Stair-wells

—activating social spaces

Fern Roberts and James Barrell

Stair—wells

Contents

02

—Social Stairwell

06

—Oakshott Court

10

—British Library

public space

The Social Stairwell A buffer zone between the urban and the residential.

In and around Somerstown, the passage from public to private space is divided up by many differing stairwells.

These stairwells differ in all manner of ways; be it size, colour, or slant. Many offer a direct boundary between the urban and residential, whereas others are sneakily tucked away behind the back of shops, acting more as a seat for a cigarette-break than anything else. What is so interesting about these stairwells is that they not only provide a physical boundary but a physiological one as well. Travelling up an unfamiliar set of stairs no doubt unsettles many.

As an outsider, my interpretation of Somerstown is sub-conciously defined by the location of stairs and how inviting they felt as I navigate my way around.

Having spoken to local people this is a feeling that is reciprocated. Certain stairs feel more comfortable as a passageway than others. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic stairs have also taken on a primary role as a place to sit and observe the happenings that occur on the street. This sentiment of ‘eyes on the street’ encourages the occurrence of chance encounters, allowing residents to ‘create connectedness’. We are hoping that by methodically documenting the various stairwells across Somerstown that we will be able to draw comparisons and mark out potential sites for spatial intervention.

It is no secret that Somerstown is an area gradually

02

public space

undergoing gentrification with the expansion of Kings Cross Station. An area that was once dominated by social housing, under Margret Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’ many of these ex-council homes have no been sold off to private landlords. This has not negated the need for social housing however, as 71% of residents still occupy private rented social housing. Two major social housing estates in the area are the Ossulton Estate and Oakshott Court, both pushing forwards the idea that communal living works best when it overlooks small patches of greenery. The architecture of these estates worked in opposition to the modernist high-rise flats of the Corbusier-era, instead both of these estates prioritised the use of ‘built landscape’ where buildings are grouped and orientated in partnership with each other.

A defining characteristic for much of the social housing in and around Camden is the sequence from public to private to semi-private. “Parking spots were near the street front; in the rear, a portion of each private garden was given over to create a spacious communal garden.”

Murphy (2018) Available at: https://placesjournal.org/ article/the-modern-urbanism-of-cooks-camden/. The driving principle, in particular with Oakshott Court was that “nothing is too good for the workers.” The design prioritised unique interior layouts, with bespoke joinery.

Homes were zoned according to functionality of familylife, and outdoor garden space was deemed as a right

rather than a luxury.

An important part of our research is how fences and stairwells become an extension of people’s homes, how they make up an extension of the private garden space which interacts with the street. In both Oakshott Court and The Ossulton Estate, stairwells serve as an ambiguous in-between space; not quite public, not quite private. . It is in these in-between spaces where chance encounters happen, where people first get to know their neighbours without having to go all out and invite them into your homes. Whilst there was much debate in the late 1970’s as to how much purpose these superfluous boundary objects really served, the reality is that they give character and individuality to building types that could otherwise feel generic. In a climate where public space has become a commodity, and social interaction is increasingly taking place outside, there is a strong incentive to optimise these extensions of personal threshold. By documenting the various stairs across Somerstown and the social interactions that happen upon them, we hope to draw attention to these boundary objects as more than an architectural trend of the past.

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—a boundary between the public and the private Stairwells of Somerstown.

03

stairwells as a shared public ammenity —

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public space

Camden Learning Centre, Chalton Street.

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Oakshott Court, Polygon Road, NW1 1ST

Oakshott Court acts as one of the stand-out social housing estates in Somerstown. Built in the early 1970’s, the project was conceived by Sydney Cook and his young team of architects at Camden Council. During this time Camden Council was known as being a rich borough, with ample resources to push the boundaries of what the future of social housing could look like.

The estate was built on top of what was Polygon Court - a dilapidated estate which was in need of repair. The Oakshott Court Estate prioritized low-rise high-density housing instead of high-rise blocks which were popping up throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. With this method Cook’s Camden also pushed forward a new type of family living model, splitting the family home up into levels for different functions. This involved the ground floor of the home being dedicated to the children’s bedrooms and ‘messy space’, the middle floor being the

living space and the top floor being the parent’s space.

This provided a top-down spatial hierarchy so that the parent’s were always able to observe what their children were doing.

Alongside this new model for family living, this new form of social housing followed the rule that all houses had to have access to private outdoor space. “It was very important that you had a private space open to the sky.”

Fast-forwards to today and Oakshott Court still occupies an important space in central Somerstown. The Estate is dominated by split-level access, and relatively underused public frontages. Due to the historic relevance of Oakshott Court as testing ground for radical architectural ideas, we have settled on the South-facing entrance stairwell as an opportunity for spatial intervention. We are hoping by reclaiming this public space will encourage greater interaction amongst existing residents. ●

“the stairs became a lot safer with CCTV — ­ 06

public space

—beforehand there was a lot of antisocial behaviour�

07 Sydney Cook & Neave Brown.

Completed 1973.

“A friendly front, but forbiddingly overbearing rear.

Nicholas Pevsner, 1998.

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public space

09

British Library, Euston Road, NW1 2DB

The British Library was opened in 1998 after a lengthy war between local residents, the library, historians and architects Sir Colin St. John Wilson and M J Long, spanning around 30 years. The library was originally planned to be constructed in Bloomsbury opposite the British Museum however after much contestation from conservationists and locals arguing agents the demolition of a historically significant seven acre plot, the project was relocated to its current site facing Euston Road and bordering the eastern edge of Somers Town The project was marred by spiralling costs, successive government changes and funding uncertainty until the building was eventually opened. Wilson was knighted (Long was not), the building recieved Grade I listing in 2015 and now the project is lauded as an architectural triumph visited by around 1.6 million tourists every year.

The architecture of the building was concieved as an amalgamation of the “English Free School”, paying homage to Gilbert-Scotts neighbouring St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, and Scandinavian Organic style that looked to respond to the building natural and immediate context most notably through the buildings use of red brick and green metallic roof.

Despite being concieved as an open, democratic and public space the British Library is reminiscent of a fortress or prison, with high, impermeable walls surrounding external spaces. Access to the library also requires a “genuine need” and users need to provide a proof of address and formal indentifcation to obtain a library card. All of these factors contribute to local residents general animosity towards the library and the cultural capital it possesses remains inaccessible to many of them.

“Some residents don’t know that it is the British ­— 10

public space

—Library or that they can use it�

11 Images of the external fortress like aesthetic of the library

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Public space or fortress? ­—

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14

public space

—sites for further physical testing Where would a prototype be best situated?

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public space