New Social Housing Utopia _ Renita Chuang by Renita Chuang

BRANDON ESTATE

UTOPIA

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

LONDON POVERTY

BRANDON ESTATE

INTERVIEW 28 FILM CULTURE

THE FAMOUS FILMING SPOT

UTOPIA PROPOSALS

DRAMATIC CONCEPTS

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

FINAL DESIGN

INTRODUCTION This project is about creating a New social housing utopia for the life after Covid-19 : a proposal for the utopian redevelopment of the Brandon Estate, the only large estate that survived from Southwark regeneration. Residents had their own cinema club between 1960-1980 and has turned to a famous filming spot in South London. I would explore the relationship between these social tenants and healthcare system through cinematic language, as well as giving a vision for the future social housing development.

Original interest : The gap between the rich and poor in Britain Site Walk : Walking from Chelsea to Camberwell. The journey was started from a wealthy area to the less wealthy area. Southwark research: ‘Two Southwark’ - Southwark has a dividing line in the borough, areas near London Bridge (Riverside, Surrey Docks and Dulwich Village) are least deprived. However, it also contains the most deprived areas in the country : East Walworth, South Bermondsey,Rotherhithe, Nunhead, Livesey and Camberwell Green. Brandon Estate was discovered during site reasearch, a nortourious estate with many problems. Unit 1 Portfolio: The divided city : wealthy & poverty Finding Direction: Looking at various issues about social housing, such as crime, gang violence, hygiene mantance in council houses and social housings. Criminal Behaviour presentation: During the research I reaslised there are serious crimes happened around Brandon Estate, three teenagers were killed in eighteen months. News even named it ‘the deadliest estate’ in London. At the time, I thought it would helpful to join this discussion. Interview at Brandon Estate: In order to understand the currrent situation, I did a survey on site, approaching to residents who would love to share their feeling about the estate.

Local History Archive: I went to look for the original maps and documents before and after the Brandon Estate development, other materials including: The People of Providence: A housing estate and Some of its inhabitants (A book all about Brandon Estate) by Tony Parker, an oral historian who interviewed many residents at Brandon Estate in 1980. He analysed the rise and fall of the estate.

Films from screen archives : discovering some films created by the residents of Brandon Estate in 1960-1980. Many TV series, movies, advertisements are also filmed on site. For instance, Doctor Who, Silent Witness, The Bills, and Spooks were filming at the estate, which turned it to a famous filming spot in South London. Coronavirus Outbreak in February

Analysing the design of Brandon Estate which included stiarcase, balconies and lift. Experimenting architectuaral flow within Tower Block and looking for the posibility of future living space. Social Housing Utopia for the life after COVID19 “A utopian vision is about escaping the status quo – waking up.” - Ian Ritchie (British Architect) Now, it is the time to apply utopian vision on architecture after this virus disaster, especially, for social housing with a large proportion of people on the waiting list.

PROJECT TIMELINE

Doing England with a giraffe by Iván Boldizsár, a Hungarian journalist visited the building with architects from London County Council in 1969.

LONDON POVERTY

TOP 10 BOROUGH WITH THE HIGHEST POVERTY RATE

Tower Hamlet 38% Newham 37% Hackney 35% Haringey 33% Islington 33% Brent 32% Camden 32% Southwark 30% Hammersmith & Fulham 29% Westminster 28%

This map shows the poverty across London between 2018 - 2019. Southwark is 30% which is in Top 8 among 32 boroughs. Source: Trust of London Organisation

