future london

Parliament Square rice paddies

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 15, 2010

This view across Parliament Square shows paddy fields running up to the walls of the Palace of Westminster. The land that once housed political protest is now part of the city’s food production effort.

In this scenario London has adapted to rising water tables in radical ways. Managed flooding is now the name of the game, as is self-sufficiency in food. Central London is a network of rice paddies – and Londoners’ diet is largely rice-based.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Posted in Images | 2 Comments

Thames Tidal Power

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 15, 2010

The river remains a focus of power generation, just as it was for the great coal-powered power stations of old.  Around the old Thames Barrier a number of new tidal power stations are using the tidal flows up and down the Thames to generate electricity for thousands of London businesses and homes.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Background photography © Jason Hawkes

Posted in Images | Leave a comment

‘The Gherkin’

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 15, 2010

The iconic City office tower is now high-rise housing. Originally converted into luxury flats, the block soon slid down the social scale to become a high-density, multi-occupation tower block. The Gherkin now worries the authorities as a potential slum.

Refugees from equatorial lands have moved north in search of food. They make their homes in the buildings that once drove world finance – before the collapse of the global economy.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Posted in Images | Leave a comment

Skating at Tower Bridge

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 15, 2010

As the Gulf Stream slows a mini ice-age brings temporary relief to heat-weary Londoners. Winter skating becomes London’s most popular sport and Tower Bridge is a favourite spot.

The scene harks back to the 17th century when artists loved to paint London’s Frost Fairs. Then, the Thames froze over because the river flowed sluggishly. Now, the river flows quickly but every winter the temperature falls to new lows.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Background photography © Jason Hawkes

Posted in Images | 4 Comments

Kew Nuclear Power Station

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 15, 2010

The sunset over Kew Gardens catches London’s brand new nuclear power station on the banks of the Thames.

Nuclear power is now widely accepted as the only viable alternative to fossil fuels. Expert opinion confirms that new power stations are best located near the populations they serve and architects strive to create new ‘harmonious’ landmarks. This is nothing new for London, which has a tradition of siting its power stations in its middle: Battersea, for example.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Background photography © Jason Hawkes

Posted in Images | Leave a comment

Buckingham Palace Shanty

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 4, 2010

The climate refugee crisis reaches epic proportions. The vast shanty town that stretches across London’s centre leaves historic buildings marooned, including Buckingham Palace.

The Royal family is surrounded in their London home. Everybody is on the move and the flooded city centre is now uninhabitable and empty – apart from the thousands of shanty-dwellers. But should empty buildings and land be opened up to climate refugees?

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Background photography © Jason Hawkes 

Posted in Images | 2 Comments

Trafalgar Square Shanty

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 4, 2010

Nelson looks down on a shanty town of climate refugees. As the equatorial belt becomes uninhabitable, so people are driven north in search of food and security. People settle wherever they can and many reach London.

This is the political dilemma of the day for all European countries. The numbers are overwhelming. London’s strategy is to cluster the new arrivals in the historic centre, rather than spread them through the suburbs, where most Londoners now live.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Posted in Images | Leave a comment

Camel Guards Parade

By ADMIN | Published: OCTOBER 4, 2010

 

Traditional rituals have altered beyond recognition, along with the climate. Here, on Horse Guards Parade, horses have been replaced by camels – animals that can withstand the heat of the parade ground. The change was controversial but the London Tourist Board argued strongly in favour. Tourism remains important for London’s economy.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones

Posted in Images | Leave a comment

London as Venice

By ADMIN | Published: AUGUST 11, 2010

London has become uninhabitable. Every year spring tides surge through the Thames Barrier, making London the new Venice. But whereas the city of gondolas has come to terms with water, London is overwhelmed.

This image shows the impact of 6-metre flooding, the level required to breach the Thames Barrier.

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones.

Background photography © Jason Hawkes

Posted in Images | 2 Comments

The Mall – Royal Power

By ADMIN | Published: AUGUST 10, 2010

  

That archetypical British driveway The Mall, has become a wind-farm. Wind turbines tower over flags, as the desperate quest for renewable energy takes precedence over any remaining notions of Britishness. Cars? Now what on earth were they?

Wind farms are usually associated with bleak moors, distant hillsides or faraway patches of sea. But will we see more in our own back yards, even royal ones? 

Image © Robert Graves and Didier Madoc-Jones. 

