Education, Activism & The South Acton Estate

EDUCATION, ACTIVISM AND THE SOUTH ACTON ESTATE

“If there is a school at all, it is the school of life, often a hard one, and since it is to this school we are all apprenticed from womb to tomb there is much to be said for a man-plan that would have at its centre a college of experience, a power house of skills, a production line of know-how, to which the citizen, old or young, can resort, as he would to the pub; except that in this case there would be no age or colour bar and the other bars would be more numerous-parallel in the gym; the rest offering disciplines proper to pram and nursery, teenager and Womens Institutes, Sunday painters, swimmers, carpenters, chefs, the stage, the dance, Greek, Latin and other languages-not forgetting standard English, a must for a nation of snobs strangled in the dialect of south London.”

INTRODUCTION This document consists of a combined research booklet and design portfolio, which will speculate on the impacts of re-introducing education and community-based facilities within a London housing estate undergoing a regeneration scheme.

The project aspires to the series of Man-plans, published by the architectural review in the 70s. This time scale appropriately matches that of the construction and initial decline in public perception of both social housing and comprehensive education, whilst social reform was inspiring new methods of action for the public.

The Man-plans were defined as: “A plan for human beings with a destiny rather than figures in a table of statistics.”

And essentially aimed to focus “not on buildings, but on people, and not as individuals, but as a society.”

The project will aim to follow this narrative, in proposing a radical rethink of estate regeneration, and education provision in the UK.

‘Man-plan 4, Education: Introduction’ (AR Editors). Originally published in AR January 1970, this piece was republished online in October 2015.

1. THE SOUTH ACTON ESTATE

The view as captured from one of the remaining tower blocks in South Acton.

ESTATE DEMOLITION The project initiates from a continued concern for the rate at which tabula rasa estate demolition is occurring across London, with a particularly high density within the city centre. Notorious cases of estate demolition have occurred in highly populated Boroughs such as Southwark and Hackney, where there is high pressure on the land alongside a particularly high concentration of social housing.

The phenomena of estate demolition is often accompanied by the displacement of entire communities, which have been established on the site for generations.

This disruption of the material and social fabric of the existing city is the result of capitalist-led development, in the form of private housing estates replacing social housing. The project will intend to explore areas in which this process could be interrupted, to benefit the existing community.

Image scanned from ‘Big Capital’ (Minton, 2017)

ESTATE REGENERATION The study for this project is the South Acton Estate in the London Borough of Ealing (pictured left). This site is currently undergoing a staged regeneration scheme, which has resulted in the site being in a state of material and social flux, whereby some residents and social housing remain, whilst new buildings are constructed and new residents move in.

This stage is a strange moment for the site, with current residents witnessing their neighbourhood transforming, aware of the little consideration they have had during the process, whilst new residents try to familiarise themselves with the area.

Image: South Acton’s current state of ‘flux’, new and existing buildings collaged within construction sites.

ESTATE CONSTRUCTION The South Acton Estate was developed during the period of mass social housing construction in London, over a 30 year period, as part of the Greater London Plan of 1944, developed by Patrick Abercrombie.

Acton Council and its post 1965 successor, Ealing Borough Council acquired land in South Acton through 250 separate compulsory purchases between 1908 and 1975 (Guillery, 2017), due to this time scale the area appears to contain “virtually all approaches to public housing through the post war period.”

In 1947 the parish vicar Reverend Harry Nicholson commented: “We are already planning for a new South Acton. But it is the houses that want rebuilding, not the people. In the planning I hope this sense of belonging to a community will not be lost. (...) There is something here of value which gives us a feeling of security and confidence. That must be preserved.” (Acton Gazette, 1947, as cited in Guillery, 2017).

Left Top: “The scheme for the South Acton Comprehensive Development Area as revised in 1961.” (Acton Gazette, 1961 as referenced in Guillery, 2005).

Left Bottom: “South Acton from the air n 1971” (English Heritage, as referenced in Guillery, 2005)

HISTORY OF SOUTH ACTON “What was special about South Acton was, in great measure, its typicality.”

(Guillery, 2017) The estate itself consisted of 2,100 homes, making it one of the largest municipal housing estates in West London.

In 2008 the council made the decision to ‘comprehensively regenerate the area’. This was just 20 years after the original redevelopment.

During its life, the estate consisted of a large variety of post war housing, reflective of the various typologies of the socio-political climate. For example, some of the earliest 1950s housing consisted of mixed-use slab block developments, with amenities at ground floor level. This typology was then adapted in the 60s with the Zeilenbau approach, to accommodate housing at ground floor level due to rising house shortages and funding cuts to the council.