SOUTHWARK

REDBRIDGE

BARNET HARROW WALTHAM FOREST

HARINGEY

BRENT

HILLINGDON

REDBRIDGE HAVERING

HACKNEY

CAMDEN

BARKING & DAGEHAM

ISLINGTON

TOWER HAMLETS

EALING

NEWHAM

WESTMINSTER

HAMMERSMITH H & FULHAM

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA

SOUTHWARK

HOUNSLOW

GREENWICH BEXLEY WANDSWORTH

LEWISHAM

LAMBETH

RICHMOND

MERTON

KINGSTON BROMLEY

SUTTON CROYDON

ENFIELD

BARNET WALTHAM HARROW HARINGEY

REDBRIDGE

HAVERING

BRENT HACKNEY

BARKING & DAGEHAM

IS ISLINGTON G

CAMDEN D

EALING

SOUTHWARK

HILLINGDON

NEWHAM

TOWER R HAMLETS HAMLE ET

WESTMI INST INST NSTER TER R

HAMMERSMIT A E TH T H & FULHAM

KENS SINGTON ING NG ON & CHELSEA CH EA A

SOUTHW HWARK HW WARK RK

HOUNSLOW

GREENWICH BEXLEY RICHMOND

L LAMBETH

LEWISHAM SHAM

WINDSWOR WINDSWORTH

MERTON KINGSTON

BROMLEY

CROYDON SUTTON

POVERTY MAP Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal. Very poor, casual. Chronic want. Poor. 18s. to 21s. a week for a moderate family. Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings. Upper-middle and upper classes (the wealthy)

Brandon Estate

SOUTHW S HWARK HWA WARK WA RK K

Social Housing Crisis has been a controversial issue over the years, this is usually related to government policy, poor design, and lack of maintenance. The emergence of gentrification also pushed people out of the city, some former social housing estates have even become the most luxurious place to live. Many well-known council houses were already demolished and thousands of London council estates are on the waiting list, earmarked for demolition. Therefore, these stirred the backlash from social tenants, the social housing crisis is getting more serious, some residents had protested with the slogan “social housing not social cleansing!”. In 2020, the social housing sector may receive the worst hit because the new pandemic COVID19 will result in job lesses, falling incomes, and increased rent arrears, which means there will be more needed people applying for social houses. What will social housing lookalike in the post coronavirus world? Considering that the typical type of social housing - ‘Tower Blocks’ may become less-popular but it seems it is the best way to accommodate the growing population all over the world. It is difficult to come up with solutions for these problems in a short time but I would like to take Brandon Estate as an example, aiming to prevent new social housing from demolition in the future and adapting to life after the pandemic. This will through rethink and redesign the whole Brandon Estate with utopian visions based on its relation to film. Having thematic designs in various experiments such as healthcare towers and futuristic tower blocks.

BRANDON ESTATE

Six Tower Blocks Bateman Brawne Cornish Cruden Prescott Walters

House House House House House House

BRANDON ESTATE DEVELOPMENT Brandon Estate was an important piece of work built in 1958 by London County Council, they aimed to create a ‘better world’ for residents from slum clearance. This is their first estate designed with over-15 storey tower blocks. It is located between Elephant & Castle and Camberwell.Nowadays, it is the only largest estate that survived from Southwark regeneration. These images below are the original Brandon development plan from the archives, it is actullay not only these six buildings but also some small houses around the place. However, these tower blocks are the most outstanding landmark which received a high reputation at the time.

“A typical flat in an 18-storey block has living room, two bedrooms, and dining-kitchen all opening on to private balconies which not only enjoy magnificent views over London but also allow easy and safe redecoration and window cleaning . At roof level four penthouse bed-sitting room flatlets, each approached through its own patio, are planned around the central spine.”

1960s

INTERIORS

These photos are the orignal interior design in 1970. Flats were filling with mid-century modern furniture and some potted plants are also brought into the space, which shows a fresh and comfortable feelings. Acoording to the recent documents, not much has changed in the building, except the front doors was replaced with security door and the new door entry system.

SITE ANALYSIS During the epidemic period, the essential stores : supermarket and pharmacy are the one remain open. I marked them around Brandon Estate because this may help my further development on either healthcare or food delivery (in case if I come up with any new ideas) and more importantly, this dose help me to understand the whole district around my site. In the post-corona world, not only these local stores but also small businesses, such as bar and cafe, may start delivering foods and drinks to the residential areas. Pharmacy could help to send medicine to the elders and check people with mild sympton, which could reduce the pressure of NHS.

Pharmacy & Chemist

Supermarket, Grocery, Corner Shops

Bar & Pub

Cafe & Bakery

Restaurant & Eatery

18 Storey

Front door

Front Door

ELEVATION 20

Front door

SECTION 21

Flat 2

Back Door

Front Door

Lifts

Flat 4

FLOOR PLAN

Flat 1

Flat 3

BALCONIES & LIFESTYLE Social tenants observation through balconies Both decoration and the storage of each balcony reveal individual lifestyle and personality. Most people use balconies as storage places, some hand laundry on the outdoor rack. Interestingly, few tenants tend to cover up balconies with cardboards, curtains, nets or even fences.

