Modern Buildings In Britain

The definitive illustrated guide to modern British architecture, from one of the most acclaimed critics at work today Modernism is now a century old, and its consequences are all around us, built into our everyday lived environments. Its place in Britain's history is fiercely contested, and its role in our future is the subject of ongoing controversy - but modernist buildings have undoubtedly changed our cities, politics and identity forever. In Modern Buildings in Britain, Owen Hatherley applauds the ambition and explores the significance of this most divisive of architectures, travelling from Aberystwyth to Aberdeen, from St Ives to Shetland, in search of our most important and distinctive modern buildings. Drawing on hundreds of examples, we learn how the concrete of Brutalism embodies post-war civic principles, how corporate values were expressed in the glass façades of the International Style, and why Ecomodernist experimentation is often consigned to the geographic fringes. As Hatherley considers the social, political and cultural value of these structures - a number of which are threatened by demolition - two linked questions emerge: what happens to a building after it has been lived in, and what becomes of an idea when its time has passed? With more than six hundred pages of trenchantly opinionated, often witty analysis, and with three hundred photographs in duotone and colour, Modern Buildings in Britain is a landmark contribution to the history of British architecture.

An illuminating look at a controversial architectural style – and its finest examples Post-modernism was the 1980s’ counter to Brutalism but fell out of fashion until its best buildings began to disappear. Now is the time to reassess its values. Historians Geraint Franklin and Elain Harwood discuss its background and key architects before celebrating Britain's finest examples. Individual entries are beautifully illustrated, many with new photography, including the SIS Building made famous by James Bond, John Outram’s awe-inspiring pumping station in London's Docklands and Judge Institute in Cambridge, and the late works of James Stirling and Michael Wilford, including No.1 Poultry – an extraordinary corner of the City that in 2016 became England’s youngest listed building.

Leading expert and passionate advocate of modern British architecture Elain Harwood gives the best overview of British architecture from 1938 to 1963 – mid-century buildings. Growing in popularity and with an increasing understanding of their importance as a background to our lives, the buildings range from the Royal Festival Hall, Newcastle City Hall and to Deal Pier and Douglas ferry terminal, from prefabs and ice cream parlours to Coventry Cathedral and the Golden Lane Estate. The author writes in non-technical, layman's language about the design, architecture and also the influence of these buildings on the lives of our towns and cities. The author has arranged the huge variety of buildings into: Houses and Flats: Churches and Public Buildings; Offices; Shops; Showrooms and Cafes; Hotels and Public Houses; Cinemas, Theatres and Concert Halls; Industrial Buildings and Transport. There is an insightful introduction that places these buildings in the context of 20th-century architecture generally and globally. All fantastically photographed to make this a must have for anyone interested in our built heritage. Postwar Britain architects often saw architecture as a powerful means to improve the quality of our lives after the shadow of war. This is the fascinating story of what they built to meet that challenge. Cover illustration by Paul Catherall

The definitive guide to Art Deco buildings in Britain. The perennially popular style of Art Deco influenced architecture and design all over the world in the 1920s and 1930s – from elegant Parisian theatres to glamorous Manhattan skyscrapers. The style was also adopted by British architects, but, until now, there has been little that really explains the what, where and how of Art Deco buildings in Britain. In Art Deco Britain, leading architecture historian and writer Elain Harwood, brings her trademark clarity and enthusiasm to the subject as she explores Britain's Art Deco buildings. Art Deco Britain, published in association with the Twentieth Century Society, is the definitive guide to the architectural style in Britain. The book begins with an overview of the international Art Deco style, and how this influenced building design in Britain. The buildings covered include Houses and Flats; Churches and Public Buildings; Offices; Hotels and Public Houses; Cinemas, Theatres and Concert Halls; and many more. The book covers some of the best-loved and some lesser-known buildings around the UK, such as the Midland Hotel in Morecambe, Eltham Palace, Broadcasting House and the Carreras Cigarette Factory in London. Beautifully produced and richly illustrated with architectural photography, this is the definitive guide to a much-loved architecture style.

Encyclopedic in scope and structure, this comprehensive study of Modern Movement architecture in Britain covers the work of such renowned architects as Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Eric Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff, together with specially commissioned photographs of all the major extant buildings.

Back in 1997, New Labour came to power amid much talk of regenerating the inner cities left to rot under successive Conservative governments. Over the next decade, British cities became the laboratories of the new enterprise economy: glowing monuments to finance, property speculation, and the service industry—until the crash. In A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the wreckage—the buildings that epitomized an age of greed and aspiration. From Greenwich to Glasgow, Milton Keynes to Manchester, Hatherley maps the derelict Britain of the 2010s: from riverside apartment complexes, art galleries and amorphous interactive “centers,” to shopping malls, call centers and factories turned into expensive lofts. In doing so, he provides a mordant commentary on the urban environment in which we live, work and consume. Scathing, forensic, bleakly humorous, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is a coruscating autopsy of a get-rich-quick, aspirational politics, a brilliant, architectural “state we’re in.”

Thoroughly illustrated with images of the buildings under discussion, advertisements, and other historical photographs, Britain is an authoritative, yet highly accessible, account of twentieth-century British architecture.