Walter Segal and self build

 

Walter Segal

 Last year two architectural students, Matt Atkins and Ben Barfield Marks, were commissioned to build an office and playspace for the Oasis Children's Venture in Stockwell, South London.  Fortunately a 1980s building in Waterloo became available at short notice.  But it was a special building, built along the ideas of Walter Segal (1907-1985) , who had designed a method of building with timber frames which was simple and could basically be done by almost anyone with a rudimentary knowledge.

Oasis Childrens Venture and construction of new building

Segal believed that if people were involved in the design and construction of their own homes, they are more likely to appreciate and look after it and find satisfaction in living in it.  It is also an expression of their ideas (see the Ashley Vale, Bristol development in a previous post), unlike the  housing developments associated with Wayne Hemingway and Kevin McCloud, even though these are a great advance on mass building.   As Rowan Moore says in his article about the Oasis project, one self-builder said "you have the indescribable feeling that you finally have control over what you are doing".

Because of the simplicity and principles of Segal-designed buildings, Atkins and Marks were able to dismantle the Waterloo building and transport it to Stockwell.  200 people worked on reconstructing the building, and this, says the students, "galvanised people and made them want to work on it".