Eco Urbanity - architecture and environment

Architectural Review, The, Jan, 2002 by Peter Davey

They are very clearly Erskine buildings, using a housing vocabulary that he has evolved over many years. It is very changeful, offering opportunities for many variations in dwelling and plan type within the same block. The notion of particularity within the group is celebrated, so is the idea of the possibility of alteration over time. Yet all this is done within a most rigorous contractual system, under which many important decisions and a great deal of fine detailing is passed over to the contractor. In most cases, such management structures lead to disaster, with the architects marginalized and their detailing ignored or crassly changed. But Erskine is made in a different mould. He evolved his gentle, placemaking, humane architecture in the horrendous climate of Swedish construction culture, in which, from the '50s, control of design passed from architects to bureaucrats and to contractors, a process which has had a most disastrous effect on almost all Swedish towns and city centres. Systems like PFI and B OOT' were being tried out in Sweden long before they were embraced by philistine governments and developers all over the developed world.

Through the long night of doubt and sorrow, Erskine's commitment to individuality and humanity caused him to focus on how what are essentially heavy prefabricated systems could be adapted to offer notions of place and identity. He has used many tactics including enclosure, varying the section, colouring external wall panels, varying claddings, applying relieving details like stairs and screens (often in timber), introducing balconies and bays, making much use of planting and modifying the skyline. None of these detracts essentially from the industrialized discipline of the structural and service systems, and all are found at Greenwich.

Overall environmental strategies have been adopted for the village. Grey water will be recycled, purified and used to flush lavatories. Rainwater is collected for use in irrigation. A gas powered heat and power plant has been installed which cycles heat normally wasted from the generating process through district mains to all dwellings, where both power and heat are automatically metered, using the village's sophisticated information infrastructure. Levels of thermal and acoustic insulation are high. Construction waste is reused on site when appropriate and, to try to keep waste to a minimum, as many building components as possible are prefabricated (including service modules like bathrooms). Services and finishes have been specially studied to reduce embodied energy, and wherever possible, recycled materials are used, as are locally sourced products.

Whether all these measures will work remains to be seen. But the development is being monitored in use so that lessons can be learned. It will be interesting to see how the contractor-driven detailing will stand up to the sometimes harsh weather of the lower Thames - some of the junctions look a bit odd to me. But the experiment is under way, and for all the problems encountered, results are eagerly awaited. Erskine is trying to make humanly rewarding places in a desert: the attempt is heroic and, though results seem strange, and are far from complete, the attempt to build a modern community that will live in harmony with nature deserves our closest attention.