Top: “Charles Hocking House, 96 flats in 13 storeys, built 1965-7” (Ealing Local History Centre, as referenced in Guillery, 2005).

Bottom: “Buchan House, Hanbury Road, built 1958-60, 37 flats and maisonettes with 11 shops, (Ealing Local History Centre, as referenced in Guillery, 2005).

HOUSING TYPOLOGIES The estate has been described as an architectural ‘zoo’, due to its varying typologies. This has emphasised the position of the site as its own island within London, and a test bed for various schemes.

As the drawing illustrates, the approaches on the estate vary from high rise towers, to slab blocks to mid to low rise maisonettes, connected with walkways. The typologies being introduced now are typical in their ‘New London Vernacular’ style. This generally consists of three to four mid to high rise blocks, centralised around a private courtyard. The materiality of these mostly consist of brick slips with small balconies and aluminium framed openings. The affordable housing introduced on the site had a fairly consistent mid 2000s typology, including aluminium cladding and little amenity space.

“South Acton could be looked at as a kind of architectural zoo, an exhibition of housing types, dissonant in its combinations, and instructively representative of changing approaches through a long period.”

(Guillery, 2017)

The site plan illustrates the remaining existing blocks, hatched in a dark grey and predominantly remaining towards the North of the site. The new blocks are hatched in a lighter grey, and exist mostly towards the South of the site.

Scattered inbetween are a mix of construction sites and the remainder of public buildings, including a nursery and a primary school.

Legend Outline Planning Application Line Boundary Character Areas Boundary ER9.4

Development Plot

FOR INFORMATION REV

N

Do not scale from this drawing. Use figured dimensions only. Figured dimensions are in millimetres. All levels are in metres. All dimensions and levels shall be verified on site before proceeding with works. Detailed site survey to be carried out to verify positions and level relationships with site features and ordnance survey. The Architect must be notified of any discrepancy.

Where building components are described in the specification as Descriptive Specification (Contractor Design) elements shown on this drawing pertaining to those components are to be read as "Issued for Design Intent" only.

Allies & Morrison is not responsible for any errors caused by the transmission, translation, software or computer systems. Allies & Morrison is not responsible for, nor shall be liable for, the consequences of any use made of the drawings or models, other than that for which they were produced by Allies & Morrison for the Client

DATE

DESCRIPTION

CKD

P1

29.05.18

HYBRID PLANNING APPLICATION

MP

P2

30.11.18

HYBRID PLANNING APPLICATION

MP

0

50.00m

Allies and Morrison

100.0m

telephone facsimile email

85 Southwark Street London SE1 OHX 020 7921 0100 020 7921 0101 studio@alliesandmorrison.com A&M JOB NO: 16 25 0

Acton Gardens Masterplan,

ILLUSTRATIVE MASTERPLAN PARAMETER PLAN - FOR INFORMATION 16250-00-07-008 SCALE 1 : 2500 @A3

P2 Revision

SCALE 1 : 1250 @A1 All Intellectual Property Rights Reserved

ACTON GARDENS The demolition of all existing homes on the South Acton Estate, will be followed by the construction of 2,500 new ‘energy-efficient and generously-sized homes’ (Ealing Council). Discussions around the regeneration itself began in 1999, initiated by Ealing Council and supposedly following consultation with the local community.

The new scheme will consist of 50% affordable rents, and 50% private, though “for many South Acton residents, as across London, what is deemed ‘affordable’ is in fact not. And many residents will have to witness the construction of the ‘affordable’ flats, under the impression they will be able to move into them, Despite having an overall higher density of ‘affordable’ flats than most of early twenty first century developments, the scheme will have around 900 fewer affordable dwellings than it did in its council housing. This will inevitably mean a complete shift in the social dynamic of the estate, as many existing residents are displaced.

Top left: “South Acton Estate Map on a London Borough of Ealing sign” (Guillery, 2005) Top right: Acton Gardens illustrative masterplan, produced

by Allies & Morrison.

Bottom: The estate today, image: authors own

HOUSING ESTATE STIGMA The stigma surrounding post war housing estates was building towards the early 2000s, emphasised by politicians using estates as leverage in their campaigns.

In 1997, David Cameron visited the Aylesbury Estate in Elephant and Castle and claimed; “There are estates where the biggest employer is the drugs industry, where all that is left of the high hopes of the post-war planners is derelict concrete. Behind the statistics are people who have lost hope, trapped in fatalism.” (Tony Blair, inaugural speech, May 1997).

This narrative was assisted by a growing correlation in the media between high crime rates and social housing. Oscar Newman’s (1972) claims for a direct link between architectural design and increases in criminal activity also gained some followers and began to increase stigma in public perception of estates.

