0:00:02 > 0:00:07BBC Four Collections, archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09For this collection, Janet Street-Porter has selected
0:00:09 > 0:00:12programmes about post-war architecture.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:16and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:16 > 0:00:17are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07In previous centuries, when people spoke of architecture,
0:01:07 > 0:01:12they usually meant grand buildings, not houses for ordinary people.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14But the triumph of Western architecture
0:01:14 > 0:01:17is not only the cathedrals and castles,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20it is also the sum of the streets and squares,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24the whole mix of public buildings with the masses of anonymous houses,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27both performing a harmonious ensemble.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34These houses were erected by London's County Council
0:01:34 > 0:01:36at the turn-of-the-century.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The many seemingly endless rows of houses,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42with their richness of craftsmanship and quality,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44might lack modern amenities,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47but their charm and their warm comfort is undeniable.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50They're good houses. They serve the people.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54They allow for neighbourliness. They're on a human scale.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56They promote the feeling of well-being.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01These houses tell many stories -
0:02:01 > 0:02:04personal ones, social ones and political ones.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12In the 1930s, many so-called "Siedlungen" -
0:02:12 > 0:02:16settlements - were built, especially in Germany.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Modern architects, like Le Corbusier, Gropius,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Mies van der Rohe, Bruno Taut and others
0:02:22 > 0:02:26applied the language of a modern and functional architecture
0:02:26 > 0:02:27to housing for the working man.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33This is the Horseshoe Siedlung by Bruno Taut in Berlin.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36It was built in 1930.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40With its clean lines and layout, it expresses the feeling of its period.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43At the same time, Taut created a humane environment
0:02:43 > 0:02:45for a large number of people.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50The houses had just enough anonymity to be urbane,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and enough individuality for people to identify with.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58These Siedlungen represented
0:02:58 > 0:03:01some of the best ideas of the modern movement.
0:03:03 > 0:03:0830 years later, the followers of the same movement built these.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12This is a modern housing estate in Berlin, named after
0:03:12 > 0:03:16one of the great architects of this century, Walter Gropius.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Architects and planners alike considered them
0:03:19 > 0:03:22to be healthier than the Victorian working cottages,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24more comfortable than the estates of the '20s
0:03:24 > 0:03:28and more urbane than the makeshift architecture of the post-war years.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33But did anyone really believe that people could associate
0:03:33 > 0:03:35with houses like these?
0:03:35 > 0:03:38What stories do they tell? What do they communicate?
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Much of this mass housing has ample green space,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48but people feel no responsibility towards it.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52They offer modern amenities, but they reduce people to numbers.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55They are over-planned, over-sanitised.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00When Walter Gropius saw the result,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03he was so incensed that he threatened to withdraw his name.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Faced with a thousand similar examples,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Mies van der Rohe, at the end of his life,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12when asked how he spent his days, replied,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14"I get up, I sit on the bed
0:04:14 > 0:04:16"and I think, 'What the hell went wrong?
0:04:16 > 0:04:18"'We showed them what to do.'"
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Even the unquestionable dedication and sincerity of the great masters
0:04:24 > 0:04:27cannot paper over the faults of many of their buildings
0:04:27 > 0:04:30erected during the post-war years.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32This is what Le Corbusier built in 1957
0:04:32 > 0:04:35for the architectural exhibition in Berlin.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39A vertical city housing 2,000 people.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42It was meant to be a shining example for future housing.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It soon fell into neglect.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48It is now in need of £1 million worth of repairs.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Many of these developments
0:04:53 > 0:04:57were considered to be the best examples of modern public housing.
0:04:57 > 0:04:58We've all seen worse.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02They're the work of committed architects like James Stirling,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05who built this housing estate in 1967.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Again, it was hailed as a new step in social housing.
