The almost legendary "Streets in the Sky" of Robin Hood Gardens by Alison & Peter Smithson. © Beyer & Dorschner Filmproduktion.
During this program, the audience will be able to watch the documentary Robin Hood Gardens (2022, 90 min). The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Thomas Beyer and Adrian Dorschner, directors of the documentary.
ABOUT THE FILM
A utopian idea for modern living is demolished, and the documentary Robin Hood Gardens searches the rubble for visions of a bygone era and the reasons for its failure from the beginning in 1972 until today when the building is lying in ruins and the debris has been shipped to the Venice Biennale. This film is about the intentions and the failing of a brutalist housing complex in East London and a search for answers about the failing of modernism.
Robin Hood Gardens, a council estate unloved by its first residents in 1972, was hated and loved by internationally renowned critics and decades later earmarked for demolition. The British architects Alison and Peter Smithson failed with their vision, but what is really behind the ostracized façade? The documentary ventures a second look at the construction. Can’t we still learn something from the design to improve living in the city of tomorrow?
Exclusive collaborations with Harvard University, London’s V&A, the Venice Biennale, and of course, with the participation of residents, experts, and critics, this documentary is painting a polychromatic portrait of this building complex, and a story develops that goes way beyond the mere topics of “design.” This filmic investigation takes the viewer to issues such as social housing, urban participation, sustainability challenges and cultural contradictions of preservation.
“The film is a story of not just one building, but an investigation into the tensions and dilemmas of the Modernist urban project. Through the rise and fall of Robin Hood Gardens we can grapple with the whole project of progressive urbanism, which has divided people for many years.”
—Vicky Richardson
Robin Hood Garden Eastern Block. © Beyer & Dorschner Filmproduktion.
Architectural photographer Hélène Binet in her studio, 2017. © Beyer & Dorschner Filmproduktion.
Together with the world-famous architectural photographer Hélène Binet, the documentary explores the Robin Hood Gardens. © Beyer & Dorschner Filmproduktion.
“Beyer and Dorschner invite us to mourn the loss of Robin Hood Gardens, but without nostalgia they help us to understand its place in history – the product of a brief period when there were opportunities for young architects to take responsibility for decisions on a grand scale and to implement ambitious ideas.”
—Vicky Richardson
