for the Blackwall Reach regeneration scheme.
This walk is an opportunity to see this important architecture and reflect on the utopian ambitions of the 60’s architects that designed them. Using photographs taken over the last decade, Anthony will explain the changes including why and where buildings are no longer standing. The remaining block of the Robin Hood Gardens is already undergoing demolisition, so this is a last chance to see what remains of the estate and reflect on what aspects of the past might have led to such different futures for these two great social housing schemes.