Introduced by Owen Hatherley as the solution to London’s housing troubles in his recent talk for Open House 2013, Tour Bois de Prêtre is primarily interesting because of its innovative programme. This 16-storey, 96-apartment housing block in the 17th arrondissement of Paris was originally completed in the 1960s and renovated with coloured panels in the early 1990s, but again 15 years later it was in desperate need of repair and modernisation to meet current standards. Initial ideas proposed complete demolition, however, this would have displaced all of the residents who were social housing tenants. Architects Lacaton & Vassal and Frédéric Druot were tasked instead with its transformation, retaining its floor plates and much of its internal layout. New floors, built as a self-supporting structure, were added onto the periphery of the existing building at every floor to extend the living rooms and create closeable terrasses and balconies. The existing facades with small windows were removed and replaced by large transparent openings so that the inhabitants could profit from the exceptional 360 degree views of Paris.

What is most interesting, however, is that the improvements were constructed from prefabricated elements, which meant that the inhabitants remained in their homes during the construction works. Hatherley’s argument was that Britain should look to Paris’ planning department for its policies in London. He suggested that the demolition of 1960s and 1970s housing estates, like the Heygate Estate, is causing mass disruption to communities and, what’s more, their homes are all too frequently replaced with sub-quality buildings to minimise cost. Hatherley opposes the argument in London is that it is cheaper to demolish than to renovate. Tour Bois le Prêtre proves otherwise: calculations estimated that its renovation was half the cost of its demolition and rebuilding. For the daring of its planners and innovation of its architects to create comfortable homes from disliked old buildings, Tour Bois le Prêtre is our House of the Week. For more information on the architects and to see an enormous collection of interior shots, visit: Lacaton & Vassal

The 21st century is the age of the city. Already over 50% of the world population live in urban centres and over the coming decades this percentage will increase – with consequences for us all. But this does not mean that things will only get worse. In fact our urban future might just be something to look forward to.

Blending anecdote, fact and first hand encounters – from exploring the slums of Mumbai, to visiting roof-top farms in Brooklyn and attending secret dinner parties in Paris, to riding the bus in Latin America – Leo Hollis reveals that we have misunderstood how cities work for too long.

Upending long-held assumptions and challenging accepted wisdom, he explores: why cities can never be rational, organised places; how we can walk in a crowd without bumping into people, and if we can design places that make people want to kiss; whether we have the right solution to the problem of the slums; how ants, slime mould and traffic jams can make us rethink congestion. And above all, the unexpected reasons why living in the city can make us fitter, richer, smarter, greener, more creative – and, perhaps, even happier.

Cities Are Good for You: The Genius of the Metropolis introduces dreamers, planners, revolutionaries, writers, scientists, architects, slum-dwellers and emperors. It is shaped by the idea that cities are the greatest social experiment in human history, built for people, and by the people.

For a full review visit: The Financial Times‘s review by Ed Hammond ‘A sermon from an urban missionary’

6:30pm – 7:30pm, Tuesday 21 May
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

The entertaining and idiosyncratic Dr Lucy Worsley has made a name for herself chronicling the social and aesthetic history of the home as a TV broadcaster, historian and chief curator of the Historic Royal Places. In this evening talk tomorrow 21 May at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Worsley will be presenting the more intimate details associated with the domestic interior and the ways in which rooms so often reflected their owners interests and lifestyles. Good place to get some ideas on how to influence the design of modern houses today.

For more information and to book tickets, visit: V&A

Open House 2013, County Street, Elephant & Castle, SE1 4AD

Housing the people of London is a growing problem. This unique bottom-up community-led nine day event Open House 2013 deals exclusively with the problem of housing in London. It brings together people facing the housing crisis to organise and take action around collective housing needs through a skill share on legal observing, a workshop on how to set up a housing co-op, a Q&A session on tenants’ rights, a talk on gentrification, crowdversations as well as talks by high-profile thinkers on what is happening with housing around us – architecture critic Owen Hatherley, professor Danny Dorling and senior economist at the New Ecomonic Foundation James Meadway. Today is the final day and to round up The Community Food Growers Network is presenting the talk Land and Housing Struggles: Past and Present from 5pm. Head over for also for a chat with the event organisers and for more information on any aspect of housing. For more information, visit: Open House 2013

Austin Vernon & Partners was established in 1948 when Russell Vernon (1916-2009) became a partner in the architecture practice of his uncle, Frederick Austin Vernon (1882-1972), who was the surveyor and architect to the Dulwich Estate. For several family generations, the practice had already been a successful commercial enterprise. Its architectural output, however, was rather traditional. Russell, who had studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic and worked for his great uncle, George Vernon (1870-1942), transformed it into a modern studio that over time has been appreciated for producing some of the highest-quality 1950s and 1960s housing in the country, as well as for the restoration of Dulwich Picture Gallery after bomb damage. Austin Vernon & Partners designed many different types of building in many different locations around the country, including the headquarters of Otis Elevators; a church and training centre for the Church Army; and an office for Lufthansa. Their greatest passion, however, was the Dulwich Estate, where they designed over 2,000 homes. Great care was taken to respond to the natural contours of site, surrounding tree heights and placement of existing trees.

