Birmingham City University Student Showcase

Architecture and Design postgraduate students from Birmingham City University showcase new work made in response to Horror in the Modernist Block. Devised by arena, a postgraduate unit on the MArch Architecture programme, the research focussed on examining stories in perceived or managed decline of this architectural typology and contested legacies between residents, citizens, and devotees, against the development ambitions of local authorities or private enterprise.

Works include examples of controversial cases such as the now demolished Heygate Estate and the under-threat Central Hill Estate in south London, with the latter designed by Rosemary Stjernstedt, one of Birmingham School of Architecture’s first female graduates.

Students’ responses include video-work, architectural collages, physical castings and playful performances, prompting a discussion on the cultural value the modernist block still plays in society today.

About the artists

Arena is a postgraduate design unit on the MArch Architecture programme exploring the theatricality of the city and designing performative architectures through play, film, and artistic practice.

The unit is led by Alessandro Columbano, senior lecturer and course director of the MArch Architecture programme, and Francis Naydler, visiting lecturer and architect at Morris & Company, London.

Horror in the Modernist Block is supported by Fluxus Art Projects, Embassy of the Netherlands, Freelands Foundation, Italian Cultural Institute and The Modern Institute.