ROBIN HOOD GARDENS

WORD COUNT 2262

Robin Hood Gardens1 is a housing estate located in Poplar, East London. Completed in 1972, it is
the only mass housing designed by Alison and Peter Smithson. Inspired by Le Corbusiers Unite
dHabitation at Marseille, it embodies the style later referred to as the New Brutalism. Despite
being loved by architects worldwide, brutalist buildings are voted the most hated buildings in
public polls.
The system building proposal made by Smithsons was a response to the comprehensive
redevelopment of East India Doc estate, which aimed to inject new life into the area and breathe
life and spirit into the pre existing old and tired buildings and things. Three features that
included; maximizing the refection of the noise by the faade, zoning of 136 persons to the acre
and providing a green stress free zone for the use of tenants, determined the final design. The
proposal made was two twin (but not identical) slab blocks, enclosing the relatively quiet green
courtyard from the noisy roads on the east and west sides of the site. The 5 meters high concrete
barricades along the roads aimed to serve as acoustic baffles, but were designed in a way so that
pedestrians would still catch glimpses of the towers through the gaps in-between the slabs. Many
attempts, such as turning the building inwards and locating bedrooms on the quiet side of the
block facing the courtyard, were made to minimize the noise from the traffic. The result of this is
an introverted space, isolated from the surrounding neighbourhood. The green zone in-between
was shaped in a form of a two stories high hill to discourage any noisy activities, such as ball
games. A magical sacred spot was created in a form of a barren circle on the top of the grassy
hill.

1
The building was mentioned by Brian Stater as a reference to the Barbican Building during the
walk on 6/10/2014.

Initially the flats were designed for in situ concrete box frame construction, however as the
design progressed other solutions were considered as more appropriate. Finally they were built in
large concrete pre-cast pieces using a casting system that would give a higher standard of
tolerances and finish. A specialist contractor was engaged in order to make customized castings
according to Smithsons designs. Plaster finish was added on ceilings and cross-walls as well as
floor-screeds. 2 3
Its form responds to the form people want to live now; with their equipment, their domestic
appliance and their cars in a way it will be like a first Georgian square in London. To outsiderssomething that they can immediately see as a new form to the people who live in it a place with
its special character, which will release them and change them. A place which is capable of
being lived in generation after generation. ( Peter Smithson, Smithsons on Housing, London
1970).
Through its massiveness, the Robin Hood Gardens block gives the impression of being much
taller than it is in reality. The T-section fins that cast shadows as the light moves across the
building modulate the faade. The repetitive pattern of the protective palisade creates an image of
a fort. The rhythm of the elevation gives a sense of the order from the base to the parapet with the
proportions based on the continuous repetition of one square unit in section and elevation. The
interest is added by a variation in windows displays, a colourful mosaic of curtains and laundry.

2
Robin Hood Gardens Re-visions, edited by Alan Powers, The Twentieth Century society,
2010,London.
3
I decided not develop on the technologies used in the making process in favour of the last part
of the essay, which, I believe, is a more critical commentary taking into account the context of
the building. The materiality aspect is broadly covered by the description part.

The buildings explain themselves in how they intend to be used. Smooth rounded corners indicate
where you need to turn or move around the concrete wall. The relatively narrow and low
walkways allot the horizontal movement across the faade. A change in scale and volume
indicates vertical movements where the lifts and stairs are located. 4

The Smithsons believed they had found an antidote to the problems of social segregation (caused
by the tower blocks) by designing the street life back in. In front of every doorstep they left socalled anyplaces or eddies, intended for flowers and other personal items to be placed. In those
side pockets, the dwelling takes a piece of the deck for itself and keeps it out of the main stream
of the walking circulation. When passing by them, you may catch glimpses of personal
occupation, dwelling manifested by the rolls of white toilet paper looming behind the mat glass
of the doorway, or hand painted sunflower on the wooden surface of the front doors. 5

5 Taking advantage of the location and the fact that it has not yet been demolished I am
mostly referring to the personal response of the spaces as I believe is the most critical and
accurate way of describing architecture.