0:05:12 > 0:05:13Mass housing.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18I think that, in a way, the word itself gives a lot of clues.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23I mean, people are not easily, um...typecast.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Individuals are individuals,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and the idea of mass housing
0:05:29 > 0:05:32and the image of mass housing
0:05:32 > 0:05:35is about a stereotype into which
0:05:35 > 0:05:39everybody fits on a large-scale production line,
0:05:39 > 0:05:45and possibly the past image of industry
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and production lines is probably about as obsolete
0:05:48 > 0:05:53in industry's terms as the concept of mass housing,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56in its past form, is about housing.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Soon, people realised that high-rises
0:06:00 > 0:06:03were totally unsuitable for public housing.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08Stories of vandalised and obsolete tower blocks built after
0:06:08 > 0:06:11the latest social findings were picked up by the media.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14But the message took a long time to sink in.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17When this housing estate
0:06:17 > 0:06:20by the leading French architect Henri Ciriani
0:06:20 > 0:06:24was opened in France in 1980, Kenneth Frampton,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27one of the most esteemed international architectural critics,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29had this to say.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33"For me, this is the only effort made in France
0:06:33 > 0:06:37"since the Unite d'Habitation by Le Corbusier in Marseille
0:06:37 > 0:06:42"to demonstrate a new potential for achieving a level of civility
0:06:42 > 0:06:44"comparable to the high level of urban order
0:06:44 > 0:06:47"attained in historic civilisation."
0:06:52 > 0:06:55No-one can pretend there are easy solutions
0:06:55 > 0:06:59for the uncoordinated visual mess in which most of us now live.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02The self-interest and greed of our society
0:07:02 > 0:07:04always seem to have the last word.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07There are, of course, individual efforts for better housing,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10but we fall short of any concerted one.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Very often, good architecture is for the rich.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25The poor have to live in junk.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Fortunately, the general wind of change breathing through
0:07:36 > 0:07:40the architectural world is also affecting housing.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43There is an increasing number of schemes sensitively designed
0:07:43 > 0:07:46with people and locality in mind.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Some architects have succeeded in designing houses
0:07:49 > 0:07:51which give their inhabitants are feeling of delight,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54and which let some care showing through.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Small might not automatically be beautiful, but it is manageable.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04One of the early attempts to get away from high-rise
0:08:04 > 0:08:08was London's Alexandra Road, built in 1977 by Neave Brown.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14The shape of the block was dictated by its position
0:08:14 > 0:08:16near to a busy railway line.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19The architect created an inward looking space,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21free from noise and pollution.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25It replaced a row of large Victorian houses with gardens
0:08:25 > 0:08:28offering accommodation for 700 people.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The new scheme had to house twice as many.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34A piece of architectural showmanship,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36the high-rise was simply laid horizontal,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39creating the longest terrace in London.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55But long access terraces and pedestrian walkways
0:08:55 > 0:08:58create as desolate a feeling as do long corridors.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01The brutalism of the material, the scale
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and, most of all, the high density
0:09:03 > 0:09:06has again produced anonymity and monotony.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11As so often before, the aspiration of the architects
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and those of the tenants were not the same.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Colebeck Mews in North London by David Ford was built in 1978.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Varying roof heights and brick vernacular
0:09:27 > 0:09:28create a homely feeling.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32This is a pleasant, small scheme, easily expandable.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34A picturesque arrangement of houses.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41A network of lanes and alleys evokes the atmosphere of a village.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Individual front gardens give a sense of private ownership.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Like many of his housing estates which are built now,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52it uses familiar typologies.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58This is an environment people want,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00although architecturally predictable.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03It is recreating the vocabulary of the past.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18In the Scott Estate, also in North London,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21built by the Islington Architects Department in 1981,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23the temptation to make everything
0:10:23 > 0:10:26quaint and suburban has been avoided.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31The terraced houses on a busy road were modelled
0:10:31 > 0:10:34on an existing Victorian townhouse.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37The underlying principle was to produce a scheme in sympathy
0:10:37 > 0:10:40with the adjoining area, both in scale and material.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44This, again, is traditional architecture
0:10:44 > 0:10:48with some post-modern detailing in the decoration which gives it unity.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Each facade has been treated differently.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02All of them echo familiar features
0:11:02 > 0:11:05of London 19th-century terrace houses -
0:11:05 > 0:11:09railings, bay windows, steps, porches.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16On the inside, a variety of spaces, easy to relate to.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Much care has been taken to create a street life
0:11:19 > 0:11:22with alleys and archways - a town within a town.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29A tranquil solution compensating for the noisy situation of the front.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32This certainly is pleasant,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36the right scale and with most people's aspirations in mind.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40But it is still a very traditional reworking of Victorian themes.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Everywhere, vernacular architecture is paying lip service to the past.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53Polychrome brickwork, pitched roofs, bay or arched windows,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55open stairways and extravagant ironwork,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58without the handicraft tradition, are all the rage.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Many of the British schemes are typical of British compromise.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10While providing pleasant enough dwellings,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12they fall between two stools.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15They lack the clarity of a modern design,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18but they also ill-define the past they're trying to emulate.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22The result is fussy and culturally confused.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Anything vernacular will do, except that which smacks of a modern style.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32One thing is certain - people like to live in these houses.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37So, what chance is there for modern architecture in public housing?
