Author: Simon Elmer

Harrods and the Social Cleansing of London

There was a disproportionately large police presence last Saturday at the United Voices of the World demonstration at Harrods Department Store. The protest was called in support of 450 waiters and chefs demanding they receive 100 per cent of their tips from customers, rather than the 25 per cent they are currently receiving, which reduces … Continue reading Harrods and the Social Cleansing of London

Tower, Slab, Superblock: Social Housing Legacies and Futures

‘In 2004, architects Anne Lacaton, Jean-Philippe Vassal, and Frédéric Druot authored a manifesto on the value of renovation over demolition with a powerful opening statement: “Never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform and reuse!” Their study, PLUS, came in response to an architectural competition to replace a 1960s high-rise apartment building on the … Continue reading Tower, Slab, Superblock: Social Housing Legacies and Futures

Avant-Garde Architecture: The Seagram Building

The lesson of modernism was that meaning comes not from content but from relationship. If – and God help our students if we were – ASH was teaching a class in architecture, our first lesson would be to ask our students to write an essay on the Seagram Building, for our money among the best … Continue reading Avant-Garde Architecture: The Seagram Building

15 Truths About London’s Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 1)

ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part One) London is experiencing a housing crisis, unprecedented in its severity, whose solution demands taking tough decisions. An already densely populated island is predicted to see a major increase in population, and nowhere more so than in its capital. An influx of migrants and refugees … Continue reading 15 Truths About London’s Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 1)

2 or 3 Solutions to London’s Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 2)

ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part Two) One of the key ways in which ASH is responding to this threat to our social housing is through the production of architectural alternatives to estate demolition through designs for infill, roof extensions and refurbishment that increase the housing capacity on the estates and … Continue reading 2 or 3 Solutions to London’s Housing Crisis: ASH Presentation to the Architectural League of New York (Part 2)

Future Estates: ASH presentation at the Royal Academy

We are repeatedly told that London is facing an unprecedented housing crisis, and it is generally agreed that we must build 50,000 new homes a year to address this. We are told that the newly categorised brownfield land available to local authorities is mainly on council estates - and that these estates, as a direct result … Continue reading Future Estates: ASH presentation at the Royal Academy

Resist Guinness Evictions: Campaign for Beti

Last night I met up with Beti, a former tenant of the Loughborough Park Estate in Brixton, which was demolished by the Guinness Partnership last year, resulting in the loss of 180 homes for social rent. Having been evicted from her Assured Shorthold Tenancy, which she had held for 10 years, Beti lost her business, … Continue reading Resist Guinness Evictions: Campaign for Beti

Kidbrooke Village: Our Vision for Your Future

A Non-Place in the Making ‘If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, or historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place. Supermodernity produces non-places, meaning spaces which are not themselves anthropological places and which, unlike modernity, do not integrate … Continue reading Kidbrooke Village: Our Vision for Your Future