From the beginning, Robin Hood Gardens has been at the center of a debate concerning its success. The Smithsons’ preached modern architecture designed with low cost, and easily available materials. Robin Hood Gardens, a social housing project in London designed by Alison and Peter Smithson, built in 1972. This year, as part of the 16 th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London exhibited a rather unusual object at the Applied Arts Pavilion: a section of the facade of Robin Hood Gardens, the only council estate designed by the architects Alison and Peter Smithson, and completed in 1972. The architects Alison and Peter Smithson conceived the project of Robin Hood Gardens in the debate on collective housing buildings as generated by the Unite d’habitation of Marseille of Le Corbusier. 84. Architectural experiences in London between 1964 and 1979. To learn more, view our, Manifesto e Mimese | passado e presente no Brutalismo britânico, A day at RHG: diary of a meeting/BOOK CHAPTER, The shape of social policies. The Brutalist buildings stand as an example of the Smithsons’ theories in practice. Subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates from our Journal every fortnight. UK, London, robin_hood_gardens. Robin Hood Gardens is a social housing complex in East London in the residential area of Poplar. It was designed by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. In order to allow in more southern light, one of the buildings is ten stories high, while the other is seven stories. They were categorized as Brutalists, and sought for each building to be designed according to its location and its use. This communal space for the residents is an essential part of Robin Hood Gardens for the Smithsons who were intent on improving people’s lives through design. Built within a decade of one another, the two buildings stand today with one major difference. We have requested a review of the DCMS’s decision not to list Alison and Peter Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens. Alison and Peter Smithson: Robin Hood Gardens, 1966 D –1972 London, Great Britain, Show on map #RES #Precast #ConcreteMonster #InfitniteRepetition #RescueCampaign #FeaturedPhotographer #Thomas Spier #Western Europe The Alison and Peter Smithson Archive includes project files, architectural drawings, sketches, photographs aperture cards, clippings, correspondence, published and unpublished texts drawn from the professional files of architects Alison and Peter Smithson. Nov 20, 2018 - We've asked The Twentieth Society to contribute to our Journal. Practices that today face an uncertain future. Text description provided by the architects. Robin Hood Gardens is a social housing complex in East London in the residential area of Poplar. Aug 29, 2012 - Alison and Peter Smithson - Robin Hood Gardens Aug 18, 2011 - Completed in 1972 in London, United Kingdom. Robin Hood Gardens designed by Alison and Peter Smithson British brutalist architecture in Poplar now being demolished and replaced by Blackwall Reach. The garden is the center includes a rising hill created by the remnants from construction. Photo: Courtesy of the Smithson Family Collection Facebook 17 comments. Alison and Peter Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens was completed in Poplar, east London, in 1972. Many were developed with concrete in the Brutalist style including Robin Hood Gardens and the nearby Balfron Tower. Search. robin hood gardens, london, 1966-1972. architects: the smithsons, peter and alison smithson (1923-2003 & 1928-1993). Robin Hood Gardens is a council housing complex in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson. ALISON and PETER SMITHSON - The Shifts of Ideas from the Golden Lane Proposal to the Robin Hood Gardens (1952-1972) Liran Malka April 2014 INTRODUCTION In 1918 the World War I has ended and an era of restlessness has begun. In 2008, this large social housing scheme was threatened with demolition and became a controversial conservation case. From these ideals also came their utilitarian aesthetic, reflecting all of these conditions in their buildings’ form. It is an undeniably important piece of Great Britain’s architectural history and a monument of British modernism. Project. It was an attempt at high quality, social housing at a time when London desperately needed it. Once lived in, critics blamed crime within the buildings on the Smithsons’ design, but there have been many issues contributing to the less than ideal conditions of Robin Hood Gardens today. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. Key Projects by Peter and Alison Smithson. (2) Alison and Peter Smithson, ‘Robin Hood Lane – A Housing Scheme for the GLC’ in Ordinariness and Light, 1970 (3) From ‘The Smithsons on Housing’ as is the quotation which follows. Demolition will start before the end of the year. Robin Hood Gardens 03/09/2008. Posted by 3 years ago. share. Close. Here, they share an extract from a recently-published book about Alison and Peter Smithson, whose 'seminal' Sugden House is currently for sale via The Modern House. By the 1970s British architects Alison and Peter Smithson had established themselves as leaders in post-war architecture. Completed in 1972 in London, United Kingdom. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. The balconies are wide enough for multiple people to walk and for children to play. Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users. Robin Hood Gardens was built in post-war Britain when residential towers were being built as a symbol of progress after the war. To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser. Archived. ... Naming a depressing building like this "Robin Hood Gardens" is just insult upon injury. save hide report. Robin Hood Gardens, London; Designed by Alison and Peter Smithson. ArchDaily 2008-2020. Completed in 1972, the building was designed by Alison (1928 –1993) and Peter Smithson (1923 – 2003), British architects of lasting international reputation. When Peter and Alison Smithson designed Robin Hood Gardens in the 60s it was to be their embodiment of brutalism’s utopian vision. regardless of our admiration for the smithsons, there is no escaping the question of what went wrong. Despite reeling in the heavyweights of British architecture, the bid was unsuccessful. But the longer of the two snaking Brutalist concrete buildings forming this once-exemplary public-housing project stands empty and boarded up. With both successes and failures within its concrete walls, the Smithsons’ radical vision will always exist within Robin Hood Gardens. All images are © each office/photographer mentioned. AD Classics: Robin Hood Gardens / Alison and Peter Smithson, the world's most visited architecture website, © All rights reserved. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. By using our site, you agree to our collection of information through the use of cookies. Robin Hood Gardens was designed by the architects Alison and Peter Smithson between 1969 and 1974 and was considered one of Britain’s most important Brutalist works of architecture, and one of the few built works by an architectural partnership that … They were proposed by the Smithsons as a new neighborhood street for these housing units. Featured Peter and Alison Smithson Building: Robin Hood Gardens, Poplar, east London, UK – 98% Upvoted. Robin Hood Gardens was seen as their chance to prove this vision for progressive social housing. Here are some of what we consider to the most interesting and compelling points to have come out of the proofs of evidence provided for us. Instead, the campaign hinged on Robin Hood Garden’s cultural importance—as a key work of Peter and Alison Smithson and as the built manifestation of their research. Robin hood garden. 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. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Initially, structural issues raised the cost of the building. The Balfron Tower’s status as a listed building protects it from demolition as an important architectural work, whereas Robin Hood Gardens has been denied. There are one and two story apartments in both buildings, which bend slightly inwards, hugging the urban garden between them. Robin Hood Gardens, located in Poplar, East London, is a nationally important and internationally recognised work of Brutalist architecture. The project was carried out in an area of east London a little planning and socially degraded. 21/out/2015 - Robin Hood gardens by Alison and Peter Smithson 1972 (4) Quoted in ‘Robin Hood Gardens, London E14’, Architectural Design, September 1972 Robin Hood Gardens, London; Designed by Alison and Peter Smithson. Robin Hood Gardens was built with panels of pre-cast concrete and is comprised of two horizontal structures which include a total of 213 apartments. The estate comprises two concrete slab blocks set on either side of a garden … Robin Hood Gardens is a social housing complex in East London in the residential area of Poplar. level 1. However, more recently – due to the long-runnign controversy over possible demolition – their Robin Hood Gardens has become better known. Academia.edu uses cookies to personalize content, tailor ads and improve the user experience. You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! No matter the final outcome, Robin Hood Gardens embodies Alison and Peter Smithsons’ vision for a new form of social housing. Alison and Peter Smithson were a couple of English architects and planners, associated with Brutalism, that despite their few work built, among which we can find the building of The Economist in London, The Hustanton school in Norfolk and the housing complex Robin Hood Gardens also in London, they have been of great importance in the world of architecture with their theoretical contributions. Robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets, East London, was designed by Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. They had built a handful of their designs prior to Robin Hood Gardens, including the Economist Building, and were well know theorists. If London intends to keep Robin Hood Gardens it will need to invest in renovations to liven the building, but renovations would come at a much lower cost than the current plan to demolish it. Architect Alison and Peter Smithson, 1972. The “Streets in the Sky” invented by Alison and Peter Smithson at their simultaneously celebrated and notorious Robin Hood Gardens in East London are still partly inhabited. Robin Hood Gardens is no more, and with it goes another icon of the egalitarian post-war principles that shaped Britain and London. Another example of the Smithsons’ social intentions is integrated through the concept of “streets in the sky.” Every third level of the buildings includes a wide concrete balcony jutting off towards the center of the site, overlooking the garden. Demolition has begun on Robin Hood Gardens, the post-war housing estate by Alison and Peter Smithson, which architects spent years campaigning to save. The AJ has unearthed this BBC film from the 1970s, showing Alison and Peter Smithson talking about their approach to housing and their seminal Robin Hood Gardens project The Smithsons’ famous Brutalist estate in east London is set to be demolished to make way for new housing as part of a wider redevelopment programme. A serious denial in upkeep has made the apartments less desirable places to live, and developers are eager to demolish the buildings in order to expand their own visions of the future. Buildings ’ form following your favorite authors, offices and users securely, please take a few to., robin Hood Gardens in Tower Hamlets, East London, United Kingdom 20! Also came their utilitarian aesthetic, reflecting all of these conditions in their buildings ’ form Smithsons there. Beginning, robin Hood Gardens, located in Poplar, East London, is council... 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