Housing Study #1: Golden Lane Estate (1957)
Fixie’s #3DPHousingStudy explores at least one influential UK housing project from each decade starting with the City of London’s 1950’s development at Golden Lane Estate (location) designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon.
Great Arthur’s House, Golden Lane Estate (c) Steve Cadman
3D Printed Model of Great Arthur’s House by Fixie.
We are focusing on the elements that made these projects special as well as how 3D printing can be used so effectively to bring those details to life. These projects have been precedents for the housing designs of generations since and yet there has been next to no investigation of them through emerging technologies like 3D printing. Would they have been designed differently if seen through the eyes of these technologies and materials? Can we understand the spaces or the approaches in a new light through the lens of 3D Printing?
Each project will be at 1:100 scale 3D printed in resin and spray finished white to maintain a consistency for ease of comparison between projects. We’re excited about what will emerge.
Great Arthur’s House, Roof Plan View of 3D printed Model.
Housing Study #1 is focused on the communal and sculptural resident’s space at the top of Golden Lane Estate’s highest block; a 16 storey residential tower called Great Arthur House. As was a feature in post-war residential tower blocks, generous and integrated spaces like this were offered to residents of this new archetype. The rooftop’s most striking feature is its ‘Hat’ a curved and cantilevering concrete form that disguises a water storage tank. It is elegantly folded on top of the tower, like a piece of origami in direct contrast to the rectilinear tower that supports it.
Some beautiful details of this like the above, curated by Wayne Head, can be seen here: http://theeverydaypress.net/details-vol-2-barbican-and-golden-lane.
As well as the functional purpose it was hiding it also offered a gift to residents: a 17-storey 360 degree view of the Capital City. Nowadays, especially in a City like London, a space or experience like this comes with a lot of prestige, often a price tag and is generally only accessible to the few. In contrast, San Francisco, a city that is well known for its wealth divide, ensured spaces like these were actually of practical benefit to the general public. The 1985 Privately Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) legislation obliges new developments to provide 1sq. ft. of public space for every 50 sq. ft. of office space but perhaps more importantly in 2012 the law was updated to ensure the public knew where and how to access these spaces; so they’re now clearly sign posted. In an increasingly more vertical city like London, accessibility of these spaces becomes more of a necessity (balanced against security concerns and of course more recently social distancing concerns).
The seperated digital Model parts prior to 3D printing.
When creating the 3D print of this model our 3D file fixers separated the digital information into 3 separate parts (The hat, the pergola and the tower block) for improving the post processing and finishing stages. Of course, 3D printing can print all in one piece (depending on print volume size) but often it makes sense to deconstruct a model like this in order to achieve the best results.
Resin printing has an ability to bring out crisp and fine detail. This was especially useful when printing the expressive curved form of the tower’s ‘Hat’ and the delicate pergola. It almost felt like such a generous sculptural form deserved to be printed in such a clean and smooth format. Often 3D printing is the go-to tool for truly complex forms because it becomes very difficult to make them by hand or comprehend them through visuals/renders. However, it’s interesting to note that although it’s an unusual form, it is clearly of it’s time - almost an extrusion of a 2D drawing or section rather than a computer generated/informed design. If Chamberlin Powell & Bon had the tools available to us now it makes you wonder if they would have pushed this form further. This may very well have been to its detriment: the simplicity in many ways makes the form easier to digest.
Great Arthur’s Tower was sensitively re-clad in a project by John Robertson Architects. “The new facade improves the performance of the original windows with a double glazed and thermally insulated prefabricated panel system. The project involved extensive consultation with the City Planners, 20th Century Society and Leaseholders and tenants and received an RIBA National Award in 2019.”
Situated just North of London’s iconic Barbican Estate, Golden Lane Estate has, unlike many that were designed, built and demolished in the meantime, has continued to accommodate community life and doing this in the heart of the UK’s biggest city where Real Estate is at a premium. This is probably no surprise considering that the residents were so actively and overtly considered in the original design.
Contributed by
Ronan O’Boyle,
Co-Founder, Fixie.