Street Life in Robin Hood Gardens: Engagement project

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Streetlife was an event in Robin Hood Gardens estate in Poplar, London. It happened leading up to and during the London Open House 2006. At a time when the estate had a reputation for being troubled, but had not yet been earmarked for redevelopment, the project invited the residents to reconsider their environment in order to imagine different sorts of living. The aim of the project was to aid the regeneration of the estate from within.

During Open House one of the estate's original tenants opened her still original flat for guided tours.

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Robin Hood Gardens is a Brutalist council estate designed by Alison and Peter Smithson.

Inaugurated in 1972, it was conceived as housing model for the future featuring ‘Streets-in-the-Sky’: Wide access decks designed to enable street life and facilitate encounter and community formation.

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Streetlife was a live event embodying the original architectural concept. It celebrated the social potential of the estate and its architecture by staging a street fair on one of the decks. It showcased residents' collaborative artworks and offered refreshments and amusing activities.

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During the workshops we developed several artworks dealing with built aspects of the estate as well as cultural identity. We worked around issues of inhabitation, culture and exchange. The artwork ranged from a favourite flavours residents' cookbook to expressions of cultural identity and personal appropriation of mass housing.

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The event triggered many spontaneous contributions by residents.

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