Our regard is the demonstration of a more enjoyable way of living in a new industrial part of
the city. It is a model and example of a new mode of urban organization and we think we have
here a site that is big enough that when it is finish we will be able to smell, feel and experience a
new life that is offer through the full range of senses. ( Peter Smithson, Smithsons on Housing,
London 1970)

EXPERIENCE6
The experience of continuous walk along walkways ascending the stairs on the side of the
walkway, results in a two-dimension spiral movement in the sky. It creates a slow gradual
experience of the detachment from the urban context of the block. The tower itself provides sort
of an urban alternative for the city that is left at the ground level, as if it was not the building
itself that rose from the ground floor, but the whole urban tissue was dismantled into several
layers and suspended on the concrete frame. The walker7 is lead by a straight metal pipe that
stretches less than half a meter above his head as well as a meandering line of spilled white paint
running between his legs. The continuous void extending above the concrete fence along the side
of the walkway, creates a frame of the uninterrupted panoramic view of the city. The site is
bounded from three sides by lines of very heavy traffic and railway. The term streets in the sky
seems to describe the experience of the walkaway in a quite appropriate manner, as it refers to the
relation formed between the walker and the view.

6 All descriptions are based on a personal experience of the building supported by literary
comparisons derived from The New Brutalism essay by Reyner Banham, 1955.
7
The stylistic of calling a person walker was used to underline the experience of the building as a
continuous walk in the sky.

SMELL
The intense fetor of urine present throughout the public spaces of the block, forces the walker to
experience the staircases mostly by this sense. While entering the lift, the yellowish paddle
causes dizziness similar to the effect of long exposure to chlorine. The importance of the
suffocating stench of human defecation progressively gives place to the mustiness of garbage
disposed in litter lifts that are too small for their purpose. In the entrance to the walkway, the
distinct urine aroma is still present but begins to softly blend in with the odours of a home cooked
meal. The semi open corridor blesses the walker with the blow of relatively clean air that tones
down the intolerably insipid miasma of mouldy food.

FEEL
Entering the building builds up the impression of entering a swimming pool with its use of
porcelain tiles and blue and white paint throughout the shared spaces. The two claustrophobic
industrial lifts give a strong unwillingness of being enclosed in them, as they harass the walker
with their steel cladded interiors. Later on a walker is being wrapped into slotted and bashed
surfaces of crumbles, stains, and decays. Chipped edges of the concrete fences repel the touch;
the building repulses when attempts are made to come in contact with it. Broken surface seems to
be the result of violent attacks of someone absorbed by the structure, trying to walk their way out
of the block. The time has not been kind to the Robin Hood Gardens. It does not age gracefully
like gothic cathedrals do. The discoloured imbrues do not add charm to the rough surfaces of
beton brut. What prevails is the sense of bitter pride, acrid acerbity rising to a kind of tragic
gloom. All brightness is taken by broken surfaces no reflection is possible8

8
1. 2. Anthony Daniels, a British author, physician, and political commentator, has written
for City Journal that Brutalist structures represent an artefact of European philosophical
totalitarianism, a "spiritual, intellectual, and moral deformity." He called the buildings "coldhearted", "inhuman", "hideous", and "monstrous". He stated that the reinforced concrete "does

"In other places you see doors painted and pot plants outside houses, the minor arts of
occupation, which keep the place alive. In Robin Hood you don't see this because if someone
were to put anything out it people will break it." ( Peter Smithson, Smithsons on Housing, London
1970).

However, the point of this essay is not to support any sides of the argument for or against the
demolition,9 it seems impossible to consider The Robin Hood Gardens estate with disregard of its
location, context, and possible social impact. The idea of reshaping inter-human relations through
the conscious design of collectively inhabitable spaces has been widespread in the 20th century,
when the communist spirit gave birth to many similar initiatives worldwide. Therefore it seems
reasonable to bring up the testimony of Pruitt-Igoe (Saint Louis, Missouri, USA), which is often
referred to as an American version of RHG, due to its accessible deck-streets in the air design.
For many, Pruitt-Igoe was the most spectacular failure of modern housing America has ever seen,
and after its demolition in 1970, its architecture was fully blamed for the antisocial behaviours
occurring within its walls. 10

not age gracefully but instead ", which makes alternative building styles superior.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#cite_note-11), 05/05/2015
9