Top: “Stigmatisation of the South Acton Estate in The Acton Gazette in 1974, also illustrating a model of a scheme from c. 1970 for the ‘South Acton Extension’” (Guillery, 2005) Bottom: “Entrance to Jerome Tower, built 1962-3, disabled ramp added 1972, canopy added 1991-2. (English Heritage, 2004, as referenced in Guillery, 2005).

HOUSING ESTATE STIGMA South Acton has accumulated numerous associated stigmas and legacies, alongside changing economic and political climates.

The estate has been subject to negative public perception and media portrayal through the BBC Panorama documentary ‘The Best Days’, which was released in 1977.

The documentary essentially manipulated and sensationalised the school, its pupils and its teachers in order to comment on the current state of education within the UK. This has been claimed to result in the eventual closure of the school, leading to a lack of public secondary school facilities within the estate and the surrounding area.

The Panorama documentary also represents the significant influence the media and public perception can have on communities and peoples livelihoods, without having any direct experience of it.

HOUSING ESTATE STIGMA The estate has also had a historical relationship with the national front, which increased tension and exclusivity. Guillery (2005), explains how “a teenage gang known as SAM (South Acton Mafia) attacked black and ‘foreign’ people, and rising tensions between ‘well over 100’ teenagers in July 1977 led to arrests when a milk crate full of petrol bombs was discovered.” This association could also be seen as a reflection of a difficult political climate, similarly to the portrayal of the schooling, yet has left behind a stigma between social exclusion and the architecture itself.

South Acton has also become known to have a concerning amount of youth crime, which has been evident since the 1940s. This is associated with a prominent gang culture, which often occurs as a result of the search for belonging within a community, and living conditions rendering the streets a more appealing place to spend time than at home.

HOUSING ESTATE STIGMA These accumulating stigmas have resulted in the closure of various community based facilities. This includes the closure of five pubs which previously existed on the site, all of which have been demolished over the last 50 years.

A resident (1955) pointed out that alongside mounting stigmas, rising council house prices meant that; “the people won’t have any money left to buy beer with because they will be paying the money in council rents.” (Guillery, 2017) As a result of these changes, some of the residents have responded with positive action, forming the South Acton Residents Action Group (SARAG) representing about 5,200 people. Alongside campaigning for the consideration of the residents within the regeneration scheme, the group initiated a project to explore how a historical’ insight might inform the process of change. This resulted in a personal archive of ‘everyday memories and special events of the people of South Acton’.

The project was titled ‘South Acton Stories’ and has not yet been published.

Image: South Acton Soundngs

THE BOLLO BROOK YOUTH CLUB The Bollo Brook youth club previously existed on a large site at the epicentre of the South Acton Estate.

The youth club was relocated during the regeneration process to the ground floor of a new build block, the new site is significantly smaller and does not contain some of the essential amenities of the previous site.

In the podcast and news report published by the Guardian, Robert Booth explores the importance of having the youth club on the site through interviewing two teens who regularly attend the club. The news report essentially concludes that the club provided a safe haven away from the gang-related tensions that exist in South Acton. The report also picked up on numerous systemic issues associated with estates, gang violence and poverty. The youth club can be seen as a mediation for these issues, and therefore is essential to have on a site such as South Acton. However the issues discussed go far deeper than the youth club alone.

Image: media coverage of the Bollo Brook Youth Club since 2017. Image behind features the space in which the youth club is situated today.

2. SECONDARY SCHOOLS

LOCAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS Mapping out the local secondary schools within a 1/4 mile radius from the epicentre of the estate demonstrates the requirement for a school for the residents of the estate and the nearby community.

Two of the nearest schools are ARK academies, one is yet to open and the other is in operation. The third is a well known secondary school, recognised for success in music, art and languages, it was also converted to an academy school in 2011 and is now operated by the Twyford Church of England Academies Trust.

The plans of local secondary schools demonstrate a typicality of the school typology, to have multiple blocks for various methods of teaching, separated by a short outdoor walk, clustered together on a site.

The ARK academy typology is more linear, with interior circulation and mostly consisting of one singular building.

Nearest Secondary Schools to the estate, 1/4 mile radius.

ARCHITECTURALLY UNIQUE TYPOLOGIES Following research into local schools, the project analysed architecturally unique, successful and controversial projects such as the following.

An influential project within this exercise was Hallfield school, situated on the Hallfield estate in London. This school provides an element of icon to an existing estate, similar in its typology to that of South Acton.

