Park Hiill update
by catherine croft
Did you see the article by Rowan Moore in, The Observer yesterday? (Sunday 21 August 2011) he’s pretty positive about the refurbishment of Park Hill Flats, Sheffield and says “The decision to list the building now looks brave and right. Had it gone, nothing would now be there but the nothing housing you see all over the country, with meaner dimensions, shoddier building and an absence of spirit. Nor is the rescue of Park Hill a grotesque extravagance: demolition and rebuilding would not necessarily have been more cost-effective and it would have been environmentally profligate.” good to see.
I’m going up for this event organised by SITE, and will have a good look round then. “Brutalist Speculations & Flights of Fancy”
9 September, 11am – 7.30pm http://www.sitegallery.org/
I have followed the transformation of Park Hill for a couple years and long ago decided the redesign is not only quite excellent, but extremely fortunate. There’s many writers who are displeased and seem to feel betrayed, such as Mr Hatherly, who see the cold calculations of private developers behind the renewal and abhor the disappearance of the buildings’ original facade.
I only find fault in the gradient-pattern of the color panels (as opposed to a randomized checkerboard style) that makes it look too computery, nevertheless it looks very brutalist hopefully not terribly intimidating or monolithic.
But my finger is pointing at all the fanatics, all the preservationists and all the old Labour era modernists who insisted that their social vision is right all along- it’s put-up or shut-up time once this building is finished. Now is your chance- don’t let it pass!!! Support this building, sign up for a flat, tell your friends, get involved and rebuild the community. Don’t just be content that it’s listed and walk away- all it takes is five or six years, if they can’t rent out or sell these condos, if people ignore it and the weeds start growing and the crackheads move in-we’ve been here before. This will be the first and probably the only (re)opening of a true 1950s mass-housing estate for the People in the UK- this is it. The only way to prove history wrong and do it right the second time around is to support it. Make it the utopia we all know it can be because it won’t happen by itself!
well as I said I am looking forward to seeing it for real, and am withholding judgement until then— I certainly agree that it needs supporters to buy in and prove it can be a success.