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

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Many people go to Berlin to eat sausages, drink lager and gawp at what’s left of the Wall. They might add on a trip to related exhibitions portraying life in the DDR or the Spy Museum. Bauhaus, by contrast, is not merely a past movement; it is a force in the present day, offering nuanced insights into German life and art. In art books, modernism is usually presented as rootless, but much of what we now think of as new has its roots in Dessau and Weimar.

Modern House | Selling the UK’s most inspiring living spaces The Modern House | Selling the UK’s most inspiring living spaces

Prior to moving here, I’d lived in Golden Lane Estate and the Barbican Estate, so I had accumulated quite a few pieces of furniture. I’ve always tended to buy mid-century classics such as a Robin Day sofa, Alvar Aalto table and a George Nelson bed. Not because I want to live in a museum, but because their proportions tend to fit smaller spaces better than modern, bulky furniture. I’ve bought a few pieces specifically for this flat, including an Alfred Roth daybed. My favourite piece of furniture, however, is by the contemporary furniture designer Michael Marriott. I have his Croquet shelving – simple oak uprights with colourful folded sheet steel shelves. I just love them and they’ve moved with me across five different flats over the last 15 years. A few years later, when they were both journalists writing about architecture and design, Hill had what he describes as a “lightbulb moment” – realising he could apply the same approach he had taken to selling collectable trainers and furniture to selling collectable houses. “And I didn’t need to put them in my dad’s garage.” What a very interesting and a amazing read. I do judge a book by its cover and I loved this books cover so nice and simple just drew me into reading it. I didn't actually read what the book was about but I was pleasantly surprised that not only was was it a fantastic history of modernist architecture but also show pictures of an apartment and about the people who live their to. It was brilliant I loved every minute of this book. I learnt so much from reading this book and also learning about the types of people choosing to live in these very unique buildings. The questions the author asked each resident were so interesting and made for brilliant reading. I must admit modernist buildings are not my cup of tea but it still fascinated me and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading the books. The layout of the book was brilliant. I loved all the photographs included in this book. The only thing I would of liked to see more of was a picture from the same angle of the buildings present day to see the comparison of of when it was build to todays picture. 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.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." 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). 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.” During this guided walk, the architects will be discussing their respective designs and the challenges and opportunities of infill housing and estate regeneration. As part of the tour, we will also talk through Camden Council’s programme to upgrade the open and green spaces on the estate.

How a cash-strapped generation fell for the fantasy world of

The Modern House London offices occupy the ground floor of St Alphege hall, a 1930s church hall in Borough, south London. Here, Matt Gibberd and his business partner, Albert Hill, employ 25 office-based staff; they have more across the country. Both 41, they met at school in Dorset, where Gibberd recalls that Hill “was very much always an entrepreneurial spirit. Even in those days he was always up to something. He decided he wanted to collect obscure training shoes, so he would buy these boxfresh Nikes and store them in his cupboard.” Hill would sell the trainers to collectors in Japan. “And then his dad had a garage studio where you couldn’t get through the door because it had all of Albert’s Memphis Group furniture in it.”There has also been a shift in our approach to location. When the Modern House launched, it broke with the conventional estate agent model of serving only one geographical area. “Instead, we celebrate the house and try and attract people from beyond that area,” says Gibberd. 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 exterior of each complex is featured, along with an informative article about how the building was designed and what its fate has become over time. Then a resident is interviewed with a standard set of questions and there is a set of stunning photographs of the interior of their homes. It's amazing how much beauty can be found even in the most brutal of brutalist structures! 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.