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Maiden Lane in north London is a vast public housing scheme
0:12:46 > 0:12:48with a mixture of different sized flats
0:12:48 > 0:12:51and individual houses totalling 500 dwellings.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Over 1,000 people live here. It was finished in 1983.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01The architects were Gordon Benson and Alan Forsyth,
0:13:01 > 0:13:02a young London team.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It is blatantly modern -
0:13:04 > 0:13:07no folksiness or picturesque quality here.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The architects have taken their cue from Le Corbusier
0:13:11 > 0:13:13and the other masters of the modern movement.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41Maiden Lane offers all the amenities for which people have been fighting.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Playgrounds, community halls, squash courts and shops.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50A whole system of pedestrian routes and public squares
0:13:50 > 0:13:52aims at making the housing estate less like a ghetto,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and enriches the life of the inhabitants.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10So, why does it look so pathetically shabby
0:14:10 > 0:14:12after only a few years of its existence,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15rejected by the very people it was built for?
0:14:18 > 0:14:20The council claims that the use of white concrete
0:14:20 > 0:14:23is not suitable for the English climate.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Indeed, most of the '30s dwellings look shabby today,
0:14:27 > 0:14:28if not constantly maintained.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33The architects claim that the council was too much concerned
0:14:33 > 0:14:35with reducing the housing list.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Instead of creating a population mix,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40they allowed too many asocial elements to move on.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46The architect is powerless in isolation.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49The architect exists in a real-life world,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52and he needs the inspiration of the client.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57And, if you look at the political idealism in terms of mass housing
0:14:57 > 0:15:00inthis country, then it tells its own story.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04It's been very much about political statistics.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08It's been very much about expediency, short-term thinking
0:15:08 > 0:15:12andnot too much to do with taking a longerterm view
0:15:12 > 0:15:16related to any more civilised concepts of lifestyle.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18So it's a chicken and egg situation.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21That's not to say that architects don't have a responsibility
0:15:21 > 0:15:23for the environment - they most certainly do.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29But the real reason for its failure is much deeper and much simpler.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The people who were moved here had no say in their environment.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35They were not consulted.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Town planners and architects provided them with a place
0:15:38 > 0:15:42according to their ideas and dreams, not those of the inhabitants.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44The people responsible thought that
0:15:44 > 0:15:47when the housing block was finished their work was done.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50In reality, that's when the life of a block begins.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Educating the people as to how to use new and unfamiliar spaces
0:15:55 > 0:15:57is as important as continuous maintenance.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06How can people be made responsible
0:16:06 > 0:16:08for anything beyond their front doors
0:16:08 > 0:16:11if they feel that society cares so little?
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Giving them a roof is obviously not enough.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25I think there are two factors here.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28First of all, the private sector, asin the Continent,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32flat blocks are rigorously controlled at the entrance.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34They have a concierge, they have a porter,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37you have to press a bell toget in, people can'twander in
0:16:37 > 0:16:40off the streets and get at the lifts and vandalise them.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Secondly, the people who live in tall blocks
0:16:42 > 0:16:45in the private sectorchoose.
0:16:45 > 0:16:46It is their choice.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52The people who go into flat blocks in the public sector,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57they are allocated,and they don't have so much choice,
0:16:57 > 0:17:02and you are not going to even try to make yourself comfortable
0:17:02 > 0:17:06if you have been put into aflat 20 floors up
0:17:06 > 0:17:09when you'd actually prefer to have a garden,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11and that is a problem.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14I don't think there's anything inherently wrong
0:17:14 > 0:17:17in tall blocks of flats, there are people who actually want them,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19but it's not the sort of accommodation
0:17:19 > 0:17:22you can provide willy-nilly and then allocate people to.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Often it is not what people do in buildings that dominates
0:17:26 > 0:17:29the architect's thinking, but how he expects them to react.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35A building detaches itself quickly from the architect's intention.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39It is taken over by the people who use it,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and the final use of a building is often very different
0:17:42 > 0:17:44from the one the architect had originally planned.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48We must realise that the real destiny of a building
0:17:48 > 0:17:51is in its usage, not in the process of designing.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57As an architect, in confrontation to this problem
0:17:57 > 0:17:59of social apartment building,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03you have to stand on a very ideal platform.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06You must have a very deep love to the problem of housing.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10It's one of the most...
