PARK HILL, SHEFFIELD: MARX REDISCOVERED OR CAPITALISM RENAMED?
MARXISM
“The school of thought that believes today in the critical capacity of the work of art – for exposing the underlying structures of political and economic power – still for the most part draws its theoretical model from the work of Karl Marx.” JONATHAN HALE
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The disciplines of Marxism, structuralism and psychoanalysis are inherently linked (although it may not be immediately obvious) as they all deal with our unconscious ideas and the effects that external constraints can have on them. Marxism addresses the more subtle financial, social and political issues.
“ A 15th Century painting is the deposit of a social relationship.” MICHAEL BAXENDALL Baxendall’s statement in many ways gives a good overview of the viewpoint that Marxism takes on society, implying that maybe the artist wasn’t as important as we previously thought and that they were merely being influenced by how much they were paid and what the client wanted. Karl Marx developed these principles of socio-economic influences on everyday life to evaluate to what extent our lives are influenced by factors outside our control. In doing so Marx challenged Hegel’s ideals to their very core principles, as he put it; “Standing Hegel on his feet”. Marx looked at ideas versus material things and the world of experience, following (in a sense) Aristotle’s theories on life. On this basis, architecture can be used as a vehicle for social change and should promote ideas through material things. In the 1800’s material conditions were often quite miserable, with the few bourgeois (at the top of the “Social Pyramid”) in much better conditions than the proletariat at the bottom. Marx argued that “social being determines their consciousness”, and many other movements, such as the garden city movement and William Morris’s Arts and Crafts were aiming to get away from the industrial cities. Morris himself, as a strong socialist (a less extreme version of communism, Marx’s main political movement), was keen to challenge the capitalist manufacturing age, however focused more on altering production to allow hand-crafts to continue than the social structure and hierarchies themselves. Although there isn’t the same contrast between the ruling bourgeoisie and the working-class proletariat, we still suffer from many of the issues of poor social mobility and wealth divides. Marx was undeniably accurate in his assessment that our financially driven and run society causes these problems and that using money to solve them is only likely to make things worse. The particular relevance of Marxism to architecture becomes apparent when we look at its interpretation. Marx argued that “false consciousness” keeps the capitalist, unsustainable ideals in place; controlling what we can and can’t do. Municipalities and large corporations threaten diversity through the monopoly of capitalism. Only when the “bubble” bursts can we see past the skin of the superstructure and reform. Thankfully Marx wasn’t completely accurate in his analysis and description of the capitalist system, however the points he makes about our lack of influence over our control (even in a nominally democratic state) are interesting and very relevant to modern day practice.
SHEFFIELD Sheffield is a regional centre for shopping, education, leisure and culture, but it has performed poorly in recent years;
“The cause of this under performance is complex. A contributing factor is the success of the out of town shopping centre at Meadowhall, but a significant part of the problem lies in the physical and historic form of the city itself. The City Centre has a markedly linear form and its retail pitch stretches nearly two kilometres, with The Moor to the south and Fargate to the north.� BDP SURVEY (2006)
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As an ex-industrial city Sheffield has suffered a certain decline after the loss of the steel-working industries. It does, however, have a strong cultural identity with many renowned theatres and musicians, undoubtedly aided by two large universities; Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam. The city centre has been severely damaged by the construction of Meadowhall, a large out-of-town shopping centre, sucking away footfall. Attempts to restore the centre and bridge the gaps in the mile-long shopping district between Fargate and The Moor have been thwarted after successive proposals for “Sevenstone” a master plan for the “New Retail Quarter” had insufficient funding after the 2008 financial collapse. Such collapses were forecast by Marx as an inevitable consequence of the capitalist system and a necessary step to true communism. This has created a strong context for urban redevelopment, succeeding where others have failed and a number of documents have been produced aiming to manage this including; the “Unitary Development Plan” and “Sheffield Core Strategy”.
“A high quality townscape will be promoted with a positive approach to conservation and a high standard of design. The best of Sheffield’s buildings will be kept and refurbished, and their settings improved.” SHEFFIELD UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN (1998)
PARK HILL
1000 FLATS
264 COMPLETED
78 SOLD Charlie Harris 4186916
PARK HILL OVERVIEW Whilst not in the city centre Park Hill has suffered from many similar problems. Built over 50 years ago, the idealistic brainchild of two university graduates (Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn) the brutalist scheme has 1000 flats, embodying Corbusier’s principles of “Streets in the Sky”. It is now Europe’s largest listed building after having been threatened with demolition in the 1990s. The failure of Park Hill is open to much debate, a combination of poor management and design naivety.