Michael Wolf

http://www.photomichaelwolf.com



Michael Wolf was born in Munich, Germany. He grew up in the USA and studied at UC Berkley and at the University of Essen in Germany. He has been living and working as a photographer and author in China for ten years. 

In addition to a wide spectrum of publications for international magazines, three books by him on China have been published to date: "Sitting in China” (published by Steidl, 2002) and "China im Wandel” (published by Frederking und Thaler,2001). Recently, Taschen published his documentation of the shaping of public politics and opinion making comprising his extensive collection of Chinese propaganda posters. 

Wolf has been intensively concerned with the topic of vernacular culture for many years. His most recent work deals with the issue of the cultural identity of the city of Hong Kong. The exhibition "Architecture of Density" shown in New York in Febuary 2004 is a part of Michael Wolfs recent Hongkong project. 

Thames and Hudson will publish Michael Wolf’s new work "Hongkong, The Front Door/The Back Door” in 2005.

Housing at Camberwell, 50th Birthday, London

March 6, 2010

The Camberwell Borough Council architect’s department did some very innovative work on high density housing in early 60s, well  before the ideas of environmental design movement were established by Oscar Newman in his “Defensible Space” in 1972 and further researched by Alice Coleman in “Utopia on Trial” in 1985.

The Acorn Place development, later became known as Dene Wood, was one of the most significant high density project built in early 60s. It was highly influential and possibly anticipated different outcome from low and high rise units, avoided ‘putting all the eggs in the same basket’ by producing this mix of high and low density housing, which also respects the local surroundings. The plans and the old b&w  photo here are abstracted from an article published in AD in December 1963. Original photos taken by me in early60s and a recent revisit produced the latest photographs used here for comparison purposes and to trace the evolving progress of the social housing.


I was there like a shot looking at these new forms and magical spacestransforming deprived areas of London in early/mid 60s. The warmth of red clay tiles and stained timber joinery with silver birches in the courtyards have stayed with me all this time.
Recently I saw images of higher blocks of this scheme in bad state of repairs on Flickr, describing this project as ‘Dene Wood’ and talk of its possible demolition, which was confirmed soon after wards. The news of premature demolition of housing projects, particularly from 60s, is hardly a surprise these days. However, the possible loss of the courtyards which impressed me so much as a young student,  was a bit more difficult to swallow.
The Google Earth indicated that the old carpet pattern of low hosing formed around courtyards was still there and some of my Flickr contacts offered me further help, eventually a special visit to this area became too tempting for me to ignore.

As all camera pointing’ building spotters’ know, the act of pointing a camera these days is considered an aggressive act and the pictures you see here were taken in a great hurry and the game of ‘spot the difference’ took place in front of the computer screen at home.

The initial shock of seeing the bare site where the high rise housing once stood was followed by relief of seeing the ‘carpet’ courtyards still standing, more or less intact and still covered in red clay tiled vertical cladding.

The biggest and almost predictable change was reduction of shared/common spaces in the courtyards to the bare minimum, which is just a sufficiently wide footpath providing access to the front and back garden of the houses.  The second detectable change was the complete exposure of external staircases providing access to the upper units and denying hiding spaces to intruders. The growth of TV dish antennas  has become too common to even register.

The detailed comparison at home indicated wholesale changes to the timber screens and window design which have been replaced with less quirky and more traditional design carried out with some sensitivity.
The fate of this and other local authority housing schemes must be seen in context with gradual disintegration of architects and property services departments in these offices. Some of these offices with record of brilliant architectural out-put, suddenly found themselves with almost no architects. The close co-operation between teams preparing housing briefs, choosing suitable tenants,  normal maintenance  and making the necessary changes to meet the changing requirements, became disjointed and sometimes disappeared altogether. A continuous  inter-professional pride and involvement in looking after the building stock and the tenants, disappeared and resulting fragmentation started a ‘self-destruct chain reaction’ which is still going strong.
The lessons may well be obvious  for all to see. The repeated failure of high level communal corridors for social housing at these densities are well recorded. The avoidance of communal spaces, and provision of visually supervised defensible spaces,  in accordance Newman/Coleman have repeatedly improved the ailing estates.
However, I wonder the impact of this strict distribution of private gardens and minimal footpaths to get to these resulting in almost total elimination of communal spaces is likely to have on future generations. Future generations growing here would have been denied the experience of sharing and enjoying the spaces adjacent to their houses  and understand the responsibilities of taking care of these communal assets.

Posted by winslowhub

http://iqbalaalam.wordpress.com/category/demolished/