First transmitted in 1991, architect Sand Helsel applauds Trellick Tower, a Brutalist tower block in west London, designed by Erno Goldfinger, and completed in 1972.
Thanks for posting this. Both Balfron & Trellick Towers have fascinated me for a very long time. When I was stuck in traffic to go under the Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel to the O2, I was excited to see I was right next to Balfron Tower. For anyone wondering, Balfron was Goldfinger's prototype to Trellick & is a smaller version. It was used in the film 28 Days Later.
Balfron was also used in music videos by The Verve, Oasis and Republica. Trellick Tower has featured in various Grime videos as well as TV shows such as The Professionals and Black Mirror.
I know the Oasis track very well, "What's the story, morning glory", the video was on MTV in the 90s & made me rush out to Woolworths to buy the album. Its interesting to see the history of media use in some of the Brutalist estates, such as A Clockwork Orange at Thamesmeade & Harry Brown, amongst others, at the Heygate Estate - now demolished.
I lived in the towers when I was growing up, it wasn’t the best living conditions and it was very dangerous. Windows was weakly held up and the feel was unsafe. However I admired the brutalist design, changing the London skyline and making a unique landmark
The apartment interior looks nice by 1972 standards but it's too much everywhere else. People don't need a monument to your architectural genius, they just need a nice place to live.
Don't forget that this documentary was from way back in 1991. The lifts have since been replaced and many of the apartments have much improved interiors while retaining some of the original features. Well, the ones I've been in at least.
She's an intriguing host, I've not heard of her before but guessed by this she was 'someone in the know' about architecture. Not a huge deal about her online but seemed to go into Academia in Taiwan? - Completely thrown by her accent!
She's a Professor of Architecture, currently teaching at a university in Australia I believe. She grew up in New York, but is well travelled and so this will have affected her accent.
Holy shit!!….That Sandy Helsel looks just like an ex-girlfriend of mine😳I kid you not, she’s an exact copy, even her hairstyle’s the same!!😀The ex lives in France these days…..I wonder if she’s seen this😂I grew-up in west London and Trellick was a familiar feature to us👍🏻🏴
Towerblocks have always been horrific to look at, the only interesting thing this one has is a detached lift shaft and stairwell. Every towerblock I've seen looks disgusting and oppressive, can't understand why anyone would want to live in one let alone live near one. The color is ugly, it's far too big and it's just the same again and again. It's another monument to misery. In the same way I despise skyscrapers, the endless glass panelling and repeated design. I think it comes down to the material used, glass and steel shine in the light, they reflect the world back and in a way that's quite beautiful. With tower blocks and the endless concrete, they just cause conflict, they look terrible when the light's behind them, being shadowy monoliths and when the light's on them they just look unwelcoming, it's a confusing and bizarre style of architecture that i can't help but hate. In the same way I hold negative views towards modern architecture but I can at least appreciate the randomness and uniqueness in the design of each building, that in itself, while modern architecture can also produce countless monstrosities, there's great difference in each building which in turn makes it somewhat difficult to make an all encompassing statement, partly due to thousands of different styles and design philosophies, it is understandable that in this era, creating quick and affordable housing was very important, and so this was the solution they sought. In my view it's ultimately disgusting as a building, but it served it's purpose. But architecture is about creating a building that isn't antagonistic, a building that is unique and interesting, a building with character as well. Architecture is an art, and each piece should be unique, but in a way also, each piece shouldn't oppress it's surroundings, a building with a strange shape and coloration may look ugly to people, but to me i'd rather have a vibrant and diverse skyline with lots of strange designs, while i don't particularly like modern designs, I don't like repetitive designs either. Ultimately, Goldfinger saw architecture in a completely different way and didn't prioritise appearance or uniqueness, instead it's purpose. Which is why many people don't like his designs or other brutalist works, because now people want buildings that look vibrant and energetic or buildings that come from a time long past, one which we didn't get to experience. Maybe one day the future will have a great number people who find brutalist works appealing.
The design is good, but like most Brutalist architecture the excess of poured concrete ruins it. Compared to say Falmer House, University of Sussex which uses bricks and concrete. In my opinion bricks are more tasteful.