PHASE ONE
“The weakness of Park Hill is a lack of connection with the rest of the city. It has lost its sense of place.” EGRET WEST Hawkins-Brown and Studio Egret West have taken on the challenge of re-developing Park Hill, with the financial backing of Manchester-based Urban Splash and landscape architects Grant Associates. Phase One, a total of 264 flats, was completed last year with the aim of holistic reintegration of Park Hill back into the city whilst maintaining the orthogonal grid layout.
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1:2500
ORIGINAL COST REFURB PHASE 1 COST
ORIGINAL ARCHITECTS:
Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn on Behalf of Sheffield City Council. Arup were the structural engineers
ARCHITECTS:
Hawkins/Brown, Studio Egret West. Grant Associates landscape architects.
CLIENT:
Urban Splash and Sheffield City Council
PHASE ONE Phase one incorporates the largest and most visible part of Park Hill, a 13 storey block facing due West and looking across Sheffield. It forms the main entrance to the scheme and will incorporate a new “High Street� of retail, commercial and leisure buildings on the lower 2-3 floors.
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URBAN SPLASH
[SOCIAL] CAPITALISM Are Urban Splash upholding Ivor Smith’s social ideals in caring about the wellbeing of their residents, or is it all about the bottom line?
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The aim of any profitable company is to exploit demand for fiscal gain. With Urban Splash this is of course no different. Since the collapse of the property market in 2008 their net worth has fallen from nearly £25m to a deficit of £9.1m, with over £45m of debt. This has undoubtedly put huge pressure on Mark Latham (project leader of the scheme) to deliver Park Hill, one of their largest projects, in as cost-effective a way as possible.
“The death knell of private property sounds.” KARL MARX These financial drivers create strong conditions for alienation between the residents and the developer, with the tenants becoming little more than elements in a machine. It is of course the duty of the architects, Hawkins/Brown and Studio Egret West to consider this, but Urban Splash hold the chequebook, driving the requirement for cost-efficiency, rather than quality design. The relationship between architect and client and indeed the divorce between client and end user is an example of the “Mass deception of capitalism” that Marx discussed, because millions participate in this global cultural set up it is reinforced. The “Circle of Manipulation” and retroactive need strengthens the system. Urban Splash participate strongly in the “Circle of Manipulation”, through glossy adverts, press statements and large banners outside the site: promising a new image for Sheffield, building upon its core competences. These bold claims are likely little more than anecdotal, as only six apartment types are to be used across the entire scheme, offering little differentiation and a perhaps impersonal and sterile feeling. It should of course be noted that the apartments themselves are environmentally well considered, they are all dual-aspect, allowing for interesting views, daylight and natural ventilation and have two floors, (although disabled access issues should not be overlooked), features retained from Ivor Smith’s original design. These are both now recommendations in the “Interim London Housing Design Guide” as good living conditions. The apartments themselves have been made more spacious, through having fewer bedrooms and larger glazed openings (made possible through modern technology). These conditions of course increase property value, benefiting Urban Splash.
APARTMENT TYPES
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TYPICAL STREET ELEVATION
ABOVE STREET
STREET LEVEL
BELOW STREET
URBAN SPLASH
[UN] AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The new Park Hill is not what it seems. One quarter of the estate boasts shiny panels, glass lifts, a new steel staircase and and asking price starting at £90,000 per flat – a bargain for a young professional, inconceivable for the poorly paid and unemployed who used to live there. OWEN HATHERLY - THE GUARDIAN (2011)
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SOCIAL HOUSING
PRIVATE HOUSING
RETAIL/COMMERCIAL
Ivor Smith’s Park Hill was an essay in socialism, embracing equality through “Streets In The Sky” and the naivety of the time. Twenty years on it became a sink estate, harbouring crime and poor social conditions. For obvious reasons Urban Splash is keen to get rid of the previous negative associations of the scheme, but as with any re-development, all members of society should be considered. In the interests of business Urban Splash want to maximise sales and profits, which is why only 78 properties were released to the market. This potentially drives an elite residential class of the bourgeoisie (assuming there is enough demand). For this reason, and undoubtedly under political pressure, Urban Splash decided to designate 1/3 of the properties as social housing, in the aim of promoting diversity. In the interests of equality (at least on the surface) all resident have access to the same amenities and spaces.