0:18:10 > 0:18:13elementary problems of architecture, isn't it?
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Becauseeverybody has to live every day in this life.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Every minute in this day, you are in confrontation
0:18:21 > 0:18:23with the living problem.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Your table before you.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28The door you open 100 times in a day -
0:18:28 > 0:18:30all that is architecture.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Rob Krier is one of the leading architects working in Germany.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38He was asked to build a large social housing block
0:18:38 > 0:18:41in a working-class district of Berlin.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Together with a team of six architects,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47he built 23 apartment houses meant to serve as prototypes
0:18:47 > 0:18:49for other social housing schemes.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52The houses are clustered around three courtyards,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55each with a distinctively different character.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58The first one, with several small gardens,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00puts the emphasis on private use.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03The centre one serves as a grand entrance.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07While the third is a large communal space.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12There is the whole vocabulary of the post-modernist school -
0:19:12 > 0:19:17columns, colourful windows, unusual facades.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20The use of different architects produced a varied
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and yet unified picture.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27By giving people a familiar feature,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29such as the typical Berlin courtyard,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Rob Krier hopes to make them accept
0:19:31 > 0:19:33the modern architecture more readily.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Krier believes that the city should be built in blocks,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39instead of endless rows of streets,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41a housing form which generates
0:19:41 > 0:19:43a fertile interaction of many activities.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45It becomes a neighbourhood
0:19:45 > 0:19:47and creates an environment full of incident.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It promotes the feeling of belonging.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57You need the block as a basic urban unit.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00And in that block, the house is a cell,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02how to live in, let's say,
0:20:02 > 0:20:07a neighbourhood of some 10, 12, 15, 18 families in one house.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13The block as a basic urban unit to build up a citystructure,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17because only between blocks you can find streets
0:20:17 > 0:20:21and the kind of composition of streets and squares.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25The difference with Maiden Lane is obvious.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Everywhere the evidence of people's imagination,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31love and pride in their home.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34The total absence of neglect.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Of course, here, money has been spent on maintenance and repair
0:20:37 > 0:20:43and the scale is hardly comparable - 146 apartments as opposed to 500.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46But the main difference is in the approach.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50The largely foreign inhabitants - Turkish guest workers -
0:20:50 > 0:20:52were asked to participate in the planning.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56The result of this consultation was a much less dictated environment,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58leaving enough room for the individual.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03Everywhere, the possibility for self-expression and spontaneity.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Architects are learning that people resent too much planning.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Too much planned beauty leads to loss of spontaneity, even freedom.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Very few delights you have as an architect...
0:21:20 > 0:21:24a buildinggetsfinished and the people come in
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and they take it over.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28They throw out the architect
0:21:28 > 0:21:31andthey bring their personal, private kitsch in the building.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35They transform all your geometries inside completely,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37but they are happy inside.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42The flats, too, allow for individuality.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Different apartments experiment with a variety of layouts,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49more personal than in the usual housing schemes.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54There are maisonettes, open-plan living.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06This is architecture which grew out of its time and locality.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11One side quotes an old facade by Schinkel,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Berlin's great classical architect,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17reminding the inhabitants of the house which once stood here.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Another facade echoes the redbrick architecture
0:22:20 > 0:22:23of the factory buildings so typical of this part of the town.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33This is architecture of the '80s
0:22:33 > 0:22:35with just enough feeling of the past.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38By using a rather restrained, post-modern language,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Krier and his team have made contemporary architecture
0:22:41 > 0:22:43acceptable to many people.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Rob Krier also built this housing estate in Berlin.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Again, several architects worked under his supervision.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It demonstrates clearly what a tightrope
0:22:56 > 0:22:58the post-modernists are walking.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02The desire to give in to people's love for the whimsical
0:23:03 > 0:23:06is a trap for many architects in love with playfulness.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08This estate has little to do
0:23:08 > 0:23:10with the architecture of a big metropolis -
0:23:10 > 0:23:14a suburban cosiness, instead of urban vitality.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Dolls' houses with gingham curtains
