I was surprised to learn that until the
early seventies, Victorian architecture was often referred to as ‘monstrosities’ and these buildings were regularly demolished. In 1966 the British Railways board proposed
to demolish St Pancras Station to make way for modern buildings. Sir John Benjeman fought for the building to
stay, changing the way we look at architecture as a piece of history rather
than just bricks. On 2nd
November 1967 St Pancras became a listed building to preserve historical architecture
despite shifts in societies tastes that may demolish buildings now that would
be regenerated in the future.
David Cameron has revealed plans to
bulldoze one hundred estates and high-rise blocks pledging £140 million for his
regeneration project. These high-rise
buildings built throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s are now seeing
this same shift in taste that Victorian architecture saw and are being set to
be demolished.
Iconic brutalistic estates such as The
Heygate Estate in south London, homing over 3000 people was controversially
demolished in 2014 despite protesting from the residents. In 2013 after another failed attempt by residents,
Robin Hood Gardens, designed by influential British architects the Smithsons
was also knocked down.
This style of brutalistic architecture is often
looked upon as havens for drug users and criminals making the case for
demolition.
This film will focus on a local high-rise tower;
it will show opinions and preconceptions of ‘outsiders’ and how they
compare to that of the residents. It
will focus on the structure, carefully looking at the concrete structure in a
new light, finding the beauty in the brutal.
After having to explain the above mood board, I have decided that it is clearly not doing its job properly. I need to think more about the feel and sense of the movie, the colour pallet and style over the concepts and their representations. I will try again...
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