ABSTRACT
Across Europe the rehabilitation of large-scale estates is a common concern, with the living conditions in many of those built during the mid-20th century now far removed from their utopian origins. Recurring themes include improving thermal performance, redefining communal access and circulation areas, extending private outdoor space, activating ground floors and clarifying the relationship between private and public realms. Modern housing is often criticised, stigmatised and rejected. Regularly, this negative judgment is made from a distance by people who don’t actually live in the project. Lacaton & Vassal and Druot’s research into this topic was begun more than a decade ago, but it remains a challenge to the norms of the architect’s remit and brings into question the existing methodologies for intervening with estate regeneration projects.
