Our first point of research was the Heygate Estate (now closed) in Elephant & Castle. Originally intended as a modernist exercise in utopian forward-thinking, the largest estate in Europe is perhaps one of the most poignant reminders of how spectacularly the European 60's and 70's take on modernism failed, becoming a centre of deprivation and crime.
However, whilst it is easy for us to criticise such places with the benefit of hindsight, it was hard not to feel a sense of awe for what the original plans wanted to achieve, and it was with this in mind that we planned a purely objective photographic exploration of the area.
This resulted in a focus on the compositional elements of the estate, every view presented a different, mixed, sense of perspective and scale, and a study of the colours and materials that have been left there. The fact that much of the aesthetics that remain are purely functional (grills over staircases, grey paint blocking doorways) actually seemed to add to the austere beauty of the remaining buildings.
Our thinking behind using the Heygate Estate as a starting point for visual research was simply to see how past solutions to group living had been planned, and to gain a visual knowledge of the ways in which people were intended to live.
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