“The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.” KARL MARX Although social diversity may appear well-considered there appears to be no middle ground between the social housing and expensive (perhaps elite) apartments being sold and leased. This may create issues of resentment amongst residents for one-another, although if managed properly these issues may be avoided. It is also difficult to tell if the division of property into social and private housing may suffer from the issues of architectural determinism of a complex social construct. Such issues can be seen in Leon Krier’s much-criticised Poundbury scheme in Dorset, which has a confused programme of social and private housing and issues with compatibility between the two. The communist manifesto itself relies heavily on economic and social determinism, widely considered to be an issue with its actualization.
“It was a social experiment that failed. The dream was to create villages in the sky, with people standing on their doorsteps chatting; an identifiable community. But that didn’t work. People ended up barricading themselves in” DAVID BAKER - SHEFFIELD LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
POLITICAL CONSTRAINTS
“The developer, often heralded as the socially aware white knight or urban regeneration, is coming in for flak from the city’s Liberal Democrats, who have launched a campaign to flatten the 1960’s behemoth.” RICHARD WAITE - AJ
“This scheme is under the political spotlight. It is not a situation we have particularly come across in the past.” NICK JOHNSON - URBAN SPLASH Charlie Harris 4186916
Marx described politics as playing a key part in the mass deception of capitalism. They form the superstructure, controlling and overruling the base. This is made worse by competition between opposing political parties and regimes, all with their own ideals and allegiances. Due to the enormity and fraught history of Park Hill, it could hardly remain apolitical, having been synonymous both for the success and failure of socialist design. The scheme was further politicised when English Heritage listed in the 1990s. This decision was hotly criticised and considered by many to be little more than an egotistical power play from over-excited conservationists. The listing did however set the scenes for Urban Splash’s intervention, as they specialise in regeneration. On their behalf (although mandatory), it was a financial decision to refurbish the building, as they calculated that it was more cost-effective than demolishing and rebuilding, something that happened with many similar buildings. There was a need for change with Park Hill, so pure conservation was not enough of an option for Urban Splash. As the largest listed building in Europe Urban Splash were under the political observation of conservationists to perform appropriately with Park Hill. As such English Heritage (part of the political superstructure) had an omnipresent influence on development at Park Hill. This could have been crippling to potential innovation, as English Heritage through their very nature aren’t open to change, had Ivor Smith (the original architect) not been alive and contributed significantly in appeals to overturn conservation decisions which would have stifled attempts at change. It is also worth mentioning that through involving the original architect, a man who was at least in part responsible for the failures of Park Hill originally, there is a significant risk in falling into the same traps as before.
“The productivity and growth potential of this system stabilise the society and constrain technical progress within the framework of domination” HERBERT MARCUSE - “ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN” English Heritage was only part of the political problem. Park Hill soon found itself caught in the middle of a battle between the Sheffield Liberal Democrats and (majority) Labour Party. Turning the project into a political scapegoat through media attention prior to their 2007 electoral campaign. Having been badly affected by the collapse of the property market, the bursting of the capitalist bubble, as predicted by Marx, Urban Splash suffered from a lack of funding. In August 2013 they had to sell most of their property portfolio and underwent a corporate restructure. Urban Splash struck a £77m deal with Places for People, selling 654 flats to the regeneration company. This aided Urban Splash’s financial position and allowed them to continue work at Park Hill. However: referring back to the quote from Michael Baxendall – “A 15th Century painting is the deposit of a social relationship”, Urban Splash are now in a position of having a social debt to Places for People, their financial backers. This will reduce the autonomy they have over large decisions about the scheme, particularly after posting pre-tax losses of £15.4m last year.
PUBLIC REALM As an essential ingredient in re-integrating Park Hill back into Sheffield and re-establishing its image as part of the social fabric of the city, the landscape and public spaces have been very carefully considered by Grant Associates.
