The Utopian Estate is a series of urban interventions leading from an exploration into post-war housing estates, the ideologies behind and the stories of their contemporary daily life. It is an experiment that intends to reinvent utopian conceptions within the existing building fabrics, with the aim of opposing the demolition of these buildings and consequently avoiding the dispersion of entire communities. 

 

Located at the Bemerton Estate in Islington, which has been enveloped by the rapidly expanding area of King’s Cross, the project takes the form of a series of one-day interventions in an abandoned square at the heart of the estate. These interventions respond to the social needs of a weakened community isolated by the surrounding blocks of modernist architecture.

 

The interventions in the square, momentarily 

called The Bemerton Imaginary Square, outline a blueprint for possible meeting spaces, conceptualised and acted out by residents, which prompt the community to take ownership of their environment and activate its public life.

 

Here, utopia does not depend on architectural structures, but on the social networks and human experiences of the residents of this microcosmic city. Utopia, “a good place in no place”, comes to life through the relationships that arise within public spaces.