The Architecture, Culture & Tectonics Research Group warmly invites you to attend their Seminar on Wednesday 4th October 2023 at 13pm online via Teams.
Bursting the Balloon
Guest speaker: Alison Davies
Abstract:
Balloon Wood in Nottingham was a modern, medium-rise, deck-access housing estate built in the 1960s to re-house ‘slum’ dwellers from other parts of the city.
It was a prototype of the system developed by the Yorkshire Development Group (YDG): a collaboration between Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Hull City Councils. Conceived by architect Martin Richardson as a flexible, modular arrangement of generously-proportioned interlocking units, a construction system of structural concrete panels was agreed with The Shepherd Building Group for its delivery.
The cleverness of the system was celebrated in a short promotional film entitled ‘Community Builder’ in 1968 - complete with a groovy 1960s soundtrack - promising homes 'as up to date as the mass-produced goods inside them'.
The Architectural Review gave it its endorsement in a special housing issue from 1970: 'of all the building systems hastily foisted on housing authorities in the mid 1960s, YDG stands unique. Its starting point was the family – the dwelling conceived as the unit'.
Designed to house two 2,300 residents, Balloon Wood was one of Nottingham’s most ambitious post-war housing projects. Phase one comprising 23 interconnected blocks was constructed between 1966 and 1970. However, soon after it was occupied, the cracks in the system were literally and metaphorically beginning to show, with tenants complaining of building defects, damp and mould.
The decline was so swift that the planned second phase was cancelled. In 1982 Central News was reporting on the tenant-led campaign to be rehoused, and the estate was cleared and demolished by 1984. Hence the ill-fated experiment lasted less than 20 years at considerable cost of displaced community and wasted carbon.
This paper explores the short-lived fortunes of Balloon Wood, with reference to national and local media representation, and first person testimony from former residents.
Biography:
Alison Davies is an award-winning architect and educator: founding partner of Urban Fabric Architects and studio head of unit 5A at the University of Nottingham. Her research interests include the post war period when architecture was in public service, and specifically the utopian New Towns movement.