‘Listening and Doing – An Exploration of Contemporary Council Housing’
EXHIBITION
1 – 30 June, Monday to Friday, 2pm – 6pm
For LFA 2016, Karakusevic Carson Architects throw open the doors of our new Bermondsey studio with ‘Listening and Doing’ – an exhibition open across June exploring contemporary council housing and the processes behind working successfully with communities.
We embrace a genuine approach to collaboration, engaging both local residents and wider stakeholders from the start of the design process. We push boundaries and raise standards to create exemplary homes and thriving neighbourhoods – people focused places that residents of all types and tenure are proud to call home.
OPEN STUDIO
Saturday 4 June, 11am – 5pm
On the first weekend of the festival, our exhibition forms the backdrop to a day of architectural story telling from the past, present and future of housing with talks from our project architects and screenings by the London Metropolitan Archives and film from the BFI. Our programme for the day looks like this:
11:00: Studio opens
12.00: Introduction to The Bacton Estate
contemporary council housing in the London Borough of Camden
13.00: Introduction The Fenwick Estate
contemporary council housing in London Borough of Lambeth
14.00: ‘Somewhere Decent to Live’ (1967) a film screening by London Metropolitan Archives
In this short film released by the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1967, four women tell their story of the struggle to find affordable, modern housing in London. Through their different experiences, the issue of securing a mortgage, the high cost of rent, problems of damp and small, old-fashioned living spaces are all explored. As a response, various GLC Housing Projects are detailed with different building types shown – high rise flats, two-storey detached houses and restored, period terraces, in addition to a range of local amenities available in and around featured housing estates. Tenants provide their opinion of these new builds, each indicating a move towards improvement and modern-style living.
15.30: Screening of ‘We Was All One’ (1972)
A classic of documentary making, it captures the shifting landscapes and vanishing traditions of South London communities in and around Bermondsey, the Rotherhithe Docks and along the Old Kent Road. From terraces and tenements to modernist tower blocks, pub sing alongs and tales of togetherness it offers an intimate and unique portrait of some of London’s oldest communities at a time of great change. Courtesy of the BFI. Running time 50mins.
17.00: Studio closes
For more on the festival see – http://londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/