It's interesting that this programme came at the point that everyone agreed how awful high rise buildings were. But the next 30 years have produced a multitude of them in Britain, early on for business, then for residential. I must say I had no respect for building - it looks like an ugly grey monstrosity from outside. I assumed the walkways were the usual crime ridden type in other tower blocks. I hadn't realised they were each devoted to one flat. So perhaps they are the pleasant walkways described. So I have no aesthetic objection to high rise buildings. What concerns me is the architect's vision: "look at me". If these buildings are going to solve housing need, they need to be built on a large scale, not just as 'iconic' buildings. They need to fit in with each other, and more importantly, the street scape. If you built 20-30 Trellick towers, how would they fit in with each other?
Each walkway potentially gives access to 20 flats, as there are flats on the walkway floor and flats above and below the walkways that are accessed via internal stairs on the walkway floor.
Yes, I'd imagine you would see it from that route. You see it right up close coming into Paddington from the West. And you get a brief glimpse of it when approaching Marylebone station coming from Oxford.
Architectural rule No 1 should be: Don't use massive amounts of concrete if you are planning to build something in Britain. It's pretty fucking simple stuff. After 20 years the pristine white concrete becomes a grey dismal nightmare. Perfect for Italy, Greece or Spain but fucking awful in London!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find beauty in its design, but I am a fan of Brutalist architecture. I can understand that it's not for everyone. I stayed there at a friends flat a couple of years ago and loved it. I find it a fascinating place.
@@hermannhoth6518 I like what Professor Helsel says In the documentary... “it isn’t an easy building, but who says architecture should be easy?” I can totally understand people thinking it’s an ugly building, even if I don’t think it is. I suppose the beauty I see in it is in how it was designed to work. It’s a great work of design and engineering. But not classically pretty, I’ll give you that. 🙂
The type who like it are most likely artsy middle class edgy teenagers who enjoy the image of seeing everyone living in misery as long as it’s for the sake of “equality”. They’d probably love rows and rows of these towers in the entire city
I loved this whole style of reporting. The writing, shots, even the music.
The music is by Art of Noise
Thanks for posting this. Both Balfron & Trellick Towers have fascinated me for a very long time. When I was stuck in traffic to go under the Thames via the Blackwall Tunnel to the O2, I was excited to see I was right next to Balfron Tower. For anyone wondering, Balfron was Goldfinger's prototype to Trellick & is a smaller version. It was used in the film 28 Days Later.
Balfron was also used in music videos by The Verve, Oasis and Republica. Trellick Tower has featured in various Grime videos as well as TV shows such as The Professionals and Black Mirror.
I know the Oasis track very well, "What's the story, morning glory", the video was on MTV in the 90s & made me rush out to Woolworths to buy the album. Its interesting to see the history of media use in some of the Brutalist estates, such as A Clockwork Orange at Thamesmeade & Harry Brown, amongst others, at the Heygate Estate - now demolished.
I lived in the towers when I was growing up, it wasn’t the best living conditions and it was very dangerous. Windows was weakly held up and the feel was unsafe. However I admired the brutalist design, changing the London skyline and making a unique landmark
brutalism is the right name, brutalizing the view, brutalizing poor packed inside concrete grey box, soviet style.
Yes, I can understand why people would have this opinion. I can’t help but love the building though.
The apartment interior looks nice by 1972 standards but it's too much everywhere else. People don't need a monument to your architectural genius, they just need a nice place to live.
Don't forget that this documentary was from way back in 1991. The lifts have since been replaced and many of the apartments have much improved interiors while retaining some of the original features. Well, the ones I've been in at least.
She's an intriguing host, I've not heard of her before but guessed by this she was 'someone in the know' about architecture. Not a huge deal about her online but seemed to go into Academia in Taiwan? - Completely thrown by her accent!
She's a Professor of Architecture, currently teaching at a university in Australia I believe.
She grew up in New York, but is well travelled and so this will have affected her accent.
I thought she sounded like a female Dr. Evil (a/k/a Lorne Michaels).
Holy shit!!….That Sandy Helsel looks just like an ex-girlfriend of mine😳I kid you not, she’s an exact copy, even her hairstyle’s the same!!😀The ex lives in France these days…..I wonder if she’s seen this😂I grew-up in west London and Trellick was a familiar feature to us👍🏻🏴
Towerblocks have always been horrific to look at, the only interesting thing this one has is a detached lift shaft and stairwell. Every towerblock I've seen looks disgusting and oppressive, can't understand why anyone would want to live in one let alone live near one. The color is ugly, it's far too big and it's just the same again and again. It's another monument to misery.