The 213-apartment complex was first threatened with demolition in 2008 when Tower Hamlets
council revealed plans for a wider redevelopment of the area beside the Blackwall Tunnel a
major road that connects north and south London. The campaign to save the buildings, backed by
British architecture magazine BD, did not receive support from the government-run English
Heritage and immunity from listing was granted by then UK Culture secretary Andy Burnham.
(http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/17/robin-hood-gardens-peter-alison-smithson-campaign-savedemolition-twentieth-century-society/), 05/05/2015
10

PRUITT-IGOE: Dream to Nightmare, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gRuyhf2opY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xEzkQDtQ8, 05/05/2015

It cannot be denied that the idealistic vision of Alison and Peter Smithson feeds the 20th century
myth of collective housing. It raises the fundamental question about the role of the architecture in
shaping social structures.
What seems arguable or even utopian, on the other hand, is the claim that architecture has the
power of retransforming existing socioeconomic structures within the society. In this light it
would be absurd to blame architecture itself for the acts of vandalism occurring within the walls
of the two slab blocks located between Robin Hood Lane and Cotton Street. Such acts,
unsurprisingly, have been and will be present in the area that has a reputation of being a centre of
local crime. It reached its peak in1870s when it was identified as slum and its character has not
been improved ever since, as every kind of approved redevelopment plan was based on replacing
one form of cheap social dwellings with another new model dwellings of the same character.11

Therefore the question that should be posed is not whether such acts are triggered by the design
of the spaces, but to what extent the design of social housing may facilitate and promote the
occurrence of malignant deeds.

The most striking feature of the design of Robin Hood towers is that the inhabitants simply take
advantage of the relatively hidden staircases in order to perform the activities that otherwise
would take place in the basements or courtyards of the estate, or even would be brought outside
to the nooks and crannies of the shady streets in the area. In this sense, the building itself
becomes the cradle of crime, rather than a safe womb meant to protect its inhabitants. The lifts
that do not stop at each floor force the inhabitants to use unnerving staircases. The model of dark

11
Robin Hood Gardens Re-visions, edited by Alan Powers, The Twentieth Century society,
2010,London.

corridors can hardly be considered appropriate for lower class social housing, particularly in the
cold and rainy climate of London Docklands.12

Quoting a fellow architecture student It seems obvious to me that regardless the kind of
architecture, people form social margins without any professional, mental and educational
aspirations will not create a society with a high social capita.
Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that in this case not only is their frustration fostered by
the miserable London whether, but also the fact that they are being enclosed in concrete boxes.
Absolute misery.13

12
Although such approach may not suite the descriptive purposes of the essay I am referring to
the strong feeling of anxiety that I experienced while visiting the building on 26/04/2015.
13
The quote comes from Facebook conversation on 9/04/2015 with a friend of mine Piotr
Nowakowski, 2nd year BA Architecture student at Cornell University.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Robin Hood Gardens Re-visions, edited by Alan Powers, The Twentieth Century society,
2010,London.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqerCukyUuA, 05/05/2015
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xEzkQDtQ8, 05/05/2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JmLxwjzE5w, 05/05/2015
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH5thwHTYNk, 05/05/2015
5.http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/17/robin-hood-gardens-peter-alison-smithson-campaign-savedemolition-twentieth-century-society/,05/05/2015
6. Forty Ways to Think About Architecture: Architectural History and Theory Today,
ANTHONY VIDLER, Smooth and Rough: Tactile Brutalism, Wiley, 2013, London
7. Alison and Peter Smithson - from the House of the Future to a House of Today: This
Publication Accompanies the Exhibition Alison and Peter Smithson - from the House of the
Future to a House of Today, Design Museum, London
8. Modernism without rhetoric: essays on the work of Alison and Peter Smithson / edited by
Helena Webster. London: Academy Editions; Lanham, Md.: Distributed to the trade in the United
States of America by National Book Network, Inc
9.Interview

with

Alison

and

Peter

Smithson,

http://jfa.arch.metu.edu.tr/archive/0258-

5316/1989/cilt09/sayi_1/67-104.pdf, 05/05/2015
10. PRUITT-IGOE: Dream to Nightmare, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gRuyhf2opY
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xEzkQDtQ8, 05/05/2015
12.http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/17/robin-hood-gardens-peter-alison-smithson-campaign-

save-demolition-twentieth-century-society/,05/05/2015
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture#cite_note-11), 05/05/2015
14. Reyner Banham, The New Brutalism, 1955, accessed through The Architectural Review