Modernist Estates: The buildings and the people who live in them

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The construction (from 1959) is less robust than what we were used to in the Barbican Estate and sound thermal insulation is less than ideal. It would be hard to improve either of those as the pivoting Crittal windows mean that secondary glazing is problematic. We designed and installed a glass screen between the kitchen and living room as someone before us widened the original opening and we wanted to enclose the kitchen but also make sure it looked visually open. Sprowston Mews is located five minutes walk from Forest Gate train station, and is home to an emerging creative community of architects and self-builders, inspired by the experimental mews house-building of the 1960s, such as Murray Mews in Camden. Forest Gate is named after the southern gate to Epping Forest, one of the largest expanses of common land in London. Wanstead Flats, with its 450 acres of heathland, are within a fifteen minutes’ walk. It is incredibly well connected with frequent trains to Liverpool Street via Elizabeth line taking just 13 minutes. Wanstead Park and Woodgrange Park are on the Overground with trains to Gospel Oak and Barking. This book would certainly be of interest to architecture buffs, as well as people interested in engineering, urban planning, and postwar English history, but I think almost anyone could appreciate the gorgeous pictures and unique look at a distinct time in modern history.

Modernist Property for Sale | The Modern House

There has also been a shift in our approach to location. When the Modern House launched, it broke with the conventional estate agent model of serving only one geographical area. “Instead, we celebrate the house and try and attract people from beyond that area,” says Gibberd. Of course, the Grands Ensembles are usually full of life but Laurent wanted to create an atmosphere of there being a "parallel world mixing past and future while consciously conveying the impression of towns that would be emptied of their residents".Leaving a comfortable job in graphic design to become a freelance illustrator, with Meredith Schomburg Round haus … designed in 1929 by Bauhaus architect Carl Fieger, the Kornhaus restaurant is on the River Elbe near Dessau. Photograph: Ronny Hartmann/Getty Images A unique studio apartment on the ground floor of a new building in Forest Gate, designed by Marcus Lee, formerly a director at the Richard Rogers Partnership. The accommodation benefits from its own private entrance and comprises a spacious open-plan room with a fitted plywood kitchen, a sleeping area, and a large en-suite bathroom with a walk-in shower. Polished concrete floors with underfloor heating run throughout.

Modernist Estates Modernist Estates

The Modern House London offices occupy the ground floor of St Alphege hall, a 1930s church hall in Borough, south London. Here, Matt Gibberd and his business partner, Albert Hill, employ 25 office-based staff; they have more across the country. Both 41, they met at school in Dorset, where Gibberd recalls that Hill “was very much always an entrepreneurial spirit. Even in those days he was always up to something. He decided he wanted to collect obscure training shoes, so he would buy these boxfresh Nikes and store them in his cupboard.” Hill would sell the trainers to collectors in Japan. “And then his dad had a garage studio where you couldn’t get through the door because it had all of Albert’s Memphis Group furniture in it.” Photographs of buildings - 2 stars - pretty tedious really. Where original features are shown they are interesting, but in general you get not-especially-good photographs of living spaces which, on the whole, have a pretty uniform taste in decoration. I knew a little bit about the building before I moved here. The scheme was part of Camden’s ‘golden era’ of housing along with estates such as the Highgate New Town in Archway by Peter Tabori, and Alexandra Road in Swiss Cottage by Neave Brown. These young and progressive architects rejected the trend for high-rise developments that had been popular after the war in favour of good quality, well-planned, low-rise buildings. I think Bauhaus was a very German phenomenon,” says Bettina. “We were very late to industrialise. It responded to a need to re-educate craftsmen and catch up with France and the UK. The first world war had destroyed nationalism of the imperial kind and 1919 was a new dawn.”As the 1920s wore on, Weimar became increasingly conservative and, in 1925, Gropius moved Bauhaus 130km north-east to Dessau. Home to the Junker aeroplane factory, this city had a strong tradition of industrial design and it was here the movement reached its apogee. A short walk from Dessau’s main station is the movement’s radical-looking glass-fronted HQ, the Bauhaus Building. Commissioned by the city, it was designed by Gropius and built in 1925-26 to house the various departments of a school that taught everything from furniture design to architecture to typography. Enroll at a college that grants credit for passing well established CLEP* exams. CLEP- for-credit Universities The guides all follow the same format: a cover illustration, a map, a few photographs and text with the route and history of the buildings,” says Orazi. “I make a list of interesting houses in an area, and then work out a good walking route. I walk it several times, to make sure it feels the right length. I also get friends to to road test them. I then write the text, send it to the copy editor, brief Jay on the cover illustration and then put them together and send to print.” The meeting point is on Triton Square, at the junction with Drummond Street. Organised by London Borough of Camden An impressive two-bedroom duplex apartment in a unique mews in Forest Gate. The building, completed in 2019, was designed by Marcus Lee, formerly a director at the Richard Rogers Partnership, and comprises a studio apartment on the ground floor and this duplex on the top two floors, complete with its own roof terrace.