BALCONIES DRAWINGS 26

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW ON SITEE Considering that I cannot get into the buildings, the best method is approaching people who live there. This can help me understand the current situation and the problems that social tenants are facing. To do the survey, I walked around the area with questions on my notebook, trying to smile before speaking to them. Surprisingly, most residents are friendly, I collected responses from about fifteen to twenty in different age groups, asking their advantage and disadvantage of Brandon Estate, the ideal community and what word they would use to describe the site. There is an old man who lived next door and suggested me to visit Paul, the owner of the local pub, called ‘Canterbury Arms’. He said ‘tells him Tom sent you there!’ I then ran into the pub, few old men sat in the bar, they were all looking at me as it is strange that an Asian girl shows up in the pub with her assignment. I was being told that Pual had a day-off but the assistants told everyone I was doing survey for school. Unfortunately, they are not the residents but told me it is a social housing with a bad reputation and kept saying ‘terrible!’.

OVERALL [PRO] Greenspace Park , Grass Multiculture Unique Architecture Famous for filming [CON] Crime: gang violence Security: Lack of CCTV building maintenance problems Dirty Lifts & Hallway

CONVERSATIONS WITH RESIDENTS Black Child / Age: 9 What is good about Brandon Estate? It’s very tall and so big. I like playing in the park here.

Do you think it is safe here? umm....yeh maybe. Some people are really bad but I think it’s ok...

Do you think people are close here? yeh, I have many friends here.

What’s your ideal community? (your dream home) Everything I can play! (Do you mean a huge town for children to play?) Yeh!

What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Huge!! There are many buildings in this community. It’s like....a huge town! Many people live here. What would you like to have in this estate? I want a football pitch here so... I can play football with my friends after school.

9 Black teenager / Age: 19 What is good about Brandon Estate? I’ve got many friends here. We love the park! Do you think people are close here? Not really.

Is this a safe community? No, there are crime and gangs here. There are drug dealers around here. That’s why I said we need a safe place for the youth. I’ve seen crimes many times!

What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Mixed - multicultural

What’s your ideal community? A community that could bring peoplem together. More facilities I think.

Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? The building outside needs to be clean and the lift sometimes not working. I wish we could have a large youth center for sports and events because more children and teenagers are coming in.

19 Black girl with curly hair / Age: 28 What is good about Brandon Estate? We had a huge African community here and a very nice park to share with the community Do you think people are close here? No, there are six buildings and many people don’t communicate. Everyone has different opinions. What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Multiculture ? as I said people are from different backgrounds. Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? Safety. The crime rate is high here. Parents are worried about children taking drugs and joining local gangs.

Is this a safe community ? No. Children should have the freedom to play without any worries but there are many gangs and crime here. I’ve seen crimes many times! What’s your ideal community ? There are no shops on our ground floor, I hope we could have some so I could get everything downstairs. Also, some tenants are quite selfish, they would put rubbish in the hallway, which is smelly. I saw rats the other day.

Black Lady with ponytail / Age: 40 What is good about Brandon Estate? Children can play together in the park. Do you think people are close here? Yes.quite close. Well… I have two kids so I love chatting with other Moms.

What’s your ideal community? A safe commiunity for parents to raise their children. Giving them opportunities to learn and play without affecting by gang violence. I don’t want my children to think that it is a shame to live in social housing.

What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? um....Familiarize? Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? The buildings inside are very dirty and the facade need to be clean.

“I don’t want my children to think that it is a shame to live in social housing.”

Is this a safe community ? Not really, crime and gangs are everywhere.

An Indian Lady / Age: 45 What is good about Brandon Estate? Not good at all. Do you think people are close here? No. People who lived here only care about themselves.

What’s your ideal community? A community that is well maintained, people would take care of each other. I also hope it can be close to my work so I can take care of my old mother while working.

What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? just ‘Bad’

May I ask what type of jobs you are doing?

Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ?

I’m currently working in my friend’s grocery shop and actually, I want to open my own shop but it’s hard for me.

The building is too high, I prefer having a lower building. The bell sometimes is not working, imaging asking my disabled 80 year old mother to come down to open the door for me? Dirty - people wee and poo in the elevator, staircase and the hallways.

I can see there aren’t many shops in Brandon Estate. If the ground floor can be transformed into many empty spaces with affoRdable rent, would you like to rent a space here? so you can open a corner shop and take care of you mother closely.

Is this a safe community ? No, not safe at all. Too much crime here.

Yes,definitely! That would be a dream, you know.

