Recent Highlights from the New Year

2015 has kicked off here at The Building Exploratory with several exciting events for the Senior BEEs and the Islington History & Architecture Group, including a trip to the Royal College of Physicians, and a visit to architect Bill Hodgson’s House and Studio. 










On Wednesday 21 January, the Islington History & Architecture Group Visited the Royal College of Physicians for their first session this year. As it was such as special opportunity, the Senior BEEs also joined, and both groups were treated to an engaging exploration of the building guided by Emma Shepley, curator at the RCP Museum.

Emma gave a fantastic tour celebrating and bringing the architect behind the building, Denys Lasdun, to life. Emma shared stories about how Lasdun had designed the unique building, and the group particularly enjoyed how the interior felt: the quality of the materials, the extraordinary attention to detail, and the views out over the Nash Terraces. 


There was also the opportunity to see the Anatomy of a Building exhibition, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the RCP building.

Many of the group are keen to make a return visit in the summertime to see the garden and the building with sunlight. The visit provided great insight into this highly inspiring modernist architectural masterpiece. 

Then on Friday 30 January, the Senior BEEs had the opportunity to visit architect Bill Hodgson’s house and studio at 115 Kingsland Road.

Bill Hodgson himself gave the group a guided tour, providing insight into the building’s design, which won commended at the 2014 Hackney Design Awards. This small residential/studio building, which houses the office of Hodgson Gabb Studio, is located on infill site between two listed buildings. The front façade is made from Corten steel cladding, and complements the red brick of the neighbouring Victorian buildings.

The Senior BEEs were particularly interested to learn how Bill had designed the building to wrap around an existing tree at the rear of the site, which also provides a natural light well in the centre of the house as well as a courtyard garden.  

The group were inspired by Bill sharing his knowledge and experience of this self-build project, which cleverly integrates roof planting and blends materials to create separate living and work spaces.  

And finally, on Wednesday 4 February, the Islington History & Architecture Group also visited the Mildmay Community Centre, an award-winning Passivhaus building in Newington Green. 

The group met with Justin Bere of bere:architects for an inspiring talk and tour about how the practice converted the community centre into this high standard sustainable building, unique for its energy saving design. 

 

The group were particularly interested to learn technical details about how and why a Passivhaus works, and why this German-approach to building design is growing momentum. The talk provided much food for thought with regard to making homes more efficient, and prompted reflection on existing building practices here in the UK. 

The building is hired out for various events, training and community projects; and is managed by the Mildmay Community Partnership. 

So far, it's been an active and inspiring start to 2015! And we’re looking forward to many more exciting events throughout the year ahead!

 

2014 oh what a year!

A quick recap of our activities over 2014, and a thank you to all those who helped to make these projects happen.

We continue to enjoy unveiling aspects of London's hidden histories, exploring new or unknown architectural sites and opening people's eyes to the Built Environment and how they can have an impact upon how it is shaped in the future.

Revitalise Peckham Rye
- engaging local groups and consulting on plans for Peckham Rye Park & Common

My Haggerston
- a series of resources helping you to understand Haggerston and what happened to its built environment during WWII

Places of Worship
- a visit to Suleymaniye Mosque in East London and Sandys Row Synagogue with Year 8 from the Bridge Academy

Senior BEEs and Islington Heritage and Architecture Group Spring, Summer, Autumn terms

Wandle Treasure Hunt - visits to local archives with volunteers across Sutton, Merton, Croydon and Wandsworth

This is our East 20 - creating view finders with Mobile Studio, students from University of East London and Year 8 at Chobham Academy, the newest and only school on the Olympic Park site

Durning Library Options Appraisal - forging links with local institutions and individuals and assessing the needs and wants of user groups for this beautiful victorian Library. Working with Linda Florence to create a vinyl stained glass effect artwork for the windows - visit now!

Our thanks to our many collaborators and friends, volunteers and clients.

City & Hackney Older People's Reference Group Annual Event

On Tuesday this week Karen Elmes (lifelong learning officer) and Caf Fean (administrator) joined a number of other organisations at the City & Hackney Older People's Reference Group fourteenth Annual Event to talk to older people in Hackney, and tell them about what we do and how to get involved in the Senior BEEs programme.

