RIBApix presents a series of features exploring the Architectural Review's radical assessment of the built environment at the end of the 1960s, MANPLAN.
Looking forward to the new decade ahead in the autumn of 1969 The Architectural Review (AR) paused to examine and evaluate state of the nation through its architecture and planning. This was by way of the publication of ‘Manplan’, a number of special editions of the AR focusing on topics ranging from housing to religion and how well these functioned within society. Manplan was not only a radical, sometimes brutal assessment of the built environment of the day, but today forms a poignant reminder of British life at the end of the sixties. Its stated intention was to take “as its yardstick real needs rather than minimum standards. Hence the title MANPLAN. A plan for human beings with a destiny rather than figures in a table of statistics.” (The Architectural Review, September 1969)
The first edition, Manplan 1, was published in September 1969 with the series ending a year later with Manplan 8. The intended Manplan 9 focusing on Leisure was never published, however the RIBA holds some of the photographer Patrick Ward’s contact sheets.
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.
Greater London Council. Department of Architecture & Civic Design
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, September 1970. Thamesmead was planned in 1965-1966 as a new town on the riverside marshes of south-east London between Plumstead and Erith. It was scheduled for completion in 1974 but was never fully finished and the projected population of 60,000 for the new town was downgraded to 45,000 by the end of the 1970s. From then around 400 houses were being built annually and by 1982, the population stood at 20,000. Since 2014 the managment and regeneration of the area has come under the aegis of Peabody.
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. The Yorkshire Development Group was set up in 1962 to serve the housing needs of Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Nottingham. Martin Richardson was the development architect for the group which developed a range of deck access dwelling plans and a medium-rise high-density concrete housing system. This housing is possilbly in Nottingham.
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. The Yorkshire Development Group was set up in 1962 to serve the housing needs of Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Nottingham. Martin Richardson was the development architect for the group which developed a range of deck access dwelling plans and a medium-rise high-density concrete housing system.
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. This was the second house at Blackheath designed for Leslie Bilsby by Patrick Gwynne.
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. This image appeared on p. 163. The Yorkshire Development Group was set up in 1962 to serve the housing needs of Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Nottingham. Martin Richardson was the development architect for the group which developed a range of deck access dwelling plans and a medium-rise high-density concrete housing system.
Greater London Council. Department of Architecture & Civic Design
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, September 1970. Thamesmead was planned in 1965-1966 as a new town on the riverside marshes of south-east London between Plumstead and Erith. It was scheduled for completion in 1974 but was never fully finished and the projected population of 60,000 for the new town was downgraded to 45,000 by the end of the 1970s. From then around 400 houses were being built annually and by 1982, the population stood at 20,000. Since 2014 the managment and regeneration of the area has come under the aegis of Peabody.
Runcorn Development Corporation Architects Department
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. Runcorn New Town was designated on 10 April 1964, with the aim of providing housing and jobs for the people of North Merseyside and Liverpool in particular. The Runcorn Development Corporation (RDC) was formally appointed on 30 April 1964 and the draft Master Plan for the New Town was prepared by Arthur Ling and Associates and approved in 1968. The RDC operated until 1981 when it was dissolved and its functions, property, rights and liabilities were transferred to Warrington Development Corporation which was renamed Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation.
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep. Built in the garden of a Victorian villa, this atrium single-storey house was designed by David Branch for his artist wife and their two teenage children.