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GRANT ASSOCIATES
[A] PUBLIC CONCERN “The centrepiece of the estate is a Piazza designed to serve as the nucleus of the community, offering shops, bars, pubs and restaurants serving not only Park Hill residents, but people from across Sheffield.� AJBL 2011
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“The relationship of private property persists as the relationship of the community to the world of things” KARL MARX - “PRIVATE PROPERTY AND COMMUNISM” As Marx discussed, public spaces are a vehicle for provision of basic conditions of life in a bourgeois society. These spaces allow us to better our enjoyment of life through more pleasant living and social conditions. Park Hill originally had poor (and somewhat sterile) provision of public realm spaces. Public space is an essential factor in the enjoyment of the scheme and the social diversity, through chance meetings between tenants of different social backgrounds. As such architects Hawkins/Brown and Studio Egret West alongside landscape architects Grant Associates had a great undertaking in designing the exterior landscape and access. Integrating Park Hill back into the city is essential in re-establishing the scheme as part of the community and the developers as community-minded, for this reason some of the first work undertaken was the creation of a new amphitheatre above the train station, looking out across Sheffield. It should be noted that integration measures are not purely community minded, as through increasing footfall the rental values of the ground-floor retail and commercial units also increase. Capitalism can be made to prevail, even through social objectives.
“The theory of Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: The abolition of private property.” KARL MARX - “COMMUNIST MANIFESTO” It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say at this early stage whether the public realm areas of Park Hill will work as effective gathering and socialising spaces and whether this will damage the city centre by drawing footfall away as happened with Meadowhall. Potentially superficial planting and hard landscaping will only make a difference if managed correctly.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Park Hill is divided, socially split, a small portion rebuilt, the rest in decline: Sheffield’s disunite d’habitation” RORY OCALYTO - AJ
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“Prudence on the part of the financiers, private interests of the contractors, and the persistence of archaic mechanisms of financial investment - such as that of real estate - dangerously obstruct the development and “human” yield of that expression.” M TAFURI - “ARCHITECTURE AND UTOPIA: DESIGN AND CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT ” The re-development of Park Hill has been an un-deniably capitalist endeavour, with a large number of separate interests, all looking to generate a profit. As I have discussed, failures in the capitalist system have compounded this problem and conflicting political interests may have distracted Urban Splash from their original goals. Of course Urban Splash and other stakeholders were looking to make a profit, but if we consider this as merely a driver for design, rather than a negative in itself, then it is not inconceivable for this to be a driver for good design.
“Good design makes a product useful.” DIETER RAMS - “AS LITTLE DESIGN AS POSSIBLE” As discussed by Dieter Rams (ex-head of design at Braun); a well-designed product is more desirable. On this basis there is a strong incentive for Urban Splash HAWKINS/BROWN to design the various flat types and associated public realm spaces as well as possible. Of course this will increase property prices, with a good provision of social housing, the scheme should be less exclusive. Although 1/3 social housing is less than ideal, there simply isn’t any other way to fund the regeneration than by sale of private properties and a lack of social diversity was (at least in part) to blame for the original failure of the scheme. The success of refurbished schemes such as The Barbican give some hope for capitalism promoting socially aware design, although it is yet to be seen quite how much of a difference Park Hill can make to the social fabric of Sheffield and whether HAWKINS/BROWN and Egret West had fallen foul of the same deterministic naïveties as Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn did 50 years ago.
“Quite how much architectural design can achieve by way of change - particularly with its emphasis of form as opposed to social context - throws up a whole series of questions concerning other interrelationships, which many philosophers have already suggested in their thinking.” JONATHAN HALE - “BUILDING IDEAS”
BIBLIOGRAPHY AJBL - Park Hill 2011 and 1960 entries AJ SPECIFICATION - February 2010 ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW - 27th September 2011 ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW - 3rd March 2014 ARCHITECTS JOURNAL - 6th October 2005 ARCHITECTS JOURNAL - 1st March 2006 ARCHITECTS JOURNAL - 18th July 2013 ARCHITECTS JOURNAL - 20th September 2013 BAXENDALL M- “Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy” HALE J - “Building IDEAS” MARX K - “Communist Manifesto” MARX K - “Private Property and Communism” MARCUSE H - “ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN” MCLEOD M - “Architecture and Politics in the Reagan Era: From Postmodernism to Deconstructivism” URBAN SPLASH - “Park Hill Brochure” (2012 edition) RAMMS D - “As Little Design as Possible.” Sheffield Unitary Development Plan (1998) Sheffield Core Shrategy (2007) THE GUARDIAN - 28th September 2011 THE GUARDIAN - 25th September 2011 THE GUARDIAN - 30th December 2012 TAFURI M - “Architecture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist Development ” www.companycheck.co.uk www.grant-associates.uk.com www.marxists.org IMAGE REFERENCES: Charlie Harris Grant Associates Urban Splash Park Hill Brochure
Charlie Harris 4186916
Charlie Harris 4186916