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Brandon Estate |
I have no idea why the Crust is not bigger on the Internet. I can't find it anywhere and yet the single series it had on cbbc seems to be ingrained into my architectural memory. The programme was based on a fictional pizza restaurant set at the top of the very real Brandon Estate. Reggie Yates was the owners nephew and cook, and was accompanied by a hilarious aunt, waitress, delivery boy and apparently Dawn from eastenders as the take away team. For some strange reason I found the idea of a take away restaurant run in a high rise tower amazing. Highly dependent on the lift the pizza would have to find a way to travel out of the high tiny flat to wherever in London. I suppose it was a bit like a modern Corbusier success story or a anarchic Streets in the sky.
The second brutalist urban show I started thinking about is Misifts.
The largest connection between the two is the attitude towards the environments their set in. Neither takes on the normal view which dumbs down and pities 1960s towers. Instead their depicted as lively communities with dramatic backgrounds; urban but without the idea that they are awful places to live in.
Misfits uses Thamesmead as a sort of British Gotham. Like a comic book city it seems to be full of hidden meanings about society, a little bit dark and sinister and yet empty and simple enough that it doesn't suffocate the storyline with these images. Physically, this is seen in the empty concrete white backgrounds. It's almost like something out of a Greek play or a Salvador Dali cityscape the way that everything is made up of pure and simple forms. I suppose that's what modernism was ultimatly immitating. Anyway the thing I like most is how oddly beautiful it can all look in the right angle and lighting. If you've watched Misifts its all a moody soft grey and white and looking at it I think a lot of that comes from it's physical environment. I also like how, also like a twisting and intricate meditteranian village, the estate offers a suprising amount of interesting and unique nooks and crannies; under bridges, car parks, walk ways, garages, all areas normally forgoten.
Like how Misifts transforms how we perceive it's 'lowly' young characters into Heores, the same is done for it's Brutal background. Nothing is changed, just our perspective. and perhaps the camera filters.
I think though out of the two, the crust gave me the best view of living in high rise tower. The crust made living on top of one look fun and liberating as a countryfied child. You could look out over everthing and be part of something bigger. The fact you were esssentially in a street made life seem comfortably chaotic and there was something a bit charming about customers coming up to the flat to order. Even the daylight seemed brighter. Ultimatly the crust was a chirpier urban England. Brutalism meets Balamorie. Unlike misfit's slightly edgier and sleeker brutalism, the crust's towers were rough but made the most out of it. Don't like your flat? Stick a hanging basket on it, and some patterned sheets. It was colourful and happy, like a taller brick lane.
