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Manplan
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.
Reporton Road estate, Hammersmith, London: children playing in a paved precinct
RIBA15721
NOTES: This image is one of many taken for the Architectural Review's 'Manplan 8: Housing' issue of September 1970 for which Ray-Jones was the guest photographer.
Gardens precinct of low-rise housing, Hinksey Path, Lesnes, Thamesmead, Greenwich, London
RIBA15742
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.
Low-rise housing,Thamesmead, Greenwich, London
RIBA15743
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.
Masionettes, Coralline Walk, Lesnes, Thamesmead, Greenwich, London: close-up of the balconies
RIBA15744
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.
Pepys Estate, Deptford, London: children playing on a raised walkway
RIBA15752
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep.
Apex Close, The Avenue, Beckenham, London: the street facade
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NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 8: Housing' in Architectural Review, vol. 148, 1970 Sep.
Woburn Abbey car park
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NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 1: Frustration' in Architectural Review, vol. 146, 1969 Sept. Woburn Abbey became the seat of the Russell family in 1547 and of the Dukes of Bedford from 1694. The Abbey was largely rebuilt between 1744 and 1790 by Henry Flitcroft and Henry Holland. The house and park were opened to the public in 1955.
Playtime at Coppice County Junior School, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
RIBA62669
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 4: 'The Continuing Community' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Jan. This school was built using the CLASP method of construction.
Glenfield Frith Primary School, Leicestershire
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NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 4: 'The Continuing Community' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Jan.
Children in the playground, Vittoria Primary School, Half Moon Crescent, Islington, London
RIBA62672
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 4: 'The Continuing Community' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Jan. This was an experimental school built for the Plowden Council which in 1967 published the report, 'Children and their Primary Schools', reviewing Primary education in England. The report was widely known for its praising of child-centred approaches to education. It was the second such primary school, (the first being Eveline Lowe in Camberwell) built by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) in consultation with the Department of Education & Science, but designed by the Greater London Council rather than the latter.
Rosebery Sixth Form College, Epsom, Surrey: the terrace
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NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 4: 'The Continuing Community' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Jan.
Rosebery Sixth Form College, Epsom, Surrey: a music room in the old building, formerly Rosebery County Grammar School for Girls
RIBA62678
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 4: 'The Continuing Community' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Jan.
Anti-apartheid demonstration, Trafalgar Square, London
RIBA62738
NOTES: This is one of the images taken for 'Manplan 5: 'Religion and Environment' in Architectural Review, vol. 147, 1970 Mar.