Category Archives: Housing

No More Buildings

The Labour government has recently announced plans to build 1.5 million homes. Keir Starmer has promised ‘shovels in the ground and cranes in the sky’, suggesting that this is the only way to create that most mysterious place, the future. All this digging of trenches, pouring of concrete, chopping down of trees and no doubtContinue reading “No More Buildings”

The Gateway Flats, Dover

The Gateway Flats in Dover were completed in 1959. Over 200 council flats, with sea views and easy access to the sweeping, curving promenade by the harbour. There was some controversy at the time, and small echoes of that rumble on. Why should council tenants have such elegant and graceful housing? Why this intelligent andContinue reading “The Gateway Flats, Dover”

Cité-jardins de Champigny-sur-Marne

“In Paris in 1885, a judge declared that for a landlord to be compelled to lay on water in his houses for the use of the tenants was an interference with the liberty of the subject, and held that a water-supply was not an indispensable necessity for maintaining the healthiness of the a dwelling” CatherineContinue reading “Cité-jardins de Champigny-sur-Marne”

Ostheim, Stuttgart

Ostheim was discovered by chance, and perhaps the experience was more enjoyable for that. I was going to the REWE supermarket to buy a couple of bottles of beer. I walked along Landhausstrasse and slowly my senses started to pick up that there was something rather attractive here, rather unusual, in the local streets. I’mContinue reading “Ostheim, Stuttgart”

Otto Prutscher

There are many routes to follow in tracing Red Vienna. Walking towards a planned destination; walking as a means of discovery, walking as an ambient experience within the envelopment of the city. Walking as both a journey and a destination. There is no need for rules or dogma. Chance, accident-ism, everything and anything. Walking inContinue reading “Otto Prutscher”

Karl Seitz Hof

The U-bahn train on line U3 came to a momentary stop outside Florisdorf station. It was a moment to catch up with myself. It’s like you suddenly become yourself again, remember who you are, waking up from a walking daydream through the city streets. An elderly woman walked past me pulling a shopping trolley. SheContinue reading “Karl Seitz Hof”

Sandleiten Gemeindebau, Vienna

It is not obvious that there are over 1,500 apartments in the Sandleiten estate, housing perhaps 5 – 6,000 people. There is a powerful sense of air, light, space, nature. The original planning and architectural principles of Rote Wien are well expressed. The estate was built in phases between 1924 – 29 and is theContinue reading “Sandleiten Gemeindebau, Vienna”

Josef Wiedenhofer Hof

A Sunday Afternoon Walk. On the Hernalser Hauptstrasse there is a Turkish baker’s that sells the most delicious bread rolls and Mohnkuchen. The inside of the bread is as fluffy as one imagines a cloud to be. The outer crust just the right amount of crisp. I slice through the bread rolls and spread thickContinue reading “Josef Wiedenhofer Hof”

Goethehof, Vienna: First Impressions

What follows is just a word-sketch of an afternoon visit to Goethehof in Vienna. I have flawed conversational German, have never visited any archive in Vienna (although I would like to) and have access to only a small number of books while I’m staying in the city. But sometimes impressions can be useful in termsContinue reading “Goethehof, Vienna: First Impressions”