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.

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

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.