The Gymnasium Huckelhoven was a successful project to interrogate, due to its dispersal of buildings across a site, integrating itself into the neighbourhood and within the community. The school provides facilities for both students and city residents, which allows it to situate itself within the fabric of the city.

David Lister school was also individual in its typology, separating all methods of teaching across buildings, meaning as you travel between lessons you ‘may get wet’, but avoiding the potential for awkward and anti-social circulation.

Hallfield School, Hallfield Estate, London. Denys Lasdun, 1953-55

ARCHITECTURALLY UNIQUE TYPOLOGIES

David Lister, Hull, England. Lyons Israel and Ellis, 1965

Gymnasium Huckelhoven, Aachen, Germany. Brigitte & Christoph Parade, 1962

Justus-von-Liebig School, Moers, Germany. Peter Hubner, 2005.

Haggerston School, London, England Erno Goldfinger, 1962

SECONDARY SCHOOL TYPOLOGIES These typologies were then roughly catalogued into a set of typical drawings for secondary schools. Many of these examples highlight similar features which are considered integral in schools, such as making a feature of circulation spaces, providing a secure defence or wall around the boundary, and separating methodologies of learning.

The design proposal will maintain awareness of these design features, however will also aim to design a successful school environment through careful site positioning, curriculum and the manifesto of the school.

In this sense, the school will propose a rethink of these typologies, whereby the socio political environment is acknowledged and reflected within the design.

HISTORICAL INFLUENCES ON SCHOOL DESIGN “The main difference between primary and secondary schools is that primary education is enjoyable and secondary education is absolutely dreary and boring.”

Despite the above examples of influential school designs, UK secondary schools can be recognised as banal in their architecture, particularly under financial crisis since 2008.

Coreen Hester states: “Schools still generally look like they were a hundred years ago. That’s why it’s so interesting to start something new. Now knowledge is free so the question is, ‘What are you going to teach and learn? You’re only a school if you have a shared philosophy, if you have essential agreements among the people who work in that school, to put together something that is cogent.”

The design brief will therefore consider both UK requirements on school design, alongside a reflective architecture of this shared philosophy, to break down estate stigmatisation and prioritise youth.

Quote stated in ‘‘The Think Series 02: A Discussion on the Future of Educational Buildings. [online] Architectural Review.(AR Editors). Coreen Hester was interviewed as part of the series.

HISTORY OF UK EDUCATION POLICY

CONTEMPORARY TYPOLOGIES - PFI SCHOOLS Public funding cuts in the UK have led to the privatisation of many education facilities, both through the ‘Academy Trust’ model, and also through Private Finance Initiatives (PFI). Both of these have had accumulative difficulties in the procurement and operation of schools, unattached from local or governmental control.

PFI schools were procured in a way that many corners were cut in the building process, and many questions were raised as to where the money was being channelled to. It has been argued that the PFI model is built for embedded cost cutting, as there is a profit incentive for keeping costs to a minimum.

Notorious scandals surrounding but not limited to, Scotland and particularly Edinburgh, involved 7,000 pupils being locked out of school for weeks, due to unsafe conditions.

The PFI model has also been fundamentally criticised for altering the relationship between the citizen and the state, curating a bridge between building and institution and therefore leaving accountability as inconspicuous.

Images: “It’s not just Scotland’s schools.

The whole PFI racket is crumbling” [online] The Guardian.(Mike Small).

CONTEMPORARY TYPOLOGIES - ACADEMY SCHOOLS The scandals relating to academy schools are more situated towards discrepancies within the curriculum itself, and how this has resulted from the decentralisation of education in the UK. This scandal has been widely recognised across the country, resulting in both student, parent and teacher strikes, as well as media recognition. In September 2020 it was reported that a headteacher in Birmingham had been paid a secondary salary of £160,000 over two years through Nexus, on top of his £120,000 headteacher salary.

Academies have also been criticised for inconsistency in the curriculum, and one parent explained to the Guardian (2018) how her son was taught for months by a revolving door of supply teachers. “They never introduced themselves. We never knew their name. The children were really unsettled, crying, not wanting to go to school.” Alongside this, “If you tried to say, ‘Look, there’s issues here’, you’d be shooed away.” Demonstrating the difficulties with schools being state funded, but independant of local authority control.

Top Image: ARK Acton Academy (completed 2018). Image credit: https://arkonline.org/ news/ark-network-expands-three-new-london-schools Bottom Image: ARK Soane Academy (due for completion 2021). Image credit: https://arksoane.org/ latest-news/our-newbuilding

CONTEMPORARY MEDIA PORTRAYAL OF SCHOOLS

EDUCATION 2020/21 FILM The film produced for this project explores some of the scandals that have occurred regarding schools across 2020/21.