A talk was given by Cllr Jonathan McShane, Cabinet Member for Health & Social Care, Rebecca Clarkson of Connect Hackney, Genette Laws and Stephen Lowe of Age UK.

We caught up with a number of Senior BEEs, old and new, and the issue of mobility and access to cultural, heritage and architectural sites and places of interest was raised by quite a few visitors to our stall.

Our thanks to David Holland and his team for having us there on the day.

Update - Islington History & Architecture Group - Golden Lane Estate Walk

 
On Wednesday 22 October the Islington History and Architecture Group were given an insider’s perspective of the Golden Lane Estate during a tour led by urban designer and Golden Lane resident Fiona Davies. 

Fiona’s tour took the group all around the estate and into a couple of the flats which gave a taste of what it’s like to live there and they loved it. 

It was an eye opening tour which helped the group understand what makes the Golden Lane Estate so special – the thoughtfulness and attention to detail, the mix of housing types, the shops and community facilities, the clever use of space, the playful public spaces. 

The group were thoroughly inspired by experiencing design which has stood the test of time.

Pop Up Pop Up opens today, Senior BEEs visit tomorrow!

Tomorrow our Senior BEEs will be catching up with Artist Hilary Powell to see her latest enterprise “Pop Up Pop Up” as part of which Hilary has set up a production line to produce pop-up books charting an imaginative history of the changing area of the Lea Valley.



 “Legend: an A-Z of the Lea Valley “is inspired by the people, places, past and present of this urban territory and made with the collaboration of a team of 'pop-up apprentices' (see above picture).



Do go and visit Sugar House Studios, the home to Pop Up Pop Up this weekend and participate in the immersive theatre of making a pop-up book that itself constructs a fantastic and kinetic narrative of the area it’s made in and about.

www.popuppopup.net

Location:  Sugar House Studios, 107 High Street, Stratford, London E15 2QQ
The production line is free to visit and there is no need to book.


 

*** Flashback ***


Hilary Powell has worked with The Building Exploratory in the past, visiting Hilary's studio in 2011 and Winning Places, a project linked to O.space, a nationwide programme by CABE that  used the excitement around the Olympics to inspire people about architecture and the built environment. Tune in to Hilary's films, to see the Senior BEEs tell tales of their sporting triumphs and challenges, and track their progress as they meet the designers of the 2012 Olympic Stadium.

Islington History & Architecture Group - activities recap

Our Islington History & Architecture Group has been busy this Summer term
Here is a brief recap of our activities, with some illustrative pictures. Our thanks to all the Built Environment experts who helped make these walks and discussions happen, and to our faithful Islington History & Architecture Group!

CZWG Architects Islington Square
For the first session we met with CZWG Architects for an introduction to their Islington Square project which will see the former Post Office North London sorting office (located just off Upper Street) transformed into housing and commercial space.

Lead architect on the project, Astrid Rehwald also took us on a tour of the old sorting office, exploring the building floor by floor right to the roof top which is to be converted into penthouse apartments.
Seeing the building in its current derelict state was an evocative experience and helped us to visualise how the development will take shape.

Read a blog post about this visit here <http://buildingexploratory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/czwg-show-islington-history.html> .

Former Hornsey Road Baths
We have also been to see how the Former Hornsey Road Baths have been imaginatively converted into a venue for young people called Platform. Complete with a theatre, performance space, recording studio and a café (which is open to the public so do visit if you are in the area) it made for an inspiring visit for all ages.


Housing Strategy in Islington talk
Islington Council's Hitesh Tailor (Principal Housing Policy Analyst) and David Jump (Commissioning Officer, Islington Council Supporting People Team) gave the group a talk about LB Islington's housing strategy. The presentation generated a great deal of discussion about a wide range of housing issues including affordable homes, new housing developments, the private rented sector, the impact of a transient population the development of a housing strategy for older people in Islington. You can find out more about the Council's plans by clicking here <http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/housing/newbuildimprovinghomes/policiesandstrategies/Pages/default.aspx> .

