New perspectives: a sky-high festival celebrates London’s Balfron Tower during the LFA
The architect Erno Goldfinger is indelibly associated with the Trellick Tower, the once-derided concrete edifice on London’s western fringes that bucked anti-Brutalist sentiment to become one of the capital’s most desirable designer pied-a-terres.
About ten miles due east sits the Trellick’s still lesser-known sibling, the Balfron Tower. Completed in 1967, it predates Trellick by five years and was something of a testbed for the architect’s quest to perfect the interaction between apartments, services, and surroundings. After completion, the Goldfingers took their own apartment in the Balfron, number 130, and ran champagne-fuelled consultancies with the residents to hone the way the flats were laid out; ideas that were taken forward with the Trellick.
The Balfron still stands as bold and robust as it did the day it opened. Living spaces are generous by today’s paltry standards, and every apartment is dual aspect, with views west over the City and east towards Essex. Of course, the Balfron also hasn’t been without its problems. Goldfinger embedded services deep within the core, making upgrading problematic, destructive and expensive. Fancy ideas like tennis courts and integral sandpits were never properly used and there were the usual problems with lifts, lights and insulation.
Ultimately, while the Trellick benefited hugely from the uplift of its west London location, turning it into a desirable (and expensive) place to live, the Balfron lost out in the location stakes. Looming large over the approach road to the Blackwall Tunnel, close to East India Dock Road, it lords over a long-overlooked stretch of London that can practically touch the silvery towers of Canary Wharf; although didn’t have the chance to benefit from similar investment up till now.
Change is afoot. Poplar HARCA, a local housing association, has a major refurbishment underway. Carradale House, the low rise Goldfinger block alongside the Balfron, has already been given a substantial overhaul, and the next step is to tackle the tower.
In this interim state, the Balfron Tower finds itself the central hub of new British Council-led mini festival - itself part of the wider London Festival of Architecture programme. New Perspectives: A Celebration at Balfron on 21 June is described as a ’vertical carnival’, with a collection of in-tower installations by interior design students from the RCA, weaving narratives and performances around the building.
As well as playing host to the RCA, the tower will contain an exhibition related to the British Council’s International Architecture Showcase, an ongoing programme that looks at how émigrés and outsiders have shaped the city. Pairing international architects with London firms, a set of ten teams are working on a new idea for the tower itself and its surroundings. Elsewhere, there are walking tours, artist talks, film screenings and a rooftop panel event, offering up London as a backdrop to a discussion on the émigré architecture in London over the decades. Seize a rare chance to take a skyline tour of London from a new perspective.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
ADDRESS
Balfron Tower,
St Leonards Road,
London E14 0QT
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which features a 1990s-inspired riff on the G-Wagon
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
The Museum of Shakespeare set to open in east London
The Museum of Shakespeare puts the remains of the ancient Curtain Playhouse at the centre of 'The Stage', a new urban development in the heart of Shoreditch
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Paddington Square transforms its patch of central London with its 'elevated cube'
Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop has been completed, elevating a busy London site through sustainability, modern workspace and a plaza
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Architectural car parks to drive into, in the UK and beyond
Architectural car parks form an important part of urban infrastructure but can provide a design statement too; here are some of the finest examples to peruse, in the UK and beyond
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Architectural Association's newest show uncovers the architectural legacies of rural China's lost generation
The Architectural Association’s ‘Ripple Ripple Rippling’ is not your typical architecture show, taking an anthropological look at the flux between rural and urban, and bringing a part of China to Bedford Square in London
By Teshome Douglas-Campbell Published
-
Into the groove: Henriksen House is the UK’s first home extension featuring exposed clay block walls
Architect Michael Henriksen uses textured clay blocks, cork flooring and self-built joinery to transform his family home in St Albans near London
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Join our tour of London Zoo, its modernist architecture and more
London Zoo is a well-established magnet for younger visitors, but there's plenty for the architecture enthusiast to admire too; our tour explores its modernist treasures for guests of all ages
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Load into this reimagined Fortnite cityscape, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
A collaboration between Epic Games and ZHA, Re:Imagine London brings the architects’ modular forms into one of the world’s most popular multiplayer games
By Jonathan Bell Published