The film is predominantly focussed on the scandals published by the major media groups, and is aware that there are numerous more cases of inequality and exclusion occurring within the sensitive environments of schools.

The issues explored in the film include the closure of schools due to the Covid19 Pandemic, the protests against the academisation of primary schools and funding cuts, systemic racism within schools, as researched by student Intisar Chowdhury, and endemic sexual violence and harassment in schools.

The film was informative to the project as these issues are embedded within society today, and addressing them within the environments where we educate the youngest generations, could be a method towards a more equal and socially successful society.

3. DESIGN BRIEF

BOLLO BROOK SCHOOL

The new secondary school proposal will accommodate 900 pupils aged 11-18, the school has a particular focus on the formation and response of student led groups and the promotion of youth activism within politics and social reform.

The school will also address existing stigmas attached to housing estates and comprehensive education by accommodating numerous semi public and private programmes, including a pub, a youth club, a library and a medical centre.

“As the places where our children learn how to negotiate the wider world, school buildings often reflect the social and moral climates that produce them. It follows that racial societal programmes can take their shape in and through the architecture intended to educate our future generations.”

SASRAG SASRAG is a radical action group established for this project. The intention is that the group would consist of a wide variety of players involved in the operation of a school. This includes teachers, students and parents, but also the caregivers that are often sidelined despite being integral players within the functioning of a school.

As the school promotes equality and inclusion as its methodology, caretakers, cleaners, dinner staff and local residents will also be included within the groups.

Maintaining this non-hierachal system will reinforce equality within the school, as no child recognises the caretaker as a lower ‘rank’ than a teacher. This will also aim to reinforce positive equality within the student, as all students backgrounds are welcomed equally.

Shumi Bose “Why build Public Schools.” Essay within Aberrant Architecture “Wherever You Find People” (2016)

THE CITY AS A SCHOOL The site for the proposal contains three sites currently under construction, towards the north, the south and at the epicentre of the site.

The project will propose that these sites are put into the control of SASRAG for their new school proposal. Within this proposal, all three sites will be reunited through existing and new pathways, which carefully avoid main roads and reconnect the separate areas of the sites.

There will be a school building on each of the sites, united through typology, user and landscaping. The project recognises the movement of contemporary schools towards privatisation, and actively opposes this by dispersing the school across an already stigmatised site.

The intention for this dispersal will be to reflect the positive influences of the interventions across the entire site, following community led developments such as new bus stops, new public squares and community infrastructure.

EXISTING & NEW BUILDINGS

GREEN SPACE & CO

ONSTRUCTION SITES

WALKING DISTANCES BETWEEN SITES

SITE 1 - NORTH The North of the site contains the greatest density of existing buildings, predominantly of the red brick typology adjacent to the site, with tower blocks and concrete slab blocks to the south of the site.

This site initially aimed to unite the main functions of an art block, such as the workshop and some studios, with a public library situated at ground floor level.

The design was since adapted to also contain some of the science facilities to encourage cross-contamination of disciplines.

SITE 2 - CENTRE The centre of the site will contain the main building and the landmark piece of the school campus. This site is adjacent to, and opposite, an existing primary school which will allow the schools to share some facilities and formulate a relationship.

The site is also adjacent to new build blocks, and nearby some existing blocks. These sites therefore lend themselves to little pre-conception for design strategy as there are numerous surrounding typologies.

The main building will contain public facilities at a ground floor level, including a pub and bookable rooms. The remainder of the floors will accommodate majority of the curriculum, dispersed across floors depending on the appropriate learning method. At top floor level, the youth club will be re-introduced.

SITE 3 - SOUTH The southern site is surrounded mostly by the new build typologies, and is also closest to the main road.

This site therefore proposes a medical centre at ground floor level, with use for both students and the community.

There are numerous wellused allotments behind the site which are highly valued by the community. The project therefore also proposes a cafe at this level, to socialise the allotments, and make a feature of their use.

The remainder of the building was intended to accommodate science facilities, but has since been adapted to also contain some art studios, to encourage cross contamination across buildings.

INITIAL SITE MASSING

CHARLES HOCKING HOUSE The epicentre site is the previous site of the Bollo Brook Youth Club, as well as Charles Hocking House, a concrete slab block which was demolished as part of the regeneration scheme.

The proposal will mimic the orientation of this building, in order to reference the aims of the post war development, of large generous landscaping with active ‘streets in the sky’ and open ground floor routes.

DESIGN ITERATIONS Initial iterations of the design consistently contained a timber frame grid, accommodating an open ground floor, avoiding closing off the site.