In the same way I despise skyscrapers, the endless glass panelling and repeated design. I think it comes down to the material used, glass and steel shine in the light, they reflect the world back and in a way that's quite beautiful. With tower blocks and the endless concrete, they just cause conflict, they look terrible when the light's behind them, being shadowy monoliths and when the light's on them they just look unwelcoming, it's a confusing and bizarre style of architecture that i can't help but hate.
In the same way I hold negative views towards modern architecture but I can at least appreciate the randomness and uniqueness in the design of each building, that in itself, while modern architecture can also produce countless monstrosities, there's great difference in each building which in turn makes it somewhat difficult to make an all encompassing statement, partly due to thousands of different styles and design philosophies, it is understandable that in this era, creating quick and affordable housing was very important, and so this was the solution they sought.
In my view it's ultimately disgusting as a building, but it served it's purpose. But architecture is about creating a building that isn't antagonistic, a building that is unique and interesting, a building with character as well.
Architecture is an art, and each piece should be unique, but in a way also, each piece shouldn't oppress it's surroundings, a building with a strange shape and coloration may look ugly to people, but to me i'd rather have a vibrant and diverse skyline with lots of strange designs, while i don't particularly like modern designs, I don't like repetitive designs either.
Ultimately, Goldfinger saw architecture in a completely different way and didn't prioritise appearance or uniqueness, instead it's purpose. Which is why many people don't like his designs or other brutalist works, because now people want buildings that look vibrant and energetic or buildings that come from a time long past, one which we didn't get to experience. Maybe one day the future will have a great number people who find brutalist works appealing.
Nitpicking!
The design is good, but like most Brutalist architecture the excess of poured concrete ruins it. Compared to say Falmer House, University of Sussex which uses bricks and concrete. In my opinion bricks are more tasteful.
Yes
It's interesting that this programme came at the point that everyone agreed how awful high rise buildings were. But the next 30 years have produced a multitude of them in Britain, early on for business, then for residential.
I must say I had no respect for building - it looks like an ugly grey monstrosity from outside. I assumed the walkways were the usual crime ridden type in other tower blocks. I hadn't realised they were each devoted to one flat. So perhaps they are the pleasant walkways described.
So I have no aesthetic objection to high rise buildings. What concerns me is the architect's vision: "look at me". If these buildings are going to solve housing need, they need to be built on a large scale, not just as 'iconic' buildings. They need to fit in with each other, and more importantly, the street scape. If you built 20-30 Trellick towers, how would they fit in with each other?
Each walkway potentially gives access to 20 flats, as there are flats on the walkway floor and flats above and below the walkways that are accessed via internal stairs on the walkway floor.
Am I right in thinking this is the one you would see on the train going into Euston, from Watford?
Yes, I'd imagine you would see it from that route. You see it right up close coming into Paddington from the West. And you get a brief glimpse of it when approaching Marylebone station coming from Oxford.
Architectural rule No 1 should be: Don't use massive amounts of concrete if you are planning to build something in Britain. It's pretty fucking simple stuff. After 20 years the pristine white concrete becomes a grey dismal nightmare. Perfect for Italy, Greece or Spain but fucking awful in London!
👣🧘♂️
I live near this. It is a disgusting eyesore.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find beauty in its design, but I am a fan of Brutalist architecture. I can understand that it's not for everyone. I stayed there at a friends flat a couple of years ago and loved it. I find it a fascinating place.
@@MattRichardsEsq Well each to their own but I can't see why anyone would like this. It is simply ugly.
@@hermannhoth6518 I like what Professor Helsel says In the documentary... “it isn’t an easy building, but who says architecture should be easy?” I can totally understand people thinking it’s an ugly building, even if I don’t think it is. I suppose the beauty I see in it is in how it was designed to work. It’s a great work of design and engineering. But not classically pretty, I’ll give you that. 🙂
@@MattRichardsEsq It was an interesting video but I'm not a fan of any modern architecture. Give me a nice Georgian townhouse any day.
@@hermannhoth6518 Ooh, I love Georgian townhouses too. 👍
"Brutalist" -- British word for "butt-ugly"...
Subjective this subjective that. No these buildings are objectively disgusting
Don’t sit on the fence... tell us what you really think of the building. 😃
A
I can see why people like it, however it is not to my taste
The type who like it are most likely artsy middle class edgy teenagers who enjoy the image of seeing everyone living in misery as long as it’s for the sake of “equality”. They’d probably love rows and rows of these towers in the entire city