Press Release: Top five outstanding housing estates to feature in the 2021 Open House Festival
A pioneering eco-village in Beddington, 13 houses hand-built by residents in Lewisham, and a lesser-known estate by Barbican masterminds Chamberlin, Bon and Powell - five iconic London housing developments in 2021 Open House Festival
Open House Festival, the nine-day celebration of London’s architecture and urban landscapes, has launched its full programme for 2021
London’s finest housing schemes include the UK’s first and largest mixed use eco-village, an innovative self-build housing scheme run by Lewisham council in the 1980s and a Greenwich estate built by the same architects who designed the Barbican.
While London grapples with an ongoing and ever more acute housing crisis, these schemes demonstrate how extraordinary housing can be unlocked through imagination, design integrity and political will.
Open House Festival has launched its full programme for the 2021 event, which will run from Saturday 4 to Sunday 12 September 2021. Housing equity was cast into sharp relief throughout the pandemic with many Londoners’ quality of life significantly impacted by the housing they were living in. To champion great housing and celebrate estates which helped support positive wellbeing during Covid, Open House Festival is spotlighting five outstanding housing estates as part of the 2021 programme:
Among the festival highlights are some of London’s finest housing schemes
BedZED which has earned its place in design history as the UK’s first and most ambitious large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community.
Cressingham Gardens, a low-rise and human-scale South London estate designed by one of London’s most influential architects Edward Hollamby;
The celebrated self-builds of Lewisham, Walters Way, built by the community and plans by Walter Segal.
A Camden golden-era estate, Stoneleigh Terrace of Highgate New Town, by Hungarian architect, Peter Tabori.
Greenwich’s lesser-known Vanbrugh Estate by Barbican architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon
Siân Milliner, Head of Open House Festival, said: “As London responds to a rapidly worsening housing crisis, Open House Festival is championing the best of the city’s existing housing estates. The generous, considerate and ingenious spaces for living and community which define our top five housing estates for 2021 show what is possible when housing for ordinary Londoners is built with empathy and great design in mind.”
Top five outstanding housing estates to feature in the 2021 Open House Festival in detail:
BedZED by Bill Dunster Zedfactory Architects, Hackbridge
BedZED has gone down in history as the UK’s first large-scale, mixed-use sustainable community. Spearheaded by architect Bill Dunster with collaboration from Arup, Peabody and Bioregional, the site grew from a plot of undeveloped open land that was once used for spreading sewage sludge. Completed in 2002, the 82-unit project was designed around achieving ambitious reductions of energy, water and car use. The scheme is particularly distinguishable with its colourfully-finned wind cowells, glass-frontage with suspended metal balconies
Tours of BedZED will be running Saturday 11 September at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm.
Cressingham Garden by Ted Hollamby, Tulse Hill
Cressingham Gardens is a post-war housing estate in south London. Low-rise, high density, and located next to Brockwell Park – the estate is particularly remarkable in the way it responds to and works with the existing landscape. This is exemplified in the way that none of the buildings on the estate project above the treeline. As well as seamlessly embedding itself within its surrounding landscape, the estate boasts many design features that enrich the sense of community. The estate is predominantly pedestrianised, with a ‘village square’ creating a community focal point. Despite these merits, the estate was earmarked for redevelopment in 2012 and plans have recently been advanced for its partial demolition.
Estate tours and a community-led exhibition will take place on September 11 and 12 between 10am and 4pm.
Walters Way Self-Builds by Walter Segal, Honor Oak Park
Walters Way is a close made up of thirteen remarkable houses. Built as part of an innovative housing scheme run by Lewisham council in the 1980s, the land was the derelict site unsuitable for conventional house building because of the hills and large trees. The land was offered to people on Lewisham's housing waiting list who were willing to build their own houses. Although built on site, the houses were not prefabricated, they consist of a timber frame and panels of insulating material called woodwool, a mixture of wood fibres and cement. The houses don’t have traditional foundations and instead are built on stilts and concrete piles dug deep into the ground.
Walters Way residents are hosting a series of events and talks throughout Sunday 5 September between 12pm and 4:30pm.
Stoneleigh Terrace of Highgate New Town by Peter Tabori, Highgate.
Highgate New Town, now known as Whittington estate, was designed in the 1960s and completed 1981, by Hungarian architect Peter Tabori. Tabori studied under Richard Rogers, and was employed by fellow Hungarian Ernö Goldfinger before working for Sydney Cook - the architect for Camden during its ‘golden age’ of redeveloping the borough with progressive post-war social housing projects. Camden maximised on the move away from high-rise tower blocks, instead funnelling resources into low-rise, high-density linear stepped-section block. The estate encloses four pedestrianised streets within six parallel terraces of 271 dwellings, ranging from one-bed flats to six-bed houses.
Resident-led tours will be running on the 11th and 12th of September. Pre-booking is essential.
Vanbrugh Estate by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, Blackheath
Vanbrugh Estate is a lesser-known estate designed by the architects who designed the Barbican and Golden Lane Estate: Chamberlain, Powell and Bon. An impressive central tower block acts as a focal point to the 1963 development which is enclosed by a series of breeze-block terraces with details such as space-age kitchen windows. The concrete posts of the original communal washing lines still pepper the estate.
Resident-led tours between 11am and 5pm on Saturday 11 September.
Images
Images of each of the five highlights are available for press use here.
Notes
The 2021 Open House Festival will launch on Saturday 4 September and run for nine days until Sunday 12 September.
Full listings for the 2021 Open House Festival are now live at www.openhouselondon.org.uk/2021
In order to facilitate contact tracing, visitors are required to book ahead for most events.
The vast majority of events that form part of the 2021 Open House Festival are free.
In a typical year the London Open House Festival attracts 250,000 visitors making it the largest and most inclusive event of its kind in the world.
There are 50 other Open House Festivals around the world including in New York City, Lagos, Taipei and Zurich which are supported by Open City, the charity behind the Open House Festival.
Contacts
Please contact press@open-city.org.uk with enquiries.