The iterations also continuously featured slightly different materiality for the school block and for the adjoined public facilities, with the intention to slightly differentiate the public and the private.

Circulation was also a key design feature, due to the stigma often attached to these spaces in secondary schools. Open, overlooked circulation is preferred, however the intention of the school would be to remove this stigma through action, rather than to design it out.

DESIGN ITERATIONS The following iterations refined the timber frame proposal with a double skin facade and two main building cores. The circulation is centralised around insulated spaces, following a ‘donut’ style floor plan. This is assisted by numerous external circulation routes, which would intend to ‘activate’ the facade when in use. The north facade is also activated by numerous terraces, facing towards the other two school buildings.

Following these design iterations, a manifesto was laid out to explicitly explore the requirements for the school.

“Schools throw into sharp focus bigger ideas about society. Their design gives solid form to deep questions about society, humanity and, of course, architecture itself. A school is a kind of microcosm: an idealised version that we make of the world (or for the world) into which we place our youngest citizens. Where architecture - organisation, space, material, light, nature - choreographs life to an extent far more all-consuming than any other space we’re likely to encounter.”

SCHOOL MANIFESTO The school primarily intends to re-connect a fragmented existing community, and provide all secondary level students with an equal opportunity and an inclusive experience.

The architecture will reflect these aims in its dispersal across the site, an inclination towards openness and accessibility, and adaptable, sustainable materials.

Important themes include, numerous access points to outdoor space at most levels, active routes of circulation and space for creative agency and change which will add to the fabric of the school over time.

The school also recognises the importance of student-led initiatives, in order for a student to establish a voice and a language for personal interests and a platform on which to do so. This emphasis has been inspired by numerous successful strike actions by students, parents and teachers in which real change has been brought about.

Sam Jacob Architectural Review (2015) ‘Failure to invest in where we manufacture society is a dereliction of duty’

CIEP SCHOOLS An interesting precedent for designing equality into schools is the early 1980s introduction of the Integrated Centres of Public Education (CIEPs). The schools were dispersed across Rio de Janeiro, and established

by Politician Leonel Brizola, intellectual Darcy Ribeiro and architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The scheme involved the construction of 500 schools, built using a system of concrete elements (Aberrant Architecture, 2016).

The scheme had a particular focus on equality within the school, due to the wide ranging backgrounds of the pupils. The schools manifested this through various facilities such as laundry, ensuring all school children were able to clean their uniform, and even accommodating small bunks for children who were unable to return home after school.

The school also provided a curriculum emphasis on language and the ability to communicate, as the basis of forming equality. This was inspiring when proposing an emphasis on youth led activism within the Bollo Schools.

BUILDING ACTIVISM The Centre Pompidou by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano was also influential in this stage of the design. Rogers claims the facade of the Pompidou was “very much” about the Paris student protests in the 60s, causing the president to state the facade was a “political weapon”, and significantly cut the budget.

The design of the Pompidou reflects these ideals, in its external circulation and the flexibility of the scheme.

This drawing demonstrates the socio-political sphere of Richard Rogers, as part of a research project into his career.

The drawing also reflects the original intention for the facade of the Pompidou, to screen exhibitions from around the world.

BUILDING ACTIVISM The intentions of encouraging activism within the proposal are inspired by current and historical cases of successful activism amongst students.

The closure of Faraday school highlighted some of the tensions in which the proposed student activism could now alleviate, through education and community interaction. Shabnam Grewal, a student at the Faraday school in South Acton when Panorama filmed the documentary, states; “British secondary education becomes comprehensive at the same time it becomes racially diverse.

These two parallel processes are happening in the same spaces, they are exposing very different types of tension but they create a scenario in which fears around immigration become linked to fears around comprehensivisation.”

(BBC, 2019) Demonstrating the importance of schools in playing a role to alleviate these tensions, through awareness and education.

Image Credit: RIBA pix

BUILDING ACTIVISM In the case of South Acton today, much of the tensions revolve around the inequality, entrenched gang violence and knife crime.

Throughout the research it became apparent that these issues are a result of “school exclusions, poor education, inflammatory social media, the lack of decent jobs, youth service cuts and racism.” The theme that keeps recurring through all of these however, is the “struggle for space and territory, at home or on the streets, and the corrosive effect of its absence.” (The Guardian, 2019) The project will aim to initially address these issues through not only providing a space for young people, but also providing a platform for their voices, and for these issues to be publicised and acted upon.

SPACES OF ACTIVISM Within the consideration of circulation spaces as key within school design, the staircases have been recognised here also as spaces for activism. The public staircase has communal uses of gathering, protest as well as movement, and acts successfully as stage for these activities.

