Architectural Discourse

NOTES: The city of Brasilia was planned and developed in 1956 with Lucio Costa as chief urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as principal architect. It formally became the capital of Brazil in 1960 and is the seat of all three branches of the Brazilian government. The National Congress buildings completed in 1958, comprise the Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the administrative twin Towers of Congress.

NOTES: This was one of the first low-rise, high-density schemes in London and was commissioned by Westminster City Council. It was developed in three phases between 1964 and 1972. It was designated a conservation area in 1990.

NOTES: In 1930 Sir Edwin Lutyens was commissioned to design the second Roman Catholic cathedral to contrast with the Gothic Revival Anglican cathedral of Giles Gilbert Scott being erected on the other end of Hope Street from 1904. Construction on Lutyens's massive structure began in 1933 but was suspended in 1941 due to wartime restrictions. Work recommenced on the crypt in 1956 and it was completed in 1958. Thereafter Lutyens's design was considered onerously expensive and was abandoned with only the crypt complete.

NOTES: Hutchesontown C was the name given to a so-called Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) of an area of the city of Glasgow, designed by Basil Spence in 1960-1965. The design of the central 20-storey block was inspired by Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation, Marseille. It was demolished in 1993.

NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep.

NOTES: Later known as Marathon House, this office block was converted into flats in 1998.

NOTES: Designed by Tecton in parallel with the Spa Green Estate, Priory Green was actually completed somewhat later by Skinner Bailey & Lubetkin in 1943-1957. The original design, part of a larger plan conceived before the war in 1937, was modified to take account of the changed post-war situation. The site, which originally was very small, was enlarged by bomb damage but at the same time the Council's housing fund suffered from cuts in government subsidies and Priory Green was denied the money available to the development at Spa Green. Rosebery Avenue opened in 1949 and the first stage of the estate was completed in 1952 consisting of 269 flats in the two eight-storey blocks and the four four-storey blocks. The third eight-storey block, community centre and public house were completed c. 1955. The scheme as first conceived was part of a unified programme that it was hoped would transform Finsbury and alleviate its appalling housing and social problems. The coherence of the strategy, however, was destroyed by changes in personnel in the Council and by post-war austerity.

NOTES: This, the largest housing scheme by Westminster City Council, was built in four sections between 1946 and 1962. The heat-accumulator was used to store the hot water brought in a tunnel below the river from Battersea power station for the district heating scheme.