Thursday 3 July to Saturday 3 August 2008
Kemistry, 43 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PD
Mon-Fri 09.30-18.00; Sat 11.00-16.00
Stop the Shadow - stop the City's take-over of London’s vibrant cultural heartland.
Proposed massive tower blocks on the City Fringe will dominate, overshadow and blight homes and businesses across Shoreditch and Brick Lane
The image above was produced by the major City developer, Hammerson, to illustrate its vision of a "City Fringe Masterplan". Hammerson has planned massive developments in south Hackney and Bethnal Green. They plan to extend a curtain of towers from Shoreditch High Street eastwards across the Bishopsgate Goodsyard to Brick Lane with buildings up to and exceeding 50 storeys.
The Save Shoreditch Campaign demands:
LOCAL CONSULTATION
A BRAVE NEW MASTERPLAN FOR THE AREA
RESPECT FOR OUR LOCAL HERITAGE AND THE PEOPLE’S NEEDS
Add your voice to those of the local actors and artists who openly support the Campaign including: Stephen Berkoff, Dinos Chapman, Adam Dant, Tracey Emin, Ralph Fiennes, Patrick Hughes, Cornelia Parker, Rachel Whiteread, Tim Noble and Sue Webster.
The exhibition is part of the OPEN Shoreditch campaign to promote excellence in the quality of the built environment.
3 comments:
I grew up in London. It's my home, but I can't afford to live these days there because of the exorbitant house pricing. Supply doesn't meet demand, so we need new homes. A great many more homes, I believe. However, the simple fact of the matter is this: there's no more room in London. It can't grow out because of the greenbelt and new development has to be centred around transport infrastructure or every-thing's going to grind to a halt. It's all very well for a few closed minded individuals to complain about having a few buildings around that don't suit their tastes, but at least you lot have homes. I don't. I am about to turn 30, I am recently married and who knows, maybe soon I'll be starting a family. Where, pray tell, are people like me supposed to live? In Manchester? We [Londoners] have to build new homes, end of story. Moreover, flats are the most viable way to do that. We have got to build high density and start to think more locally. There's no choice. Or would you rather people like me were sent to live a pariah's existence in some some suburban sink estate erected where once stood fields and parks just to suit your own ideals? I don't advocate Stalinist style estates, just good urban design. A crappy 2 storey house is not that. It really isn't, and that seems to be the style of architecture people like you [across Britain, not just here] advocate. Oh, we need jobs too, hence the need for offices. And the same rules of space apply. Hong Kong, New York, Chicago... these are all vibrant, thriving places with tall buildings. I don't see why London can't offer something similar.
This person is right; we need more inner city homes in London. There’s currently something like 63,000sqm of empty office space here. Some argue that the buildings are not good enough in terms of design or environmental credentials. So pull ‘em down and re-build; leave brownfield sites in Shoreditch for excellent high-density homes; it is possible and needed. People who live in the city don’t have to commute; they have happier lives, spend more time with the family (as this person is anticipating), less money and time travelling and keep their carbon footprint low.
What’s the problem?
Planners.
OPEN has continuously campaigned for more affordable family homes but what we see is more surplus office developments and yuppie flats. I've got no knee jerk rejection of high rise, some are fantastic - but buildings have context and high-density low rise are often more appropriate where blighting neighbouring residents and character buildings needs to be avoided. Why do Council's like Tower Hamlets and Hackney supress their own design experts' advice and force through ugly towers? To satisfy their corporate vanity & greed?
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