Robin Hood Gardens - A landmark in the Brutalist architectural movement or the epitome of failed post-war urban planning?

Designed in the late 1960s by notable Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson, it was championed as a reinvention of social housing, with its 'streets in the sky' concept, characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. However it's appearance and the social problems it contained within didn't win it many admirers, described as "ill-planned to the point of inhumane", and a "social sink".

Last year the local council polled its residents, whether to refurbish it or demolish it, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition, the architectural community was outraged, and so lobbyed English Heritage to give it listed status, which EH thoroughly rejected.

Tags:   east london urban poplar social housing sink estate brutalism brutalist architecture smithson post-industrial decay concrete condemned Robin Hood Gardens sigma 18 - 125mm canon rebel xt canon 350d bw black & white polar E14 council estate 2008 social housing Woolmore Street

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Robin Hood Gardens - A landmark in the Brutalist architectural movement or the epitome of failed post-war urban planning?

Designed in the late 1960s by notable Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson, it was championed as a reinvention of social housing, with its 'streets in the sky' concept, characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. However it's appearance and the social problems it contained within didn't win it many admirers, described as "ill-planned to the point of inhumane", and a "social sink".

Last year the local council polled its residents, whether to refurbish it or demolish it, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition, the architectural community was outraged, and so lobbyed English Heritage to give it listed status, which EH thoroughly rejected.

Tags:   east london urban poplar social housing sink estate robin hood garden's brutalism brutalist architecture smithson post-industrial decay concrete condemned sigma 18 - 125mm canon rebel xt canon 350d bw black & white polar E14 council estate 2008 social housing Woolmore Street

© All Rights Reserved

Robin Hood Gardens - A landmark in the Brutalist architectural movement or the epitome of failed post-war urban planning?

Designed in the late 1960s by notable Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson, it was championed as a reinvention of social housing, with its 'streets in the sky' concept, characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. However it's appearance and the social problems it contained within didn't win it many admirers, described as "ill-planned to the point of inhumane", and a "social sink".

Last year the local council polled its residents, whether to refurbish it or demolish it, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition, the architectural community was outraged, and so lobbyed English Heritage to give it listed status, which EH thoroughly rejected.

Tags:   east london urban poplar social housing sink estate robin hood garden's brutalism brutalist architecture smithson post-industrial decay concrete condemned sigma 18 - 125mm canon rebel xt canon 350d bw black & white polar E14 council estate 2008 social housing Woolmore Street

© All Rights Reserved

Robin Hood Gardens - A landmark in the Brutalist architectural movement or the epitome of failed post-war urban planning?

Designed in the late 1960s by notable Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson, it was championed as a reinvention of social housing, with its 'streets in the sky' concept, characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. However it's appearance and the social problems it contained within didn't win it many admirers, described as "ill-planned to the point of inhumane", and a "social sink".

Last year the local council polled its residents, whether to refurbish it or demolish it, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition, the architectural community was outraged, and so lobbyed English Heritage to give it listed status, which EH thoroughly rejected.

Tags:   east london urban poplar social housing sink estate robin hood garden's brutalism brutalist architecture smithson post-industrial decay concrete condemned sigma 18 - 125mm canon rebel xt canon 350d bw black & white polar E14 council estate 2008 social housing Woolmore Street

© All Rights Reserved

Robin Hood Gardens - A landmark in the Brutalist architectural movement or the epitome of failed post-war urban planning?

Designed in the late 1960s by notable Brutalist architects Alison and Peter Smithson, it was championed as a reinvention of social housing, with its 'streets in the sky' concept, characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks. However it's appearance and the social problems it contained within didn't win it many admirers, described as "ill-planned to the point of inhumane", and a "social sink".

Last year the local council polled its residents, whether to refurbish it or demolish it, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolition, the architectural community was outraged, and so lobbyed English Heritage to give it listed status, which EH thoroughly rejected.

Tags:   east london urban poplar social housing sink estate robin hood garden's brutalism brutalist architecture smithson post-industrial decay concrete condemned londonist sigma 18 - 125mm canon rebel xt canon 350d bw black & white polar E14 council estate 2008 social housing Woolmore Street

© All Rights Reserved