Islington Council are currently working on a Housing Strategy for older people and would like older Islington residents to fill in a questionnaire to help inform the strategy, if you would like to take part in the survey please contact david.jump@islington.gov.uk

Tour of Canonbury
Billy Hurley-Reading from English Heritage took us on a fantastic tour of Canonbury, beginning at Canonbury Tower Billy’s tour talked us through the history of the area’s development from Tudor times to today.  The tour focused on the fascinating architectural heritage of the area and revealed some of Canonbury’s past residents. Billy’s passion for architecture and conservation is infectious and we all learnt how to spot relieving arches and can now date homes built before 1843 by looking at window details.

Arundel Square
For the final session of the summer term we met in Arundel Square to see how the see how the Building Exploratory involved local people in shaping the public garden. This was also an opportunity to see a housing scheme by Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects (who we visited earlier this year), a development which completed the final side of the Victorian square that had never been built. It was a relaxed end of term session and we enjoyed looking at old photos to see how the square has changed over the years and debated the new housing scheme - the consensus was that it made a positive addition to Arundel Square. We loved how a concrete slab built over the railway line as part of the development doubled the size of the green space to improve a much loved local park.

Wonderful Wild Flower Walk with Bob Gilbert

On Friday 20th June we took a walk from Hackney Wick station through to the Olympic Park with Wild Flower expert and author of The Green London Way, Bob Gilbert.

Bob began his talk by discussing Hackney Wick with us. Wick being the old name for farmstead, Hackney Wick has always been set apart from Hackney, a kind of edge land by the River Lea. It used to denote the boundary between Middlesex and Essex.

'Dirty' industries took root here (tanneries, factories), with noxious fumes carried away by the prevailing wind. It is an area of great character, independence and industry.

Bill pointed out Geranium Pratense (purple flowers) growing on the bank by Hackney Wick station - these are commonly known as Crane's Bills.

Buddleja and Alianthus ('the tree of heaven') were pointed out to the group

By the Canal, Bob showed us some Mallow which sounds like 'mellow' and soothing / calming effect on the nerves. Marshmallows were made from taking sap of marsh mallow and mixing it with sugar.

'Adam and Eve go up your sleeve' - watch as this ear of corn creeps up your sleeve. Bob used to call these caterpillars in his youth.

Gipsy wort is also found by the canal (green) - rub the leaves into your hand and green dye appears. Gipsys washed in the canal waters and this may be what contributed to their swarthy tans.

Bird foot trefoil (yellow) country name: eggs and bacon (red buds)

Before we waved goodbye to the plants, Bob identified Achillea millefolium, otherwise known as Yarrow. In ancient myth, Achilles had healing powers - Yarrow was known to  staunch the flow of blood: it is still used to treat nose bleeds today, as well as being used to flavour beer.
Snuff was made from it, and it was told that one could tell the future with this plant. Put it under your pillow and you will  dream of the person you are going to marry.


Bob then asked us to recite an ancient rhyme, whilst sticking this green plant up our noses!

Yarrow way yarrow way
Bear a white blow
If my love loves me
My nose will bleed now

No nose bleeds, which left some of us worried!

Bob found some Elder - dwarf elder - or also known as Dane Wort - some say that the Elder sprung up on the blood of slaughtered Danes at King Alfred's defeat of the Danes.

We passed the famous matchstick factory, at the end of our walk: Barbara Windsor's grandmother worked here.

Our thanks to Bob Gilbert for leading a fascinating walk and to the Senior BEEs for their contributions and participation.

Party time in De Beavoir Square - this Saturday, 2-5pm

Come along and join us for a Party in the Park at De Beauvoir Square tomorrow!

We will be populating a map of London with plasticine creations, and conducting a series of historical walks around the area.

Do pop by and say hello!

Thanks to De Beauvoir Square Association for inviting us along!

Come and see Hoxton Hall film screening, featuring our Senior BEEs!

The Building Exploratory invites you to join us at the Capital Age Festival’s film screening 'Through the Lens' next Monday 7 July from 3.30 – 6.15

Our film of the Senior BEEs A tale of Hoxton Hall is to be shown as part of the screening which features a series of films made by an for older people. Please see the attached a PDF document for the full event programme.

