I was recently shown around the East Village in London E20 which briefly housed the athletes from across the globe during the 2012 London Olympics. It is being developed into an area of housing 50% social housing and 50% rental and is fast approaching completion.
What is nice about it is that it has been planned with people in mind: what they need, what will improve the quality of their lives. Most new areas of housing are primarily about how much money can be made by the developer, with decorative features and greening mainly about what will help the flats sell (am I a cynic?).
Stratford is in a great position when it comes to public transport, and it of course has Westfield, and although I am not a fan at all of shopping centres, I did like the food area where I had a lovely falafel wrap.
The reason for the trip was to produce some bespoke cufflinks, brooches and pendants that would be given as gifts to those who have worked on the project and seen it through to the end. When I was approached, I did in fact say to the client that I love photographing blocks of flats she thought I was joking but of course I wasn't. Here you can see some of the images I used, which went down very well with the ODA (Olympic Development Authority).
