Robin Hood Gardens

Robin Hood Gardens is a council housing complex in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. It was intended as an example of the 'streets in the sky' concept: social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much like the Park Hill estate in Sheffield, and as a British response to projects like Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.

The estate covers about two hectares and consists of two long blocks, one of ten storeys, the other of seven, built from precast concrete slabs and containing 213 flats, surrounding a landscaped green area and a small hill made from construction spoil. The flats themselves are a mixture of single-storey apartments and two-storey maisonettes, with wide balconies (the 'streets') on every third floor. The complex is located near Blackwall DLR station within sight of the nearby Balfron Tower.

Preservation status

There is now a campaign [ [http://www.bdonline.co.uk/feature.asp?featurecode=12173 Building Design campaign to save Robin Hood Gardens] ] to get Robin Hood Gardens listed as a historical landmark in order to save it from destruction. However, English Heritage failed to back the proposal. [ [http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=725&storycode=3113115&c=1&encCode=00000000014c6f67 English Heritage fails to back Robin Hood Gardens] ]

Campaigners have not given up the fight, with Alan Powers, Chairman of the 20th Century Society, calling it a "unique place". [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/architecture_and_design/article4023353.ece Robin Hood Gardens: for and against] ]

However, Building Design (Online) reported on the 1st July 2008 that Robin Hood Gardens will NOT be listed . [http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3117112&origin=BDbreakingnews]

ee also

*Alison and Peter Smithson
*Brutalist architecture
*Hunstanton School
*coord|51|30|34.33|N|0|0|32.25|W|scale:5000 Maps of Robin Hood Gardens at

Citations

External links

* [http://www.hughpearman.com/articles5/smithsons.html Meet the Smithsons]
* [http://www.c20society.org.uk/docs/press/080701_robin_hood_gardens.html Information from the Twentieth Century Society on the campaign to protect Robin Hood Gardens]