The event is free but you’ll need to book a place by calling the Capital Age Festival on 020 7820 6788

The event will be taking place at the Russet, a café near to Hackney Downs Park at Hackney Downs Studios, 17 Amhurst Terrace, E8 2BT

Here’s a link The Russet’s website – which has a link to a map on their contact us page


For further information about the Capital Age Festival follow this link to their website.

We hope you can join us there!

Delightful feedback from Sundial Centre Timber Lodge visit

Our thanks to Pauline from the Sundial Centre for sending us this lovely feedback following a visit to Timber Lodge with her members. Here is what she sent us... pictures coming soon!


Hope you are enjoying your Easter break. Just wanted to tell you about our trip to the timber lodge the trip went very well the members had the time of their life.

Charles stated that the park was breath taking he couldn’t wish for a better place to be he was one of the lucky ones to be there.

Margaret  said she was very pleased that she could come otherwise she wouldn’t have experienced such a lovely place like the Timber Lodge.

Lenny was very happy to have come he said that there should be more organisation like the Building Exploratory who assist members of community to visit such beautiful buildings - thank you Karen for what you’re doing for the older people keep up the good work.

Elizabeth - your stress levels are definitely low when you come to visit this fabulous places and also minimise negative thoughts.

Last but not least me (Pauline) what can I say I have enjoyed all our visit l am very lucky to be the one to take the members to these fantastic places and giving us the chance to explore this places I have explained the trips to others and everyone wants to come with us now to every visit.

Happy reading and best wishes Pauline

Investigating Clapton's past and present

Yesterday we ran a walking tour to investigate buildings of the past and present in Clapton. The walk was one of a series of activities for older people we are running at NANAs. We set off from The Convenience in Brooksby’s Walk, following a route along Chatsworth Road, Glenarm Road, Lower Clapton Road and finally Clapton Pond.

We gave each participant a series of old photographs showing various locations along the route. The photographs included scenes of a vibrant Chatsworth Road market in the 1930s, WWII bomb damage, the classical architecture of the London Orphan Asylum (of which only the Portico remains - on Linscott Road) and grand Georgian houses, which have long gone. 

Each snapshot gave insight into how the area has changed and evolved over the years – a glimpse of a time gone by - generating discussion, debate and reminiscence amongst the group.

As well as looking at past changes the walk also provided an opportunity to take in more recent ones including new shops, cafes and homes and the conservation and refurbishment of historic buildings. At Clapton Pond the group were pleased to see how Pond House has been brought back to life but saddened to see that the Bishop Wood’s Almshouses (which date back to the 17th Century) have been shut down and boarded up.

The walk unlocked the buildings of the past but also generated discussion and debate about the change we see around us today.

 

Local and Lovely - by Gillian Lawrence

Gillian Lawrence wrote a piece about our collaboration with NANA and the Islington History & Architecture Group on her blog, Up Your Street. She has kindly allowed us to publish it here. We hope you enjoy.

Years ago there was a public toilet down Chatsworth Road on the way to Chats Palace. Now it’s The Convenience, a scrubbed up and scrubbed out homely café  where NANAs grandmas cook away plating up nourishing feasts,  and in the evening a chef does Hanoi Nights.

That’s busy enough amidst the gleaming tiles and inventive menu cards.

The Buildings Exploratory for seniors in Hackney and now Islington has teamed up with NANAs so that seniors can come along, sit ,chat, go for a guided walk, share information all about the history of Clapton and have a nice cup of tea. People from our Hackney community get to meet and learn. There are daughters of the Windrush generation, residents  who have lived in their Hackney homes since birth having  managed to escape the dreaded doodlebugs and rent-rise evictions, sons of labourers who have travelled along the Thames living and working by the Lea,  those who live in flats where the stench from the Stratford tanneries in days of yore choked their mouths and followed them on their way to work at Lesney’s.

We can’t talk fast enough to get our stories out and shared whilst our facilitator eggs us on with grey photos gleaned from The Hackney Archives.

The meet-ups are every fortnight at 10.30 am for a couple of hours which leaves ample time to stroll along Chatsworth Road and see the old kitchen utensils in a local vintage shop or smell the crepes from The Creperie.

