Robin Hood Gardens

Robin Hood gardens


I'd read about Brutalism in connection with a project about architecture at my school sponsored by the MI5, and by the time I'd finished the project, the style, the ideas it was based on, as well as the issues around it had captivated me. Especially the demolition of Pimlico School and the debate about the fate of Robin Hood gardens were inspiring to me, so when I was commissioned to do a comic by publisher 'Aben Maler' I decided to use the opportunity to investigate further into the site and document a debate around it, a debate where it was hard to delineate what is fact and fiction.

In order to succeed in these two respects I felt I had to disentangle myself from the biases of the very opinionated debate. To do this I set up my own parameters to judge the merits of the architecture by, based my own observations on living in London. An example of an observation that informed the comic would be the short hand I used to determine how livable the flats were, for instance making a note of how people made use of their balconies. In many London estates they're used like spare rooms: packed with old clothes, bikes, storage boxes, or even the washing machine. In Robin Hood gardens on the other hand, you only saw the occasional line with washing, which led me to conclude that the flats there are spacious and not overcrowded. This strategy plus trying to deal with both the architecture itself and the debate around it resulted in the comic becoming an interesting, but slightly confusing read.

If asked to extend beyond the findings put to paper in the comic I'd say that doing well in comparison with an average council flat is hardly an argument for being great architecture worth saving.

One of the new ideas Robin Hood gardens brought with it was the 'streets in the sky' -a board walk way that extends the length of the buildings on every floor and which were conceived to mimic the terrace house street and inspire a sense of community. Having a front door on street level is not desirable in the East End of today, on two occasions friends of mine have had their door kicked in and their flats robbed. That said there is a sense of community in Robin Hood
gardens, perceptible the minute you get there and that can do a lot to remedy potential down sides of this design.

Most of all, Robin Hood gardens leave me with an impression of being built on visionary ideas conceived a long time ago about a future that never materialized. This is perhaps its most redeeming feature and the best argument for listing it, so it can inspire others. In June around the same time as the comic came out, Robin Hood gardens was the subject of an exhibition at RIBA organized by the 20.th Century Society, who advocates the listing of RHG. James Goggin, representative of the vanguard of London graphic designers did the exhibition design and set the catalogue in his in vogue, sans serif version of courier*, thus underlining that RHG is now very much a cause célèbre, so a listing by popular demand isn't unrealistic.

Photos of Robin Hood Gardens
The Gardens
Entrance
Walk way in the sky

*A minor note by James Goggin: the catalogue was typeset in stencil and typewriter typefaces used by the Smithsons on their plans and in their correspondences. Not in Courier Sans.