spacetm: SpaceTM's Joe investigates North London’s Haddo House estate

Made up of only five buildings, the Haddo House estate is a period piece, created during a past time when visionary architectural experimentation and social housing were two bedmates.

What fascinates me are the shapes and the theatrical angles. It’s got a hint of the future about it – still. It says, “this is a new way of living”, come with us. If someone gets around to building an housing estate somewhere in space, then perhaps this would make a good template?

A few years ago the estate's main building, Haddo House, was given a makeover and for several months the grid of windows and the glass tubes that envelop the decent of the stairs sparkled, like a machine fresh off the conveyor belt.

This is the strangest out of all the buildings. Can you imagine this getting passed in council town planning now? (There's a car park is underneath, so maybe yes.) Do you feel sorry for the people upstairs because they get less room? I particularly like the wild plant that has taken residence on the roof. Was that also in the architect's vision of the future?

Now the estate has returned to a faded, lived-in look; some of the railings have bent out of shape and weeds spring between cracks. This is the reality of what every flash architectural drawing evolves into in time.