Reimagining Goldfinger

Reimagining Goldfinger builds on SPID’s award winning Trellick Tales project, which featured on the BBC, was pick of the week in Time Out and won a Clore Prize. The project explores the heritage of West London’s Cheltenham Estate, comprising blocks such as Trellick Tower and Edenham Way . This historic estate was designed fifty years ago by the renowned architect Erno Goldfinger and has come to symbolise Brutalist architecture.

It was one of the last tower block estates to be built before local authorities realised what social problems they caused. Built in 1972 at the commission of London County Council, the estate replaced the sub-standard late 19th century housing and embodies the best ideas at the time for high rise housing.

Cheltenham Estate received Grade II listed status in 2012 and is just round the corner from SPID’s base in the historic Kensal House estate. Kensington council is currently consulting with the local community on plans to redevelop the empty area between Trellick Tower and Elkstone Road.

Reimagining Goldfinger was a year long programme which started July  2016 and followed the estates’ journey from its completion in 1972 through to the present day. The heritage of the building was explored through detailed research, the creation of oral history testimonies and a film. Young participants were encouraged to work with older residents throughout each of the project’s three 12-week stages.

In one block young people created a film about the estate’s history which is shot on location, taking the form of a documentary. The young people were encouraged to form a company identity and have a sense of ownership of both the project and the heritage of their estate.

In another block young people learnt research techniques and drew upon visual and written resources in order to investigate the changing social, political and historical context that has influenced the building and its residents. Workshops from the Oral History Society taught them about the history of their estate and developed their research skills. Sessions with Haworth Tomkins Architects developed their model making skills and explained plans to redevelop neglected areas of the estate. The young people created an exhibition about the history of their estate including their own models of how it might look in future.

And in another block they explored older residents’ memories by interviewing them about their experiences of estate life. Workshops from the Twentieth Century Society taught them the interview skills and editing skills they needed to create oral history testimonies. The V and A also delivered guided tours of the estate and showed them how to give these tours themselves.

Reimagining Goldfinger was part of our Living History program, created by Nnenna Samson Abosi and Mariana Sastre.

Read about our achievements here

TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

RobPetit

Rob Petit

Rob is co-founder of the creative studio Milkwood where he works as a director of funny things, serious things and everything in between. He graduated as David Lean Scholar in directing fiction from the prestigious National Film and Television School in 2012 and has since worked on
independent and commercial projects on everything from the iPhone to the silver screen. Current Milkwood projects include an animated drama about the conflict in Syria, a sci-fi noir and a political thriller. Rob writes, shoots, directs and edits, but not always all at the same time.

Rib

Rib Davis

Rib Davis is an oral historian, scriptwriter and community arts worker. He has worked on many oral history projects over the last 35 years, leading to plays, books, websites and other artistic outcomes. He is now a trainer in oral history on behalf of the British Library and the Oral History Society. As well as running courses at the British Library and training community organisations he has trained such bodies as the Royal Opera House and the National Army Museum. He has also trained widely in the Middle East.

He has directed many community arts projects, ranging from outdoor extravaganzas to multi-media events to community exhibitions. In recent years has worked extensively with groups with mental health problems.

With over 60 scripts produced for stage, radio and television, Rib Davis has also written 2 books on scriptwriting. The 4 th edition of Writing Dialogue for Scripts is due to appear this autumn. At present he has a television series in development. He is also co-director of Write Theatre, a course held at The Cockpit, London.

max graef

Max Graef

Max has spent the last 11 years building community radio stations and delivering radio training at radio stations and recording studios around the world. He designs and installs FM radio stations, PV solar installations and recording studios and delivers workshops in radio production, radio drama, station management and engineering.

Max specialises in working with people with no previous radio experience to help them gain the skills and confidence to run their own radio stations and produce radio programming. This includes talk shows, debates, interviews, drama, music, story-telling and other types of programming.

He has spent the last 15 years working with audio equipment as an audio engineer and DJ. He was a founder member of Chicago-based Radios Populares, a group that supports community radio stations in Latin America. He has worked on radio projects in Mali, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Palestine, Chad, Guinea, Cameroon, Madagascar, Brazil and Nepal for UNHCR, EDC, World Education and Internews among many others.

He has a first class degree in Music Systems Engineering specialising in low power FM radio station design from the University of the West of England, Bristol.

He is currently completing an MA in Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

kevin photo

Kevin Hasham

Originally from London, Kevin Hasham spent 10 years living in America, becoming a US citizen while working in the travel industry. After returning to the UK, Kevin entered the film industry and worked on the feature film productions of BBC/BFI; “City of Tiny Lights”; and acclaimed director Ritesh Batra; “The Sense of an Ending”;.  Kevin has also worked on numerous short films, music videos, and commercials.