MANILA, Philippines - Who is the 20th century English architect known for his influential and controversial works like the Economist Building and the Robin Hood Gardens housing complex, as well for his part in the fledging British pop art movement?
He was born in Stockton-on-Tees in northeast England on Sept. 18, 1923.
While studying architecture at Durham University, he met his wife Alison, and together they joined the architecture department of the London County Council before establishing their own partnership in 1950.
They first came to prominence with Hunstanton, which used some of the language of the high modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, but in a stripped- back way, with rough finishes and deliberate lack of refinement. Known as the Glass House, it established them as one of the leading lights of postwar British architecture.
They are arguably among the leaders of the British school of New Brutalism, and associated with Team X and its 1953 revolt against old Congres International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) philosophies of high modernism.
Among their early contributions were streets in the sky in which traffic and pedestrian circulation were rigorously separated, a theme popular in the ‘60s.
It is said that the purest architectural expression of their pop ideology was the House of the Future, the visionary model home they devised for the 1956 Daily Mail Ideal Home exhibition. Designed predominantly by Alison, to be a plastic structure that could be mass produced in their entirety, rather than parts, the house included then-innovative futuristic features, such as a self cleaning bath, easy to clean corners, and remote controls for television and lighting.
In 1959, they were commissioned to design a new headquarters for The Economist magazine in Piccadilly. Inspired by the narrow lanes and courts of the old city of London, they created an elegantly spacious pedestrian plaza as a trio of finely detailed towers, each built on a different scale, clad in portland stone.
Other works include the controversial Robin Hood Gardens, a housing complex in East London, which was conceived as a streets in the sky mixing single story apartments with two story maisonettes and the elegant garden building at St. Hilda’s College in Oxford inspired by traditional Japanese structures. They also designed five buildings at Bath University in the ‘80s.
They were central figures not only in avant-garde architectural circles, but on the broader cultural scene in ‘50s London. They were members of the Independent Group participating in the 1953 Parallel of Life and Art exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and This is Tomorrow in 1956.
He was appointed visiting professor at Bath University in 1978 and spent the latter years of his life there — he died in 2003.
Last week’s question: Who is the American-Italian pastry chef who has influenced a new generation of pastry chefs with her work in the Farallon and Waterbar restaurants as well as her cookbooks and television appearances?
Answer: Emily Luchetti
Winner: Edmar Obaniana of San Juan
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Text your answer to 0915-6486414 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950.Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.