This latest publication from The Twentieth Century Society covers many aspects of the architecture and designs of the 1930s, from the influence of sculpture and photography, through the work of iconic architechts like Lubetkin, to the impact of new housing models on their inhabitants. More
There was no bigger issue in the twentieth century than housing. In peace or war, people need homes, and a growing population and demands for better standards put architects, planners and sociologists to work. The century was known for its public housing, culminating in the tower blocks that once peppered major cities such as Birmingham and Glasgow, now fast disappearing. More
“Here is a perfect piece of architecture”, remarks Nikolaus Pevsner in The Buildings of England on St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), famous also for his organically shaped chairs and the cutlery used in the film 2001, designed every inch and every piece of furniture in this building personally; this, and his similarly crafted SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, constitute two unparallelled twentieth-century masterpieces with lasting resonance in the twenty-first. More
The second in the 20th Century Society Journal series has essays on modern houses open to the public, Harbour Meadow in Sussex, Dorich House in Kingston, Villa Savoy, and essays on patrons, textiles and plastics of the modern house and an interview with Elisabeth Benjamin and a discussion on F.R.S. Yorke. More
Houses designed by Brian Housden, Patrick Gwynne, Robert Harvey and John Penn are considered in seven essays by leading architects, art historians and curators. More
The Sixties: a time of sexual and cultural liberation, the Space Age and a tremendous optimism. There were radical new fashions in clothes, lifestyle objects and architecture - and also the rediscovery of Victoriana and Art Nouveau. This is a collection of essays by the architects and designers who were there, including Peter Smithson, Patrick Hodgkinson and Jane Dillon, and historians such as Gavin Stamp and Lesley Jackson with fresh insights on those enthusiastic, mixed-up times. More