Journey into the past

We recently took our annual trip into the Docklands to visit Futurebuild and were reminded of how alien it is.

The gradual demolition of Robin Hood Gardens can be seen from the DLR as it makes its way through the Docklands

Our journey from Bermondsey captured much of what is wrong with how we build places. We stopped at Canary Wharf for lunch. It has to be one of the strangest places in the UK. Something about the demographic of workers there for the day, the vehicle-less roads and assortment of skyscrapers made it feel like an American theme park. It does not feel like a real place at all.

The monorail-like DLR took us out of there, past a sad procession of identikit blocks of flats. Another architecture of investment and profit with no obvious interest in place or community. At the next turn was the last remnants of Robin Hood Gardens. The insides of living rooms and bedrooms hanging in the air as the long arm of a digger ripped it all down.

The stages and stands at Futurebuild emphasise the importance of retrofit, biodiversity, bio-based materials, and innovation, but the journey there is through something else altogether.

Tom Lewith, New-works Founding Director