For properties for sale or to let by Austin Vernon and other architects, visit: The Modern House

Looking out onto the Kalvebod Faelled on the edge of the Copenhagen Canal in Southern Ørestad, 8 House is the largest ever private development to have been undertaken in Denmark and comprises 61,000 square metres of residential space as well as 10,000 square metres of retail and office space. Designed by Danish outfit Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), its fundamental design principle is that all types of families and people can be accommodated within the building – young/old, nuclear/single-parent households and growing/shrinking families. Progressive in this ambition, people are accommodated in flats and townhouses which have been variously put together in non-traditional forms and tied together in a literal bow-shaped plan with two communal garden courtyards. Retail and office spaces are located on the lower floors, while there is a promenade and cycle track to the 10th floor. The building has been shaped according to access to views and light, so that one corner is dropped to ground level.

Deckhouse by Exs Architects

The Dutch city of Nijmegen has launched a new concept of affordable homes for first-time buyers called ‘I build afordable in Nijmegen’ (IbbN). Aimed at helping the architecture industry also, the scheme has has paired 20 architects with building companies to produce about 30 prefabricated kit designs – from detached timber cabins to redbrick terraced houses – with a construction cost of as little as €115,000 (£97,400). To read the full article, visit: The Guardian

Saturday 15 June, 9:45am meet

On 15 June, the Twentieth Century Society is organising a walking tour to Frinton Park Estate in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. Mentioned in Jonathan Meades‘ The Joy of Essex, Frinton Park Estate is a partially complete 200 acre speculative housing development which was begun in 1934 by Coast Property Investment Company, who planned to build a whole new small town. The tour looks at the collection of Modernist houses on the Estate including those by the lead masterplanner for the estate, Oliver Hill. This all-day event, led by John Barter, Rachel Baldwin and volunteers of the Frinton and Walton Heritage Trust, also looks at the best houses in the ‘select Edwardian Avenues’ on the Powell Cooper Estate, for which Frinton is also famous. There will also be interiors and other surprises on the day and Liz Bruce, the Trust’s Archivist, will open the Trust’s Railway Gatekeeper’s Cottage Museum to be viewed at the end of the visit. For more information, visit: The Twentieth Century Society

This four-bedroom house on Lake Geneva, near the village of Maxilly, has just come on the market for €2.5 million (£2.1 million). Completed in 2009, the house is split over two levels to make the most of the views over the local mountains of the Mémises and Dent d’Oche. On the ground floor is an open plan living space with kitchen and dining area that opens out in all directions to the terraces and garden. The first floor includes a master bedroom with ensuite as well as the remaining bedrooms and a family bathroom. The house has a full basement with a garage and storage area, children’s area, laundry room, wine cellar and an open room which could become a home cinema area. Constructed from precast concrete panels and using such a bold lines, overhangs and terraces, house is uncompromising in its modernity but sits effectively and strikingly in its mountainous landscape, while its openness makes it a fantastic vantage point to take advantage of the stunning scenery.

Phase one of Barking Riverside has been designed by Sheppard Robson. The 45 hectare scheme consists of 1,400 of the planned 10,800 homes. The total area covered will be 140 hectares

If you head out of London east down the river Thames, it becomes apparent that not too far from the city centre are acres and acres of derelict land and buildings that were once used for industrial purposes or landfill. To most people, it doesn’t make sense why this apparently unused land isn’t being developed into housing to solve the housing crisis – it looks like a simple solution. This week’s What We’re Hearing collects together a selection of articles about the issue of brownfield housebuilding by The Economist. The first, Full metal riverside, looks specifically at Thames Gateway where, for example a new four-bedroom house on the Barking Riverside estate sells for £270,000. And the second article, The brownfield delusion, is a blog update on the subject more generally – about how difficult it is for housebuilders to use brownfield sites, because of treatment work and location attraction problems. The articles also point to more in-depth research carried out by the LSE Spatial Economics Research Centre’s Paul Cheshire in How to Kill Nightingales and not Build Houses: Insist on building on brownfields. Cheshire argues against the use of brownfield sites as a quick fix solution to the housing problem by pointing out their benefits to wildlife.