Change is daily and that’s why it’s good to sit in The Convenience and take a breather,  cherish what we know, and make each other laugh about how things were and will be. And it’s good to come together from all sorts of backgrounds and reinforce neighbourliness. That’s what it’s really all about.

Visit Gillian's blog, 'Up Your Street' here: http://ww.upyourstreet.wordpress.com/

Senior BEEs activity - Spring term

Our Senior Building Exploratory Explorers have been busy this term. Below we show highlights with a Canal trip in January, visiting the RIBA exhibition in February, and a discussion of Hackney's Heritage at Risk in March of this year.

Islington group review this term's activities

Our Islington History & Architecture Group completed a term of interesting walks and visits last week, and kindly reviewed the sessions for us.

Here are some of their comments, as well as images from this term's visits.

"I particularly enjoyed the visit to Diespecker Wharf because although I'm fairly familiar with that area I saw a different side of it. The presentation was excellent."

"The talk on Islington's Lost Cinemas: I found this fascinating and am now able to see the buildings I walk past regularly in a different light."

"It gets people out to places we would not go to and keeps you in touch with the places of interest in the area."

Islington Group: End of term review

Our end of term review with the Islington History and Architecture Group took place this week. One of the group’s highlights this autumn was our recent visit to the offices of architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) which proved to be a fantastic learning experience. Inspiration for the visit came from an earlier tour of AHMM’s Angel Building where the group saw how a redundant office block has been transformed into a new landmark building. 

 

The tour of the AHMM office was led by their Events Coordinator Claire Pollock who had organised for the group to explore their offices located in the Morlelands Building on Old Street. The tour included a look at the model workshop where the group learnt about the practicalities of model making and a visit up to their recently extended upper floors and roof terrace with amazing panoramic views across London. During presentations from members of the AHMM team the group were given an introduction to the work of the practice and learnt about the process of designing and completing a building.

The group also met with an architect who had worked on the Angel Building which proved to be of particular interest to the group. They were fascinated to hear an in-depth description of the design and construction process of a building they knew as it helped them to see it through the eyes of an architect. This led them to understand the thinking behind features that they would have otherwise overlooked such as the building’s new curved façade which mirrors the curve in St John’s Street; the perfectly smooth concrete columns with their formwork holes purposefully left unfilled. This information helped to unlock the process of design, allowing them to make sense of the building and see it in a completely new light:

“I’ve never appreciated concrete before!”

When we spoke to the group about the visit their response was overwhelmingly positive. What they appreciated was being face to face with people who design buildings and having an opportunity to ask questions. 

“I enjoyed meeting highly knowledgeable people and seeing what they do” 

They agreed that this had given them insight into the world of architecture (which had no prior knowledge of) and it had also helped the them to better appreciate and value what architects do. The visit to AHMM highlighted that going to architecture practices can be a valuable learning experience – it has inspired our group to visit more in 2014.  

The Islington Architecture and History group is aimed at older people who live in Islington. The programme is funded by the Cripplegate Foundation, to whom we are very grateful for their support. For more information on this project and our work with older people please visit our website or call us on 0207 6080 775

Cripplegate Foundation Funding News

Following on from a very successful one year pilot project, we are delighted to announce we have been awarded a two year grant by the Cripplegate Foundation, to continue developing our work with older people in Islington.

Over the next two years we plan to continue working with our Islington History and Architecture Group, and to engage more isolated and harder to reach people. We also aim to identify ways in which older people can become more routinely involved in commenting on local and regional development plans and built environment policy. 

 The group visits the new and old Highbury stadiums with Sami from Aresnal in the Community

The Islington History and Architecture Group gives older Islington residents access to unique opportunities to learn about their local history and architecture through talks, tours and visits to buildings, regeneration projects,  green and public spaces.

 On a walking tour of Islington with Billy from English Heritage

For more information on our work with older people in Islington and in Hackney, please visit our website or contact karen@buildingexploratory.org.uk

The Cripplegate Foundation is an independent charity working in Islington and parts of the City of London. Their vision is of a society free from poverty and the effects of inequality, where the potential and aspirations of all local people are fully realised.

For more information on the Cripplegate Foundation and their work please visit their website at www.cripplegate.org/