Street Farm was a London-based collective active in the early 1970s, with its origins in the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

(AA). Its core members were AA students Peter Crump, Bruce Haggart and Graham Caine. Street Farm was discontinued in around 1976, although Graham Caine and Peter Crump continued to work on sustainable architecture projects in the Bristol area in later years. The group's ideas and projects proved influential as renewable energy and concern for sustainability in architecture became more mainstream in subsequent decades, with leading green architects, including Paul F. Downton and Howard Liddell, citing early encounters with the Street Farmers as important inspirations for their careers.

Street Farmer

In 1971-1972 the group produced a

Situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...

-inspired magazine called ''Street Farmer'', which combined witty graphics with ideas about what they termed the 'transmogrification' of the urban environment. Attacking the complicity of architects in state and capitalist control of cities, Street Farm advocated communities self-organised on anarchist principles, making use of autonomous housing and the kind of liberatory technology favoured by social ecologist Murray Bookchin. In addition to the alternative-press publication ''Street Farmer'', they pursued other agit-prop media projects, touring throughout England and Wales to present multimedia shows at schools of architecture and beyond, and participating in events in the Netherlands and Italy. Street Farm's ideas were also promoted by appearances on two BBC television programmes. The first was aired as a part of the documentary series Open Door produced by the BBC's

Community Programme Unit The Community Programme Unit was established by the BBC to help members of the public create programmes to be broadcast nationally. The unit was established in 1972 by producers such as Rowan Ayers having won the approval of the Director of Progr ...

(broadcast 18 June 1973). Melvyn Bragg presented the second documentary, ''Clearings in the Concrete Jungle'', as part of the 2nd House series (broadcast 24 January 1976).

The First Ecological House

In 1972 Street Farm applied their political aspirations and visions to the practical project of Street Farmhouse, in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

, London, the first intentionally constructed ecological house. This was designed and constructed by Graham Caine with the assistance of Bruce Haggart and other friends in 1972, sited on Thames Polytechnic's playing fields. The ecological house's objective was to create an autonomous home that exploited reused materials and

alternative technology Alternative technology is a term used to refer to technologies that are more environmentally friendly than the functionally equivalent technologies dominant in current practice. The term was coined by Peter Harper, one of the founders of the Centr ...

, harnessing

microgeneration Microgeneration is the small-scale production of heat or electric power from a "low carbon source," as an alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power. Microgeneration technologies include small-scale wind turbin ...

and sewage recycling in order to liberate the occupants from dependence upon services provided by the state or private suppliers. Following a front page feature in ''The Observer'' by Gerald Leach the experimental house attracted considerable attention, chiming with emerging concerns about ecological sustainability and energy security. Lord Holford commended Caine's efforts in a debate in the House of Lords during a reading of the Protection of the Environment Bill in 1973. Despite such attention, however, Street Farmhouse, was relatively short-lived. A request to extend the structure's temporary planning permission on behalf of Graham Caine and his partner and daughter was refused, leading to the dismantlement of their home in 1975.Lydia Kallipoliti, 'From Shit to Food: Graham Caine's Eco-House in South London, 1972-1975', ''Buildings and Landscapes'', 19.1 (Spring 2012), 87-106.

References

External links

Mother Earth News - The Ecologic House - 1973 - An in-depth look at an ecologic house designed by British architect Grahame CaineArticle by Bruce Haggart and Graham Caine and photos of the 'Ecological House' in Undercurrents UC04 - Spring 1973 - pp39-46Peter Crump interview by Lydia Kallipoliti in 'Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines, 196X to 197X'

Street Farmer entryLydia Kallipoliti, From Shit to Food: The Eco House in South London (1972-1975) in Buildings and Landscapes, (Spring 2012), Vol.19Paul Downton - Sowing the Seeds of Green Urbanism: 'Spring is Here and the Time is Right for Planting in the Streets'- December 14, 2015
{{coord missing, London Sustainable architecture Green anarchism Sustainable buildings in the United Kingdom Low-energy building in the United Kingdom Intentional communities in the United Kingdom

Street Farmer

The First Ecological House

See also

References

External links