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

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Bella had long been on the Modern House mailing list. “I’ve always been slightly obsessed with modernist architecture,” she explains. When she first spotted the listing, it was at an emotionally charged time – shortly after the death of her mother, when Bella was four months pregnant. Gorgeous and absolutely fascinating! This is a thorough and affectionate exploration of almost two dozen Modernist public housing complexes in England. Most were built during the postwar era, though the overall range spans from the 30s to the 90s. It brought to mind some of the later seasons of Call the Midwife, which often dealt with London's housing crisis. Several characters moved into flats like these and it was interesting to get a real-life look at the types of places they lived. Join 45,000 creatives to enjoy a regular dose of inspiration and motivation, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. The online platform, Modernist Estates, has for several years been an essential go-to source for those interested in the many excellent and often under-appreciated housing estates produced by 20th century architects, many on behalf of local authorities. Having previously published a review of UK examples, mostly around London, Stefi Orazi has now taken the format across Europe to 15 estates from Scandinavia to Spain, and covering a period from the early 1930s right up to the completion of Neave Brown’s Medina project in Eindhoven in 2002. However, in a pointed introduction, the author makes it clear that the European approach transcended geographical boundaries as evidenced by the inclusion of high quality estates in both Birmingham and Edinburgh. Leaving a comfortable job in graphic design to become a freelance illustrator, with Meredith Schomburg

Modernist Estates Sprowston Mews → Modernist Estates

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 We had lived in the better-known Isokon building for six years and dreamt of living in Berthold Lubetkin’s Highpoint in Highgate but couldn’t afford it, so it had to be a 1930s building of architectural merit. Whitehall Lodge has plenty of original features, and also a generous landscaped garden. Muswell Hill is a very nice part of north London, a real village with lots of small shops and cafés. Sumptuous photographs and interesting accompanying text about the many modernist estates in Britain. The meeting point is on Triton Square, at the junction with Drummond Street. Organised by London Borough of Camden

Though it only lasted from 1919 to 1933, in those 14 years Bauhaus ushered in a truly modern way of thinking about arts and crafts, the public realm, urbanism and the union of form and function. During this guided walk, the architects will be discussing their respective designs and the challenges and opportunities of infill housing and estate regeneration. As part of the tour, we will also talk through Camden Council’s programme to upgrade the open and green spaces on the estate. 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. 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. Modernist Estates” is an attractive, sumptuous book reflecting the modern taste for modernist/brutalist architecture. It covers works by Goldfinger, SPAN, etc with brief architectural scene-setting for each development, interviews with the householder(s) and a series of interior shots.

Modernist Estates Modernist Estates

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. 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."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. 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.” 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.”