Black man with glasses / Age: 50 What is good about Brandon Estate? Brandon Estate has been rented out for filming frequently. Even FIFA filmed the ads here.

Is this a safe community ? Yeh, apart from gang violence. It’s quite safe for me.

Do you think people are close here? No. People are not closed in this country.

What’s your ideal community? Although Brandon Estate receives a bad reputation, I do love them! so probably a well-known community that everyone would love to come and see rather than avoiding it.

What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? ‘Unique’ - Brand Estate is a multicultural estate with lots of grass (parks). It‘s near Oval station so it’s very convenient. The architectural style also looks very different from the others. Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? The facade needs to be refurbished, staircases and corridors are full of rubbish.

You mentioned about filming, do you think this allows people to change the perception of this estate? Yeh! The movie Dr.Who was also filmed here. It is a way of ‘promote’ this area.

50 31

White Lady walking dogs / Age:50 What is good about Brandon Estate? Grass! It’s quite rare to have grass / parks between buildings in the city. Nowadays, houses are built next to each other. All buildings are divided by the block walls and fences. Do you think people are close here? No, I’ve been living here for more than 15 years. I don’t know anyone here. What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Danger! Brandon Estate has received a notorious reputation. There are so many crimes here. I want to move but I have been waiting for a long time.

We just had a community meeting last month in our library. Those people from the local council always say there isn’t enough evidences. The problems have never solved. Crime - Many gangs and violences here. It’s such a dangerous community. I’ve seen it happened many times. Is this a safe community ? No. What is your ideal community ? A place where people can enjoy walking around safely, bringing people closer. No gang violence - Children are in gangs so we do worry about our children.

Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? Mice - I used to live in this building and it was disgusting so I moved to the other one but there are more. Some people wee and poo in lifts and corridors. They just don’t have it in their flats and there’s no CCTV in the blocks so no one knows who did it.

Black lady tidying up her car / Age: 62 What is good about Brandon Estate? many grass, sharing large park with community Do you think people are close here? Yes. What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Terrible, dirty lift and corridors are full of shit.

Is this a safe community ? well not really.. there are some violence here sometimes What is your ideal community ? A friendly community designed for old people

Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? Having one cleaner for six blocks is totally not enough.

White Old man drinking in the bar / Age: 70 What is good about Brandon Estate? Nothing ! Do you think people are close here? No, except us who drink in the pub What word would you use to describe Brandon Estate? Dangerous. I got robbed once. Is there anything you want to change or improve in this community ? Living on the higher floors is hard for us, the elders when the lift isn’t working.

Is this a safe community ? Bloody hell ! No. Many crime happene here. No one can solve this problem! What is your ideal community ? A safe community with better reputation.

FILM CULTURE

BRANDON ESTATE CINEMA CLUB 1960 -1980

These screenshots show some of the highlights of the twenty or so films made by the Brandon Estate Cinema Club in the sixties and seventies documenting community events; others include Christmas parties, day trips to Canvey Island, sports days and fetes. Unseen for decades, the films have been preserved by Southwarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Local History Library and Archives and, following digitisation by Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Screen Archives, were recently screened in the estate on which they were shot to current residents, some of whom found their younger selves on screen. Publicity from the screening helped locate the filmmakers, who have now been identified as Dickie Morgan and Brian Waterman, who joined the estate cine club aged 17 and bought a camera with his first paypacket from his job on London Underground. The estate still opens opportunity for filming and this adding the value of social housing itself.

L.C.C:Brandon Estate Housing Site; Sports Day 1962; The Baby Show; Cine Club Outing, Stratford on Avon 1962

Cine Club Outing, Stratford on Avon 1962; Cambridgeshire Draw-Dance with Nicholas Parsons

Canvey 1966: A Day at the Sea Amateur film of the annual summer day trip to Canvey Island by the residents of the Brandon Estate, Southwark

Sun - Fun - Canvey : annual summer day trip to Canvey Island by the residents of the Brandon Estate, Southwark

THE FAMOUS FILMING SPOT

FILMING

IN BRANDON ESTATE TV SERIES: 15 STOREYS HIGH (2002-2004) Brandon Estate is a famous filming spot in South London. This TV series had two seasons filmed in the estate. Through watching these drama series and follow every characters into their flats has helps me to fully understand the interiors.