0:23:16 > 0:23:19might create a warm and cosy atmosphere,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22but they do not advance the cause of modern architecture.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Too often, the architect is more interested in broadcasting
0:23:25 > 0:23:28his own vision than in providing decent housing.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32The architect wants to establish himself
0:23:32 > 0:23:36as a kind of creative individual, and ie, quote-unquote, an artist,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and get himself publicised in the media.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41There is an unfortunate tendency there to kind of over-emphasise
0:23:41 > 0:23:44the issue of style and simply to, you know,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47manifest thiskind of creative thrust
0:23:47 > 0:23:50in places which are sometimes inappropriate.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54I think, in a way, a lot of housing architecture should really
0:23:54 > 0:23:56be rather quiet, should be a kind of background.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Certainly the most amazing apartment blocks built
0:24:02 > 0:24:05anywhere in the world today are in France.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08They are the work of the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Bofill is considered by some as the messiah of social housing.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Others see in him a kind of Liberace of modern architecture.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21The young Barcelona architect has over the last few years
0:24:21 > 0:24:23built large council estates.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26The most spectacular one is The Viaduct
0:24:26 > 0:24:29in Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines near Paris.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33It was completed in 1982, a Chenonceau for the poor.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42The French have always had a great liking for monumentalism,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45but this amazed even the stoutest defender of the flamboyant.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Bofill tries to revive the classical style
0:24:49 > 0:24:51with its porticos and architraves.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57This is architecture which uses the language
0:24:57 > 0:24:59of Bernini and Vitruvius.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Everything breathes grandeur and solidity.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16The urban place has become a stage set.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Bofill is Mediterranean.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25He has said that, "When I am in a Greek temple,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28"it is as if I were in my own room."
0:25:30 > 0:25:32HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Inside the large complex is a series of avenues and squares
0:26:18 > 0:26:20recreating the feeling of a city.
0:26:22 > 0:26:23HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:27:02 > 0:27:05There are 450 apartments of different sizes
0:27:05 > 0:27:07clustered around very generous public spaces.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Whatever one might think of the aesthetics,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Bofill's buildings give their inhabitants a visual identity.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36They also break with the pattern of freestanding tower blocks.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Bofill wants to design urban complexes
0:27:39 > 0:27:41in a basically suburban environment.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50France's preference for precast concrete construction
0:27:50 > 0:27:54has produced some of Europe's most horrid satellite towns.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01In Marne-la-Vallee near Paris,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05efforts are being made to break with the dreary cityscape.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Ricardo Bofill was asked to build apartment houses.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11He came up with another castle for the poor.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14It is housing as a monument.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Form finally triumphing over function.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27One has constantly to remind oneself that this is social housing.
0:28:27 > 0:28:33Ten stories of monumentality quoting Palladio, Ledoux and Gaudi.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42Bofill's designs have been exhibited
0:28:42 > 0:28:45in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47His buildings have become places of pilgrimage
0:28:47 > 0:28:49for architectural tourists,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52a favourite background for fashion photographers.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58The first impact is certainly staggering,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00but once the initial shock has passed,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03one becomes quickly aware of the empty rhetoric
0:29:03 > 0:29:05and the expression of wooden lifelessness.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08The overwhelming scale is oppressive.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22However, Bofill's genuine concern for the welfare of people
0:29:22 > 0:29:26has produced flats of generous proportions and flexible layouts.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28Heavily subsidised, they allow people
0:29:29 > 0:29:32to either rent or purchase the premises.
0:29:46 > 0:29:52Despite all this concern, one cannot avoid a sense of profound malaise.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55One suspects that these buildings did not grow out of a desire
0:29:55 > 0:29:57to come to a more complex relationship
0:29:57 > 0:30:00between the inhabitants and their building
0:30:00 > 0:30:03but out of a desire to advertise, to be interesting.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05A forced aestheticism
0:30:05 > 0:30:09cannot distract from the harshness of people's existence.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11The entrance through a Doric portal
0:30:11 > 0:30:14does not change the fact that most of the inhabitants are poor.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20What can a quote of the 19th-century architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux
0:30:20 > 0:30:24possibly mean to a Vietnamese refugee trying to find a new home?
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Architectural hubris is not the best basis on which to build.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32On the positive side,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Bofill's houses lend a dramatic touch to the environment.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38They break up the monotony of most new towns,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41an individual expression in a world of endless
0:30:41 > 0:30:44undifferentiated surfaces of concrete.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46The corner of the town has found an identity.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55The question remains -
0:30:55 > 0:30:59is this architecture able to enrich people's lives?
