The 'Streets in the Sky', made famous by the Smithsons and both widely praised and criticised as a response to the collapse of low-density terrace housing.
As demolition appears imminent, this great film covers the final chapter of Robin Hood Gardens estate in east London. Joe Gilbert using the honest opinions of Timothy Brittain-Catlin and Amy Frearson, show us their discussion on the unique brutalist design as well as the social problems that have plagued the area ever since it was built. A record repeated many times with modern buildings, where the greatest failure was not consequence by the architecture, but by mismanagement of their administrators (other e.g. Pruit Igoe). Good intentions on social housing, however with social segregation proposals unsuccessful that never worked, leaving the architectures as mere containers, silent spectators of misguided policies. I recommend reading the doctoral thesis by Veronica Rosero, "The black hole of modernity" Cum Laude with international mention, it readed this year.
The film start with following sentence, "[Robin Hood Gardens] is not just a monument and a social record, [...] but also a record to the period in which the local authorities thought very deeply and cared a lot about the nature and quality of public housing for all the people who lived in the borough." said Timothy Brittain-Catlin
- You can also see Gilbert's short film on other brutalist design, London's Barbican, here.