GREEN SPACE

COMMON AREA: LIFTS

lift

LIVINNGROOM

KITCHEN

Livingroom

Kitchen

Livingroom

Kitchen

BALCONY

HALLWAY/ BATHROOM / ENTRANCE

Entry

BRANDON ESTATE IN 3D MODELS 42

COVID19: LIFE IN LOCKDOWN

When the coronavirus occupied the human world... These are some photos I took during life in lockdown. Most shops closed except supermarkets and pharmacies. Restaurants and cafes have changed to contactless food delivery. Sightseeing places and streets are turned into empty. People have to keep social distance, at least 2 metres apart from everyone, wearing face mask on public transport. This is the time that we scared of touching people, the space needs to be reconsidered to accommodate life after the pandemic.

UTOPIA PROPOSALS Healthcare Tower & Eventown

HEALTHCARE TOWER Manifesto: “A post-coronavirus social housing that is constantly improving its health system through managing ‘health care tower’ in the communnity. All residents enjoy a healthy lifestyle and must help each other preventing for another pandemic . Any discrimination on race, different incomes and cultural background are not allowed.“

The design of ‘health care tower’ is an essential hub in the center of the community, educating medical knowledge to all age groups and checking residents’ health conditions through entry scanning.” The water filtration systems are below the healthcare tower which check the water quality and deliver it to the buildings. In the time of epidemic, people were asked to stay at home and maintain social distancing. While spending most of the time indoor, it is necessary to have a ‘balcony’ for some fresh air, watering plants and sharing music with neighbors. Having this small health system in the neighborhood may reduce pressure on NHS when the pandemic outbreak. This also prevents people from traveling to hospitals for the test. Besides, coronavirus can survive on metal, glass, and plastic for as long as nine days. Having an attached standard unit attached to each apartment can easily organize people with symptoms. This unit designed with an elevator system, including virus detector selfsterilizer, a single bed, water, and food storage. Once the symptoms develop, the whole unit can directly move down to the ground floor and wait for the ambulance to collect the patient. In terms of the building itself, it is important to reduce the contact with neighbors and avoid to use things in multi-storey building: lift, lift button, door handle, entry system button. However, high rise building is the still a form that stable for the growing population in social housing. In this case, self-sterilizing lift and smart door system with facial scanning will be the best solution; reducing the contact on the surfaces and improve the security of the buildings. Community infection on coronavirus has been seen in many countries. Having a healthcare tower inside the social housing estate may increase the health control on all residents. The tower itself also provide filtering system to reduce the possibility of virus infective water. After finishing this design, it is believed that the maintenance and healthcare funds on this post-coronavirus concept may increase expenditure on the local authorities. Hence, finding ‘corporate sponsors’ or holding small events for fund raising may reduce the pressure on subsidies.

portable unit attached to each flat for people with symptoms. Sending patients directly to the community healthcare centre (tower)

Once it arrived, the units will be attached to the extendable structure. This helps to reduce contact when delivering patients.

Community Healthcare Tower, monitoring peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health with technology and educating residents some medical knowledge.

Each window frame is a lighting virus detector which collect residentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health condition data for the healthcare tower.

During the quarantine (lockdown), this window frame would turn yellow when the person out for too many hours.

There are the water filtration systems underneath the tower, which check the water quality and deliver it to the residents

EVEN TOWN Manifesto: “An ideal community that shared everything equally: equal rights, equal amount of foods, equal amount of money and especially, living in an equal size of house. Any discrimination on race, different incomes and cultural background is not allowed.” Transforming the tower block of Brandon Estate into two-storey houses, staked them up to become a town. The color was inspired by the film ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ directed by Wes Anderson because the original pinky hotel was also built in the 1950s and this could give an atmosphere of a dramatic utopian development. In this design of social housing ‘town’, every residents own the same style of houses, the ice cream shops only sell three ice cream flavors and the bookshop only sell ten books. People experience the same living style without any comparison or discrimination. In contrast, most social tenants are facing the opposite situation: ‘inequality’, in a sense of social class. Having this dramatic utopian concept has allowed ‘social housing’ to remove its ‘difference’ to the society which make everyone live identically.

DRAMATIC CONCEPTS Exploring social distance and how people move inside tower blocks (Brandon Estate)

INSPIRED BY WES ANDERSON After creating the concept of Healthcare Tower in the community, I started to look at various methods of moving around the high rising buildings. Considering that tower blocks have a high density of population, which may increase the infection in the communal areas, such as lifts, hallways, and stairways. Brandon Estate has connections with the film industry, featuring in series of movies and dramas. Wes Anderson is my all-time favourite director, his film aesthetic brought the audience into dramatic paradise.