0:31:00 > 0:31:04HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:31:54 > 0:31:57The '80s have again produced the architect
0:31:57 > 0:31:59as a narcissistic artist,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01using architecture to express his private vision.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07How quickly such a road can lead to architectural kitsch
0:32:07 > 0:32:11is amply demonstrated by the housing block next to the Abraxas Palace.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13This, too, is social housing.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18The architect is another Spaniard, Manolo Nunez.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24His Arenes de Picasso were finished in 1985.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Two giant drums, like a Swiss cheese, comprising 540 flats.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41The detailing of the precast concrete is superb,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43the exuberance overwhelming.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52The architect uses a whole range of quotes,
0:32:52 > 0:32:54from the rose windows of Chartres
0:32:54 > 0:32:57to the fanlights of a French railway station.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01There are Gaudi-inspired buttresses.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05The whole thing looks like a blend of Piranesi
0:33:05 > 0:33:08and a computer console, as one critic has pointed out.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Many architects, realising that the tower block is dead,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23take refuge in nostalgia.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Faced with the blowing up buildings and the abuse from the media
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and the public alike, many of them have lost their nerve.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34A suburban sleepiness is descending on our housing estates,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37replacing the vitality of bigger towns.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41A few miles from Bofill's palaces,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45architects are trying to recreate the feeling of an old town square.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51Gabled roofs, windows with shutters.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Wood and brick have replaced concrete.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Like their British counterparts, they're tremendously popular.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05Their gentility and folksiness
0:34:05 > 0:34:07correspond to the universal idea of a house.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13A child's idea of a house is usually one of a bungalow with a roof,
0:34:13 > 0:34:16not a large square box.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Even the most inspired architect cannot change this.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24When we're dealing with housing, we're talking about personal taste.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28These rows of cute houses are what most people want,
0:34:28 > 0:34:32and only a highly sophisticated urban and well-off society -
0:34:32 > 0:34:35as in New York, for instance - will accept different concepts.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38And, even there, the longing for suburbia is strong.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45These houses take their images from a society of the 19th century.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49Can we rebuild a society by rebuilding these backgrounds?
0:34:49 > 0:34:51These stage sets?
0:34:55 > 0:34:58There are now more and more schemes offering modern alternatives
0:34:58 > 0:35:01to the quaint and sleepy suburban dream.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Because they are usually unspectacular and uncontroversial,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06they hardly ever reach the headlines.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11They are often done by small firms and on a small scale,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13but they do give hope
0:35:13 > 0:35:15that we have not totally lost the art of building.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18For instance, a housing block by Roland Castro
0:35:18 > 0:35:20in the new town of Marne-la-Vallee
0:35:20 > 0:35:23is a fresh and clean approach to present-day housing.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31The architecture is calm and assured, a logical organisation.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Even a child will not lose his way.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Cars are banned,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42and the mostly communal green spaces have easy access.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46The architecture takes its cue from the modern movement,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49softening its impact by adding some colourful touches
0:35:49 > 0:35:51in windows and doors.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53This is architecture of the '80s
0:35:53 > 0:35:56without the often tiresome effects of post-modernism.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59It does not always have to be brick.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07In another new town, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Henri Gaudin has built a series of apartment houses
0:36:10 > 0:36:12around a quiet pedestrian walkway.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18The architecture plays with various volumes,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22a play of cubes and cylinders.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Most prominently, large, column-like elements
0:36:24 > 0:36:27which contain the individual staircases.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Despite its suburban location, it is assured and urbane.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59The Odhams Walk council estate was completed in 1981.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It stands in the middle of London's Covent Garden district.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07The architects were Ball and O'Connor.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12The block is broken up by interesting shapes
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and by disposing windows and terraces.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33Architecture is not just a building. It is also what happens around it.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37The spaces between skyscrapers are usually meaningless,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39they belong to nobody.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44The spaces between small buildings are meaningful, they are flexible.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47They allow for individual development.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Many of the flats are clustered around inner courtyards.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54Instead of dimly lit corridors,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56there are small alleys, like streets,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58allowing the inhabitants to participate
0:37:58 > 0:38:00in the goings-on of the whole block.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04There are public and private spaces,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06most of the flats have their own terraces,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09and tenants are encouraged to use the space
0:38:09 > 0:38:11in front of their own doors for planting.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16An architecture which allows coincidences to develop.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26The housing schemes by Gaudin, Castro and others
0:38:26 > 0:38:30demonstrate clearly that modern architecture can produce
0:38:30 > 0:38:34buildings which are part of a living environment.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38They are an affirmation that there is a contemporary alternative
0:38:38 > 0:38:42to mere containers or the imitations of a bygone age.