Re-forming Britain : narratives of modernity before reconstruction / Elizabeth Darling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Darling, Elizabeth.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Modern movement (Architecture)--Great Britain.

Modern movement (Architecture).

Architecture and society--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Architecture and society.

History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xi, 275 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

Re-forming Britain considers the nature and practice of architectural modernism in inter-war Britain in a new light. Bringing hitherto little considered protagonists and projects to the fore, it argues that rather than being an imported idiom, the new architecture in Britain formed part of an ongoing attempt to make a modern nation. Spanning the period 1925-42, the book focuses on the key sites from and through which architectural modernism emerged in the UK. Part one considers the main arena in which a will to modernise Britain developed in the 1920s. In parts two and three the author documents, contextualises and explains how this modernising will was given modernist form, discussing the work of architects such as Wells Coates, Maxwell Fry, and Connell and Ward, and their allied ventures with likeminded reformers in other fields. These collaborations produced 'narratives of modernity': buildings, projects, exhibitions and books, through which, the book argues, modernist reformers were able to persuade politicians, and those with influence upon them, that modernism was the means to re-form the nation.

Re-forming Britain offers the first in-depth analysis of well-known modernist schemes such as Kensal House and the Pioneer Health Centre but also brings previously little studied or unknown activities to light. This important work invites a new understanding of the nature of architectural modernism in inter-war Britain and the ways in which it ultimately gave form to post-war Britain.

Contents:

Part 1 A new spirit 7

1 The conditions for an architecture for to-day 11

Part 2 Rhetorical Modernism 45

2 A new landscape of health 51

3 Modern Dwellings for Modem Needs 81

4 New Homes for Old 108

5 The Modern Flat 137

Part 3 Towards a new Britain 175

6 A living contemporary architecture 179.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 252-262) and index.

ISBN:

0415334071

041533408X

OCLC:

70267164

Publisher Number:

9780415334075

9780415334082