At this stage of the project, the question was raised around, to what extent can activism and political engagement be designed? And it was realised that this particular element of the scheme should be designed into the narrative of the project, rather than directly projected onto the building.

Spaces such as the terraces, the staircases and the ground floor bookable rooms, are purposefully multi-functional in their design, to accommodate a variety of uses. The spaces are also low-impact in their materiality to allow for some creative agency to be taken over them.

STAIRCASE ITERATIONS

“Schools are sites in which young people appear to be challenging some of the norms of society, that we see an emergence of a counter school culture, people rebelling against uniform, against corporal punishment some even rebelling against bad school lunches. Children will be seen out on strike, marching on the streets, this is then associated with questions of juvenile delinquency, rising youth crime, lack of respect for their elders, and schools kind of figure in these moral panics in different ways.”

Shabnam Grewal, a student at the Faraday school in South Acton.

Discussed on BBC podcast (2019).

SITE PROPOSAL The final proposal for the entire site proposes three separate buildings across the South Acton Estate, connected through a series of walkways and landscaping (see axo.)

The plan can be visualised as a Y shape proposal, with the north and south sites both visible from the terraces of the main block. The block is orientated North-South and so avoids excessive glare during the school day, and maintains a visual connection across the scheme.

The scheme also proposes the partial pedestrianisation of the road connecting the southern block to the main block, ensuring the safety of students when travelling inbetween, and also contributing to the scheme being realised as a ‘campus’ within the city.

MAIN BUILDING FLOOR PLANS The following plans detail the spaces and areas included in the main block. These demonstrate the design in accordance with the UK regulations on school design, and the learning methodologies in relation to the classroom size / layout.

The timber frame structure gets lighter and more dispersed towards the upper levels of the building, as represented within these plans.

This allows for more openplan learning and gathering spaces towards the top, and more dense, intimate rooms towards the lower floors.

There are two main building cores, accommodating four accessible lifts and toilets.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

FOURTH FLOOR PLAN

FIFTH FLOOR PLAN

SIXTH FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

MAIN BUILDING SECTION This section was completed to initially inhabit the floor plans, imaging the spaces in use throughout the day. The lightening structure is evident within this drawing, aswell as the varying ceiling heights depending on use.

NORTH SITE PROPOSAL PLANS The following plans detail the spaces and areas included in the northern block. These demonstrate the design in accordance with the UK regulations on school design, and the learning methodologies in relation to the classroom size / layout.

The DT and workshop spaces includes a large opening for deliveries, and smaller technical workshops. The library at the ground floor level is available for public and student use and is open plan its design.

The upper floors feature a mix of specialist studios for science and art practice. The top floors are flexible auditorium spaces, which can also be used as over flow for the youth club if necessary.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

THIRD FLOOR PLAN

FOURTH FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

SOUTH SITE PROPOSAL PLANS The following plans detail the spaces and areas included in the southern block. These demonstrate the design in accordance with the UK regulations on school design, and the learning methodologies in relation to the classroom size / layout.

The medical centre on the ground floor features GP spaces typical in their design, as well as more specialist rooms, flexible in their functions. The cafe serves students, medical centre patients and acts as a hub for the adjacent allotments.

The upper floors feature a mix of specialist studios for science and art practice. The top floors are flexible auditorium spaces, which can also be used as over flow for the youth club if necessary.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

SOUTH BOLLO AXO As the northern and southern blocks are smaller in their typology and contain less formalised spaces, the facade has been left over and only the core is insulated. This saves on material use and encourages free circulation around the building.

FACADE STUDIES The following facade studies explore the possibilities for varying staircases, both cantilevering and structurally independent of the timber frame.

These studies demonstrate that the simple, natural materiality of the buildings accommodate a variety of styles for the staircase. The evolved typology for the staircase consists of a steel construction, due to the anticipated frequent use and durability.

BOLLO BROOK SCHOOL ELEVATION

BOLLO BROOK SCHOOL GROUND FLOOR PLAN

BOLLO BROOK SCHOOL TEACHING FLOOR PLAN

EATING SPACES The dining spaces for the students is situated to the North of Bollo Brook School.

The spaces include a loading bay adjacent to the kitchens, and cross circulation within the main dining hall.

BOOKABLE SPACES In the centre of the building are bookable rooms, available to the students and the public, in which low impact materials allow for creative agency and group meetings to occur.

It is also encouraged in these spaces to advertise events across the external walls, as this will be a common cross through point of the building and potentially have a high footfall.

PUB The inclusion of a pub within the school is a direct attempt to address the stigma attached to the site. It could be argued that the typical incompatibility of the programmes, functioning harmoniously is a reflection of a socially successful society.

