In the UK ,housing estates have become prevalent since World War II, as a more affluent population demanded larger and more widely spaced houses coupled with increase of car usage.
During the Second World War almost 4 million British homes were damaged or destroyed, and afterwards there was major boom in council home construction. The bomb damage of the Second World War only worsened the condition of Britain's housing stock, which was in poor condition prior to the outbreak of the war.
The Council House (also called council estate or council housing), otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at reasonable rents to primarily working class people. Council house development began in the late 19th Century and peaked in the mid-20th Century, at which time council housing included large suburban "council estates" and many urban developments featuring tower blocks. These developments did not live up to the hope of their supporters, and now suffer from urban blight.
Since 1979 the role of council housing has been reduced by the introduction of right to buy legislation, and a change of emphasis to the development of new social housing by housing associations. Nonetheless a substantial part of the UK population still lives in council housing. Approximately 40% of the country's social housing stock is owned by local authorities, 15% is managed by arm's length management organisations, and 45% by housing associations. In Scotland, council estates are known as schemes.
Criticism is that the system favours those who have already secured tenancy, even after they are no longer in dire need. The combination of security of tenure and affordable rent gives little incentive to tenants to downsize from family accommodation after their children have moved out. Meanwhile, those who are on the waiting list are often in much greater need of this welfare, yet they cannot have it; once a council house has been granted to a tenant, they cannot be evicted except for anti-social behaviour, serious offences committed at the premises or serious breach of the tenancy conditions, such as rent arrears.
Rachel whiteread
Rachel Whiteread is an English artist I have come across which links to my research of uniform structure, shape and architecture. Best known for her sculptures and casts, Whiteread's decision of space is usually ordinary but described as negative. Whiteread mainly focuses on the line and form for her pieces. 'Ghost 1990' a large plaster cast of the inside of a room in a Victorian house, the living space is working class home, Bethnal Green District in London's East end. This cast, shows signs where it has been inhibited, with patches of wallpaper and specks of colour. Other pieces such as 'House 1993' drew mixed responses winning her both the Turner Prize for best young British artist in 1993 and the K Foundation art award for worst British artist. This concrete cast of the Victorian house (193 Grove road in East London) is exhibited in original location of the house itself . Tower Hamlets London Borough Council demolished House on 11 January 1994, a decision which caused some controversy itself.
"A strange and fantastical object which also amounts to one of the most extraordinary and imaginative sculptures created by an English artist this century.
— The Independent
Embankment (2005–2006)
Embankment In spring 2004, she was offered the annual Unilever Series commission to produce a piece for Tate Moderns vast Turbine Hall, delaying acceptance for five to six months until she was confident she could conceive of a work to fill the space. It consists of some 14,000 translucent, white polyethylene boxes (themselves casts of the inside of cardboard boxes) stacked in various ways; some in very tall mountain-like peaks and others in lower (though still over human height), rectangular, more levelled arrangements. They are fixed in position with adhesive. She cited the end scenes of both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Citizen Kane as visual precursors; she also spoke of the death of her mother and a period of upheaval which involved packing and moving comparable boxes. It is also thought that her recent trip to the Arctic is an inspiration, although critics counter that white is merely the colour the polyethylene comes in, and it would have added significantly to the expense to dye them. The boxes were manufactured from casts of ten distinct cardboard boxes by a company that produces grit bins and traffic bollards.
The critical response included:
"With this work Whiteread has deepened her game, and made a work as rich and subtle as it is spectacular. Whatever else it is, Embankment is generous and brave, a statement of intent."
— Adrian Searle, The Guardian, 11 October 2005.
"Everything feels surprisingly domestic in scale, the intimidating vistas of the Turbine Hall shrunk down to irregular paths and byways. From atop the walkway, it looks like a storage depot that is steadily losing the plot; from inside, as you thread your way between the mounds of blocks, it feels more like an icy maze."[26]
— Andrew Dickson, The Guardian, 10 October 2005.
Rachel Whiteread various pieces of work, focus on line, form and structure. The use of casts deliver a sense of suspense and curiosity of whats inside them. The shell is non-existent but the inside is solid and brings a heavy feeling to the space with negative attatchments. Dull, grieving, lowering, oppressive, sad, sorrowful and overbearing ambience.
Ideas-From looking at run down areas, in particularly council estates, I found that they are usually built in single contractor, very few styles of housing designs and tend to be uniform in appearance. This idea of repetition of a particularly design lead me to consider using an allotment of cardboard storage boxes, single style filling a gallery space. stacked at different heights like mountains, visual statistical graph maybe? which the audience can walk through and feel the towering pyramids which represent the intense reality of crime within society today.
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