Neglected Utopia: Photographer explores the forgotten

Each study begins with a concise but informative history of the project, illustrated with high quality new photography. However, what particularly illuminates this book is alluded to in the second part of its title the buildings and the people who live in them today. Interviews with present day occupiers cut through conventional academic analyses to reveal answers to questions that we would probably all want to ask: what is it like to live here, how successful is the community, how do the homes cope with young families, is the building fabric holding up, is statutory protection a blessing or a burden? In 2010, as Laurent was walking in Courbevoie, he discovered a tiny little street where he felt time had stopped for 50 years. "The place was surreal. I befriended a couple of old people and started to photograph them. Their traditional garden offered a stark contrast with the surrounding skyline of towers, bringing together two different eras, two different living styles." Courses, textbooks and materials are free; all you need are internet access and your own desire to learn. We offer links to tutoring & mentoring. Student Resources We weren’t even seriously looking, and I just said: ‘Let’s just go look at this house this weekend.’ It was the sort of house I’d always loved; it was geographically just about doable; it was just about workable for work; it wasn’t too far from London; it was near a town that looked nice …” That was in April. In July, they put in an offer. “It took us a really long time to get over taking that leap,” she says. “And in the end we just realised we would never know if it was right for us unless we just did it.” What a very interesting and a amazing read. I do judge a book by its cover and I loved this books cover so nice and simple just drew me into reading it. I didn't actually read what the book was about but I was pleasantly surprised that not only was was it a fantastic history of modernist architecture but also show pictures of an apartment and about the people who live their to. It was brilliant I loved every minute of this book. I learnt so much from reading this book and also learning about the types of people choosing to live in these very unique buildings. The questions the author asked each resident were so interesting and made for brilliant reading. I must admit modernist buildings are not my cup of tea but it still fascinated me and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading the books. The layout of the book was brilliant. I loved all the photographs included in this book. The only thing I would of liked to see more of was a picture from the same angle of the buildings present day to see the comparison of of when it was build to todays picture.There are some downsides – the flats are cold, not just because of the single glazing in most flats but because there are historically only two hot water radiators across two bedrooms, a kitchen and living room. The walls are also relatively thin, as reinforced concrete was such a new technique at the time. We have a lot of wool blankets and Scandinavian sweaters! Overview of development- 5 stars - a model of concision perfectly explaining the context and complemented by well chosen photographs of the estate at the time of first completion. We have replaced the non-original flooring throughout, so we now have floor tiles in the kitchen based on what Alvar Aalto used in Finland in the 1930s. We also replaced all internal door handles with replica Bakelite 1930s handles and put in 1930s glass globe ceiling pendant lights throughout. All furniture is either Heal’s originals from the 1930s, Isokon by Marcel Breuer or Artek by Alvar Aalto, plus floor and desk lights by Poul Henningsen. The only post-war furniture we own is Vitsoe shelving, designed by Dieter Rams in 1960; we have an insane amount of books and records. I’ve been interested in Modernist architecture since I moved to the Barbican when I first came to London in the late 1990s,” she tells CR. “During my studio’s early years, I spent quiet periods illustrating Modernist buildings – such as the Barbican – and producing limited edition prints and cards. I then began selling them through my online shop, Things You Can Buy.” The couple moved here in the autumn of 2015, shortly after the birth of their second child, leaving behind their two-bedroom flat with cantilevered stairs on the Golden Lane estate in London. “It was tiny,” says Bella. “Our living space was the size of what is now our playroom. And that was fine when we had one child. But then we were hankering after more space, and this place came up …”

Modernist Estates

Each week in our new ‘Spotlight on’ series a member of The Modern House team will select their favourite properties – past and present – within one of the Collections categories.Courses prepare you for widely accepted CLEP exams already accepted for credit by more than 2,900 colleges and universities. FAQ Why focus on the older generation living there? "I have always been inspired by seniors and I had this deep feeling to put them at the front stage. I wished to communicate with them, know their life and try to deconstruct this sometimes depreciating image of the old age which arises from our society. I then said to myself that there was a subject to explore both on the passing of the generations as well as on the impact of time on the architecture and the lives which it tries to harmonise." The sales team really understood the assets of my home and the kind of person it would appeal to, selecting potential buyers carefully, with no time-wasters. The marketing team went to extraordinary efforts to promote my house via their own outreach and in national media. All in all, a great experience.” The exterior of each complex is featured, along with an informative article about how the building was designed and what its fate has become over time. Then a resident is interviewed with a standard set of questions and there is a set of stunning photographs of the interior of their homes. It's amazing how much beauty can be found even in the most brutal of brutalist structures! One of the deciding factors when choosing this particular flat was we have the only intact original bathroom in the building – both tiles and appliances are from 1937 – and we live in one of the turrets, with a semi-circular living room. Like all flats in the building, we still have the original Crittall windows. The previous owner had added internal secondary glazing with plastic frames but we removed those.