In practice, the two programmes function in unison due to their schedule of use.

UK schools typically close around 4pm, whilst pubs begin to become busy in the evening time. The school will take advantage of this, allowing for separate sections of the building to be active throughout the day.

The materiality of the pub reflects typical materialities of pubs within estates, with a red brick facade, protruding from the building, There is also a chimney style structure which adds an element on icon to the space, and directly references a pub which previously existed on the site.

HIERACHAL LEARNING This is an example of a hierarchal learning space, in which the teacher is situated at the front of a classroom, these are more traditional in their typology but maintain relevant for the general curriculum.

In promoting inclusion and equality, the school generally aims to move away from hierachy. However the school does also recognise the importance and significant research behind hierachal learning as a pedagogy.

GROUP WORK LEARNING This is an example of the group work spaces. Group work is intended to encourage students to preform creatively, whereby an interdependence is necessary, and allows for students to arrive at a result built on the process of internal exchange Group work is encourgaged across the school, both within classrooms and within extra curricular activities.

NORTH BOLLO ELEVATION

NORTH BOLLO SPACES

SOUTH BOLLO ELEVATION

SOUTH BOLLO SPACES

SOUTH BOLLO GROUND FLOOR PLAN

BUS LINE The final interventions introduced alongside this project includes a bus line, which runs between the buildings and the local area, and is available for both the local community and school students.

BROADCAST STUDIO

The final intervention is a broadcasting studio within the youth club. A large sum of the research for this project was conducted from a podcast established by young people who wanted to break down some of the stigmas attached to the housing estate, and save the previous youth club from being demolished.

The podcast material draws a direct link between inadequate education, poor living conditions and gang violence in South Acton. The youth club itself can be seen to remedy some of these issues, and the project intends to project this idea across the site. Much of what is problematic in South Acton stems from systemic poverty and a lack of consideration of youths in London. The project therefore intends to provide a physical platform for education and activism, enabling young people to have a voice and engage within the socio political sphere.

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Architectural Review. (Originally published in AR January 1970, this piece was republished online in October 2015.). Manplan 4, Education: Introduction - Architectural Review. [online] Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/archive/manplan-archive/manplan-4-education-introduction> AR Editors. (2013). The Think Series 02: A Discussion on the Future of Educational Buildings. [online] Architectural Review. Availble at: https://www.architectural-review. com/essays/pedagogy/school-lessons BBC, (2019). Panorama Broke My School. [podcast] BBC Sounds. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0008pfw.

Booth, R., (2019). Loss Of Working Men’s Club ‘A Disaster’ For West London Estate. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/ dec/31/loss-working-mens-club-disaster-west-london-estate-south-acton> Ealing Council. (2021). Current status and next steps | South Acton Estate | Ealing Council. [online] Ealing.gov.uk. Available at: <https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201104/ housing_regeneration/377/south_acton_estate/3> Guillery, P. (2005). South Acton: Housing Histories - An Historic Environment Characterisation Study. [online] Historic England. Available at: <http://file:///Users/mathildadurkin/Downloads/SOUTHACTON_HOUSINGHISTORIES-ANHISTORICENVIRONMENTCHARACTERISATIONSTUDY.pdf> Guillery, P. (2017). Mobilising housing histories. London: RIBA Publishing.

Jacob, S., 2015. ‘Failure to invest in where we manufacture society is a dereliction of duty’. [online] Architectural Review. Available at: https://www.architectural-review.com/ essays/failure-to-invest-in-where-we-manufacture-society-is-a-dereliction-of-duty Minton, A. (2017). Big Capital. London: Penguin Random House.

Parnell, S., 2014. Manplan: The Bravest Moment in Architectural Publishing - Architectural Review. [online] Architectural Review. Available at: <https://www.architectural-review.com/archive/manplan-archive/manplan-the-bravest-moment-in-architectural-publishing>

Small, M., 2016. It’s not just Scotland’s schools. The whole PFI racket is crumbling. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/12/edinburgh-schools-pfi-racket-crumbling-scotland-tax-avoiding-governing-class> Social Life, (2019). Acton Gardens: The Social Impact Of Regeneration. [online] London. Available at: <http://www.social-life.co/media/uploads/final_s_acton_summary_14_june_2019.pdf> Sodha, S., 2018. The Great Academy Schools Scandal. [online] The Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/22/academy-schools-scandal-failing-trusts> [Accessed 1 June 2021].

The Guardian, (2019). Growing up with gangs, poverty and knife crime. [podcast] In Focus. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/mar/18/growingup-with-gangs-poverty-and-knife-crime>