Living with Buildings: Health and Architecture at the Wellcome Collection.
This exhibition was a really interesting insight into how architecture works in different spaces such as homes and more clinical spaces in hospitals. Starting from Charles Booth’s poverty map of London and discussing post-war social housing developments, it was a highly educating exhibition and seemed to tie into a lot of my previous projects and interests.
Erno Goldfinger’s Balfron tower had a large section of the exhibition, dedicated to discussing the rise and fall of social housing. Such a key building in Brutalist architecture, also such an important place as it held a sense of community. I found it really interesting that Goldfinger, the architect of the tower, actually moved into one of the top floor flats to experience living conditions for himself. I wonder if this would happen in modern high rise developments now. Rob Harling’s film What does Balfron mean to you? Explores how residents really feel about these buildings.
Another case study for social housing developments is the Pepys estate in Deptford. In 2007, Berkeley Homes bought the estate and turned it into private luxury homes, leaving former residents devastated. A few works of art and films around the estate made it clear that this was extremely difficult for people involved, having to leave their homes for the sake of money and development.
Alvar Aalto is a Finnish architect and designer. Discovering his work in the exhibition for his Paimo Tuberculosis Sanatorium was highly interesting to me. In this sanatorium, coloured walls and interiors were used as a ‘medical instrument’ to aid healing due to patient condition and mood. His designs for pieces of furniture such as a chair to aid tuberculosis patients are fascinating and designed impeccably, all within a modernist style. I love this connection between human need and architecture, and seeing effort being put into making environments enjoyable by a designer is inspired. In the exhibition, Aalto’s colours were used to paint the walls throughout the gallery, which ties works together and creates a relaxing atmosphere really well.
Aalto's Paimo Sanitorium
The Peckham Pioneer Centre was home to the Peckham experiment, a space to explore positive health rather than just solving ill health. Further research/videos:
Finally, the exhibition ended on articles/videos/research depicting the events and after reaction of the Grenfell Tower fire. Such a devastating event is undeniably upsetting and anger-inducing, as it was clear that the Kensington and Chelsea council were uninterested in helping residents with their devastation and awful situations.
Overall, I really enjoyed the aesthetic of the exhibition and design of press releases and leaflets as well as the actual content.
Further Reading:
Book: High Rise – J C Ballard
Film: Bare Dust – Shona Illingworth
Photo: Demolished – Rachel Whiteread
Film: How do we know what home looks like? – Martha Rosier
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