Therefore, including some cinematic elements within the utopian social housing allowed me ot think out of the box. Pictures below are scenes of cable cars, funiculars, and views that inspired me of a utopian dream place. A lot of his works had story background in post-modern period (1960) which is also the time when Brandon Estate were built.

METABOLIST ARCHITECTURE In the latest movie of Wes Anderson: ‘Isle of Dogs’, the film set in a fictional world of Megasaki City, which is located in the Japanese archipelago approximately 20 years in the future. The use of Metabolist architecture reminds me of Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. Metabolist architecture is a Japanese architectural movement that emerged in 1960 (same time when Brandon Estate was built), having organic form with the members being free to come and go. The living spaces within buildings can be changed and replace by new units along with the change of environment, weather, and so on. These concept has helped me to further develop my ideas in future social housing.

MULTI-ELEVATOR

public balcony f or taking l ift, people could walk out f or some fresh air

The s ocial housing for post pandemic c ity may consist of many studio apartments with larger communal a reas, such as opended and w ider stairways , w hich r educe t he construction time, comparing to building more 2 -3 bedroom flats. These studios m ay contain some s mart home system which help link t o the local healthcare centre, traking peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s healthy condition.

open-spaced stairways are wider and l arger which reduce social distance and benefit f or people who enjoy stair workout w ith views. Residents could walk up to different levels without squeezing into a crowded lifts.

single passenger lifts

SINGLE PASSENGER ELEVATOR

ELEVATOR LOCATION : BOTH SIDES In the following experiments, I took the sixth floor as an example, laying out three different ideas with elevators on both sides of the building. These black dotted lines show the movements of each household from their flat to the ‘single passenger residential elevator’.

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Experiment 01_ Having six elevators on each side with large communal areas allow residents to keep at least 2m social distancing when moving around.

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lightwell

panel and dividers

FRIDGE

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Experiment 02_ Communal areas play an important role in the tower blocks. A practical method is having adjustable room dividers when there is a disease outbreak. This can be exchanged with the glass panel and antibacterial materials.

FRIDGE

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Experiment 03_ Minimizing the hallway to 1m which only allow 1 person at the time and transform the rest of the space to the ‘lightwell’, the unroofed external space. This could improve the air ventilation inside the tower block.

ELEVATOR LOCATION : MIDDLE PART In the following experiments, again, I used the sixth floor as an example, laying out another three ideas with single passengers elevators in the middle of the building.

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Experiment 04_ It is similar to the original design, located elevators in the middle part of the structure but I used six single passenger lifts with plenty of space for keeping social distance.

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Experiment 05_ Paternosters The initial concept was inspired by building ferris wheel within the building, then I thought about the vintage paternosters as residents can just quickly jump up to the cabinet rather than staying inside a crowded space.

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more communal space

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Experiment 06_ Having lifts near every flats reduce contact with other residents and this would create more communal area for other events.

Follwing models represent some details of multi-elevator utopian housing, the single passenger elevators, opendspace staircases and balcony with adjustable space dividers..

Balcony: Residents can adjust their balcony space with this smart panels, when thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pandemic, this can be use to maintain social distance. Singe passenger lifts: there are only one lift on each side of this model but as mentioned above, there can be different layout of the elevators.

Trying to put some life of social tenants in my conecpt

MULTI-FUNICULAR

FUNICULAR LOCATION : MIDDLE PART In the following experiments, again, I used the sixth floor as an example, laying out another ideas with single passengers elevators in the middle of the building.

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Experiment _ It is similar to the original design, located elevators in the middle part of the structure but I used six single passenger lifts with plenty of space for keeping social distance.

BALCONY IDEAS These are some balcony ideas for the post-corona world. The first one is turning balcony to business-used, this may depend on the job people have. The turning wheel between buildings is a rail track that could deliver products to the customer at downstairs.

