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

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The capital’s main collection, the Gropius-designed (but much-modified) Bauhaus-Archiv in the Tiergarten, is closed for a major revamp – and will stay that way for four years. Hill agrees: “The timber and render look has been replaced by a heavier solidity, references to classicism. We also kept the dining table that the previous owners had used in the flat for the past 20 years, so that was nice. 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. Once part of a local manor house estate, the land here was requisitioned during the first world war and afterwards parcelled up and sold as separate plots.

Neglected Utopia: Photographer explores the forgotten

Modernist Estates These homes on Modernist estates span decades of architectural experimentation, from early exercises in the movement such as Berthold Lubetkin’s seminal Highpoint in Highgate, right through to The Barbican, commissioned to provide mass inner city housing after World War Two. The views are incredible and we’re at the end, so we have two amazing views in different directions. Most of the interiors have a clinical yet relaxed and liveable feel, but for all the middle-class, Guardian-reading vibes, many of the locations’ best days are behind them, and author Stefi Orazi doesn’t shy away from admitting this.That’s one of the things that informed the business – the idea that, for one house, you would change everything.

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

He adds: "I got interested in their history, origins of their construction and their place in the actual society. While other estate agents are often regarded with suspicion, the Modern House is thought of by some of its fans as a friend. When she first spotted the listing, it was at an emotionally charged time – shortly after the death of her mother, when Bella was four months pregnant. The thing about the pure modern movement houses, especially the early ones, is they’re museum pieces,” Hill says.Any tour has to include the Grassi Museum complex (combining Neue Sachlichkeit with art deco), the Augustusplatz city square (for its ghosts as much as what remains), Stötteritz housing development and Crystal Palace-inspired Leipziger Messe (Trade Fair), built in 1993-6. On the other hand, a lot of the book is taken up with 'aspirational' lifestyle puff pieces interviewing various upper middle class incomers to the estates. But what marks out the Modern House is the enduring appeal of its aesthetic and the remarkable affection in which it is held. The construction (from 1959) is less robust than what we were used to in the Barbican Estate and sound thermal insulation is less than ideal. Enjoyed the detailed history of the different buildings/developments and even more so the interviews with those now living in the properties.

Modernist Estates Modernist Estates

Photographer Laurent Kronental was so moved by the living conditions of the Ensembles, he wanted to shed light on their older residents, people who are sometimes regarded as a forgotten generation. The architecture has such a bravery and grandiosity about it that feels quite at odds with the material it’s made of.It’s part of an ongoing see-saw of architectural taste, Grindrod argues, from the Tudorbethan styles of the 30s to the Scandi-modern design of the 50s, and then back to mock Tudor in the 80s. Having previously published a review of UK examples, mostly around London, Stefi Orazi has now taken the format across Europe to 15 estates from Scandinavia to Spain, and covering a period from the early 1930s right up to the completion of Neave Brown’s Medina project in Eindhoven in 2002. The peculiar thing about the Modern House is that it has become such a colossal hit with those who could never hope to afford even the cheapest of its listings.

Modernist Estates - Europe | Book Review | Urban Design Group Modernist Estates - Europe | Book Review | Urban Design Group

I wished to communicate with them, know their life and try to deconstruct this sometimes depreciating image of the old age which arises from our society.I painted all the door and window frames black — a key feature of the designs — I put ply flooring in, and a new kitchen that was sympathetic to the original. Featuring twenty-one modernist homes and their residents, including the Barbican, the Isokon, Balfron Tower and Park Hill, it provides an overview of the building, architects, historical and political context, and explores, with interviews and contemporary photography, what it's like to live on a modernist estate today. Keeling House was built between 1954 and 1957 to a design by Denys Lasdun, one of Britain’s greatest Modern architects, and was renovated to a very high standard by Munkenbeck + Marshall in 2001.