The Balfron Tower:

This 27-storey slab block was a testbed for Ernö Goldfinger's (yes goldfinger!!) utopian housing ideals. The most striking characteristic of the building is the composition of volumes that makes up its distinctive profile.

Reinforced concrete gives the building its rigid structural grid, which visibly frames each residence. In a letter published in the Guardian at the time he explained: "The whole object of building high is to free the ground for children and grown-ups to enjoy Mother Earth and not to cover every inch with bricks and mortar."

Goldfinger believed the ideas demonstrated by Balfron could offer the best of design to the masses, as an alternative to the slum housing that was still common throughout much of Britain in the 1960s.

* This listing is only for Balfron Tower. It pairs well with Spacehouse and National Theatre Prints as shown in the last photo.