Comedy

Hardware

Ice cream

Burgers

Pub

Bao

Exhibition

Taiwanese Food

Barber shop

Skincare

Bakery

Dance

FRIDGE

This one is turn the balcony to a athletic track for residents to exercise, running around with fresh air.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Keep discovering the best form of building for Utopian social housing

Up & Down

THEMATIC EXPERIMENTS

Diagonal Movement: Top Left & Top Right

Platform Lifts to Pasternoster

EXIT 2 EXIT 1

EXIT 3

EXIT 4 EXIT 5

EXIT 6

CAPSULE x TOWERS x FUNICULARS During the concept development, this capsule - looks towers with higher base was found to be more transformable. This means it has more possibility to combine either funiculars or elevators. The left idea has more entrances/exits (higher base) may reduce crime as these could only be found by the residents themselves. Each entrance would only lead to particular floors.

Developing concept Through rearranging the previous Wes Anderson inspired concept, I found myself keen on building with higher base, which leaves no doors on the first or second levels. Next, I also divide the whole structure into two parts to see more possibility.

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Experiment 01 500x550

Experiment 02 550x500

Experiment 04 500x480

Experiment 05 500x480

Experiment 03 645x380

Post-pandemic social housing interior design experiments: With Metabolism concept, each design are capsules in various sizes.

A semic- circular area with automatic disinfectant mist

CAPSULE CAPSULE UNIT UNIT DESIGN DESIGN 74

During the pandemic, some Brandon Estateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents are not afford to pay internet (according to the Southwark News) Transparent Booths is for remote working, future hosuing require a specifice space for work and study with fastest internet. Having sound proof is also an important elements for concentration, this was inspired by my life affected by noisy neighbor during lockdown.

Experiment 06 500x480

Section

Extendable

CAPUSLE UNIT PLAN 76

In the final design plan, I keep two working space for remote working / online studying. Minimizing the kitchen into the small rectangular units as the future capsule apartment require a place for cooking. The balcony is extendable in two ways: push forward 100cm or a curved corridor that is connecting to the neighbours.

Dry clothes Rack

Part of the sidewall has hidden panels with foldable tools for balcony use: including benches and hanging racks â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially the foldable panels for residents who wish to have more privacy.

Wall-mounted : Foldable racks / Foldcable benches Foldable boxes

Foldable Glass / Panels

CAPUSLE UNIT SECTION Extendable 78

NHS is connected to each household which allow residents to have telemedicine or report body conndition for hospital. This system is also connecting to the local pharmacy incase any medical needs.

Haivng facetime with GP or heathcare worker if there is any emergency need.

This curved corridor is connecting to the neighbours next door, allowing residents to reach to neighbors when lockdown ease.

Extendable

A hidden bookshelf behind the working booth, residents can use the shelf by pushing the booth toward to the balcony.

Front door : come with automatic disinfectant mist to make sure everything is clean before entering to the flat.

CAPUSLE UNIT SECTION 2 81

FINAL DESIGN Brandon Estate: The New Social Housing Utopia

I created an updated tower blocks with latest capsule apartment design in the previous pages. I then separated them into half again and reassembled them to become the final utopian social housing.

FINAL DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 84

The funiculars travel surrounding the builing. Gym and Garden are also designed to encourgae tenants to walk upstairs rather than taking funicular to every corner of the building.

GYM

Each cylinder is an entrance (funicular platform), there are four entrances located in different sides of the building.

entrance & exit : funicular platform main entrance 86

Sky Garden

FRONT / BACK

TOP LEFT / RIGHT

BACK LEFT / RIGHT

TOP / BOTTOM

CAPSULE UNIT MODEL

NEW SOCIAL HOUSING UOTPIA 92

Spending most of time of final model, unfortunately, the render software did not work its best. Therefore, some photos are screenshots to represent the detail of final outcome. The cylinders near floors are the turning points which help funicular to turn around, while cylinders on the floor represent entrances of funicular platform.

Time flies. It’s already been a year. My project went from Social class, the gap between rich and poor to social housing utopia for life after the pandemic. Utopian vision is the challenging topic, but it has pushed me to look into various theories, and the current situation also helped me to think out of the box. I would like to repeat the quote that I found while writing the research paper. “The developments of current technology give us the means to create a global society, which is why, in socio-political and economic terms, utopian thinking in architecture has never been more important, whether it be poetically polemical or philosophically believable and implementable. A utopian vision is about escaping the status quo – waking up. “ - Ian Richie, British Architect I wish utopian vision can be seen in the near future. Perhaps, now it is the time to change the design of our architecture.

Thank you Renita

New Social Housing Utopia _ Renita Chuang

Articles inside

INTERVIEW

UTOPIA PROPOSALS

FINAL DESIGN

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION