The Walworth Alternative: Retaining and Enhancing Britain's Social Housing Estates Utilising Contemporary Timber Construction

This paper describes the research designs of London South Bank University (LSBU) Masters of Architecture students who investigated the future housing needs of expanding cities, focusing in detail on the Walworth area of South London as a potential model for application elsewhere. The students then proposed innovative ideas on how to expand and remodel the Aylesbury Housing Estate through the use of contemporary timber construction without resorting to wholescale demolition.

The study is part of ongoing research into resource efficient architecture and planning by the M. Arch - Resource Studio 22 tutored by Mike Kane and Ron Yee at LSBU. The field of study was inspired by the Metsäwood's Plan B research program of case studies on iconic buildings, such as the Empire State Building in New York and the Colosseum in Rome, that re-engineered them in timber. (a) During the study period LSBU with the support of Metsäwood organised the “Urban Wood” seminar where 3 renowned architects were invited to speak about building advanced engineered timber buildings within dense urban London locations.