The Short Narrow Street Of The Slum

By the time CIAM held its ninth congress in 1953, younger architects led by Alison and Peter Smithson had become frustrated by the Athens orthodoxy, and were pushing for a rethink.

The Smithsons and their allies attacked the utopianism of Le Corbusier and warned that Modernist Architecture was in danger of damaging communities, eliminating neighbourliness, and ignoring the basic human need of 'belonging'. They wrote; "The short narrow street of the slum succeeds where spacious redevelopment frequently fails." In 1956, this group finally broke with CIAM, and formed another architectural think-tank, Team X.

The Smithsons concentrated their efforts on attempting to rectify the shortfalls they saw in Modernist theory. Their Golden Lane Housing Plan- originally sketched out in 1952- consisted of low-rise "streets in the sky" in which it was hoped that wide elevated galleries ('streets'), and a generally greater proximity to the ground would eliminate the worst failures of Modernist orthodoxy. In 1972, they realised their vision with Robin Hood Gardens in east London.

Ivor Lynn and Jack Smith's Park Hill Estate in Sheffield (1961) was designed with similar concerns in mind, and yet neither of these projects were immune to the social problems which would engulf housing estates in the future. Their Brutalist exteriors also meant that both would become easy targets for critics.