Modernist Estates: The buildings and the people who live in them

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The first property they marketed was Six Pillars in Dulwich, south London. “ Which is a Tecton house,” Hill says. “Grade II*.” Although it was already on the market with another agency, Hill and Gibberd called the owner and told him about their fledgling company. “He said: ‘Great, let’s do it!’” Hill recalls. “He said the other agency didn’t understand the house.” A unique studio apartment on the ground floor of a new building in Forest Gate, designed by Marcus Lee, formerly a director at the Richard Rogers Partnership. The accommodation benefits from its own private entrance and comprises a spacious open-plan room with a fitted plywood kitchen, a sleeping area, and a large en-suite bathroom with a walk-in shower. Polished concrete floors with underfloor heating run throughout. Photographs of buildings - 2 stars - pretty tedious really. Where original features are shown they are interesting, but in general you get not-especially-good photographs of living spaces which, on the whole, have a pretty uniform taste in decoration. Round haus … designed in 1929 by Bauhaus architect Carl Fieger, the Kornhaus restaurant is on the River Elbe near Dessau. Photograph: Ronny Hartmann/Getty Images

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We looked at ten different places before buying a fourth-floor, west-facing flat. We loved the big living area, huge window and clever circulation with access from one bedroom to the other. Though it only lasted from 1919 to 1933, in those 14 years Bauhaus ushered in a truly modern way of thinking about arts and crafts, the public realm, urbanism and the union of form and function. I would like that people could discover, with so much surprise as I was able to have, the large estates landscapes. I would wish that they feel so much fascination and curiosity with regard to such constructions. I want that we wonder about the future of these districts, that we pay attention to their population put aside.An express train takes me to Weimar, 280km south-west of Berlin. The founders of the Weimar Republic met there (also in 1919) because the city was as politically neutral as was possible in post-first world war Germany. They hoped for spiritual guidance from Weimar’s intellectual ghosts: former residents include Goethe, Schiller, Nietzsche and Liszt.

100 years of Bauhaus: Berlin and beyond | Germany holidays 100 years of Bauhaus: Berlin and beyond | Germany holidays

The construction (from 1959) is less robust than what we were used to in the Barbican Estate and sound thermal insulation is less than ideal. It would be hard to improve either of those as the pivoting Crittal windows mean that secondary glazing is problematic. We designed and installed a glass screen between the kitchen and living room as someone before us widened the original opening and we wanted to enclose the kitchen but also make sure it looked visually open. The lower end of the market always sells so well,” says Hill. “One of the founding principles was: it’s not about price, it really is about design, and we’ve always tried to keep as broad a price spectrum as we can.” Sprowston Mews is located five minutes walk from Forest Gate train station, and is home to an emerging creative community of architects and self-builders, inspired by the experimental mews house-building of the 1960s, such as Murray Mews in Camden.I knew a little bit about the building before I moved here. The scheme was part of Camden’s ‘golden era’ of housing along with estates such as the Highgate New Town in Archway by Peter Tabori, and Alexandra Road in Swiss Cottage by Neave Brown. These young and progressive architects rejected the trend for high-rise developments that had been popular after the war in favour of good quality, well-planned, low-rise buildings.

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What sparked the interest for Laurent? "I was influenced by my experience in China where I lived for six months in 2008, where I also discovered photography" he tells Creative Boom. "The big cities of this territory stunned me by their gigantic size, their tentacular immoderation, their paradoxes, their metamorphosises, their contrasts and the way the human being lives in this abundant and overpopulated town planning. I was literally absorbed by the atmosphere of the megalopolis and by its astounding mix of futurism and tradition. It certainly unconsciously stimulated the search for a juxtaposition of ages in my later projects." Overview of development- 5 stars - a model of concision perfectly explaining the context and complemented by well chosen photographs of the estate at the time of first completion. The trip was supported by the German tourist board. See bauhaus100.de for more information. Original Bauhaus: the Centenary Exhibition runs from 6 Sept to 27 Jan 2020 at the Berlinische Galerie in Kreuzberg. Direct Deutsche Bahn trains run Berlin Hbf-Dessau (from €19.90); Weimar-Berlin usually involves a change at Erfurt (from €29.90 bahn.com); Dessau-Weimar may involve 2-3 changes (from €19.90) Beyond Bauhau: more modernist classics in Germany

Bella had long been on the Modern House mailing list. “I’ve always been slightly obsessed with modernist architecture,” she explains. When she first spotted the listing, it was at an emotionally charged time – shortly after the death of her mother, when Bella was four months pregnant. There are three distinct parts to each ‘chapter’ in this book and these can be rated separately as follows

Modernist Estates Sprowston Mews → Modernist Estates

The meeting point is on Triton Square, at the junction with Drummond Street. Organised by London Borough of Camden Modernist Estates” is an attractive, sumptuous book reflecting the modern taste for modernist/brutalist architecture. It covers works by Goldfinger, SPAN, etc with brief architectural scene-setting for each development, interviews with the householder(s) and a series of interior shots. It’s extraordinary, the rise of interest in these homes,” says John Grindrod, author of Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain. “I think Grand Designs has had a bit to do with it, and I think it’s partly a reaction against developers’ houses of the 80s and 90s – heritage design, fake Tudor, with small rooms and small windows. Instead, these houses are open, with entire glazed walls.” But I would certainly recommend a Bauhaus-themed tour of Germany this year. In Thuringia, the towns of Erfurt, Gera and Jena all have architectural landmarks. Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Magdeburg, Münster and other cities have houses, factories, dams, foundries and garages built by Bauhaus-influenced modernists (see grandtourofmodernism.com for an interactive map).Why focus on the older generation living there? "I have always been inspired by seniors and I had this deep feeling to put them at the front stage. I wished to communicate with them, know their life and try to deconstruct this sometimes depreciating image of the old age which arises from our society. I then said to myself that there was a subject to explore both on the passing of the generations as well as on the impact of time on the architecture and the lives which it tries to harmonise." A walking tour around Regent’s Park Estate to discuss the masterplan and designs of the new infill housing on the estate. The walk is led by architects Hilary Satchwell (Tibbalds), Alex Ely (Mae) and Matthew Lloyd (Matthew Lloyd Architects). Jazz age … the Ellington Hotel, Berlin, a regular haunt of the eponymous Duke. Photograph: Peter Delius/Alamy Each study begins with a concise but informative history of the project, illustrated with high quality new photography. However, what particularly illuminates this book is alluded to in the second part of its title the buildings and the people who live in them today. Interviews with present day occupiers cut through conventional academic analyses to reveal answers to questions that we would probably all want to ask: what is it like to live here, how successful is the community, how do the homes cope with young families, is the building fabric holding up, is statutory protection a blessing or a burden? With its striking stepped-concrete terraces, the Alexandra & Ainsworth Estate is the most famous of the social housing schemes built during Camden’s “golden age” in the 1960s and 1970s. Rowley Way was built between 1972-78 by the revered Modernist architect Neave Brown and has been given a rate Grade II* listing by English Heritage in recognition of its architectural significance.