Modernism in the Suburbs: A Critical Study of the Architecture and Design of Kenneth Wood Associates,1955-1984

郊区的现代主义：对 Kenneth Wood Associates 建筑与设计的批判性研究，1955-1984

• 批准号: AH/I002928/1
• 负责人: Fiona Fisher
• 金额: $ 10.36万
• 依托单位: Kingston University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI002928%2F1
• 关键词: Modernism; Suburbs; Critical; Study; Architecture

In 1984 Prince Charles addressed 700 guests at a gala evening celebrating the 150th anniversary of The Royal Institute of British Architects. His criticism of modern architecture stimulated significant professional and public debate. That debate continues today, re-invigorated by the furore over Richard Rogers' scheme for London's Chelsea Barracks and recent recommendations by English Heritage to list architectural landmarks of the 1960s and 1970s, including Milton Keynes shopping centre. As architects, critics and communities continue to grapple with the social and aesthetic value of 'modern' architecture, and that grappling continues to inform the environments that are produced and demolished, and in which we live, work and socialise, it seems important to persist in investigating our historical relationship with modern architectural design in a range of social and geographical settings. This study considers that relationship with reference to the work of Kenneth Wood Associates. Kenneth Wood trained at London's Regent Street Polytechnic and established a private practice in Surrey in 1955. The work of Wood's practice, which includes private houses, small housing schemes, churches, offices, schools and recreational buildings, although critically appreciated by contemporary writers and professional colleagues, such as J.M. Richards and Michael Manser, is absent from the historical record of English architectural design of the postwar period. The research explores the reasons why the work of this successful architectural and design practice has been overlooked by architectural and design historians and considers its critical legacy. A particular concern of the research is to examine the role that geographical location has played in determining critical and historical responses to the work of Kenneth Wood Associates. The removal of wartime building restrictions in the mid-1950s created significant opportunities for newly qualified architects to establish private practices and Wood is one of many modernist-trained architects who embarked on careers in the suburbs at that time. The work of these architects, who played an important role in the development and dissemination of architectural modernism in the postwar period, remains significantly less well-documented than that of their metropolitan peers. Viewed through the lens of speculative development the suburbs have often been represented as sites of architectural uniformity and imitation, removed from the more progressive concerns of the city. Yet the example of individual buildings often appears to challenge that view and suggests that closer examination of the work of successful suburban firms, such as Wood's, may be helpful in opening up new perspectives on the diverse contexts and conditions in which modern architecture was produced after the Second World War, and in which attitudes to modern architectural design were shaped.

1984年，查尔斯王子在庆祝英国皇家建筑师协会成立150周年的晚会上向700名客人发表了讲话。他对现代建筑的批评激发了重要的专业和公众辩论。这场争论今天仍在继续，理查德·罗杰斯（Richard Rogers）为伦敦切尔西军营（Chelsea Barracks）设计的方案引发的愤怒，以及英国遗产委员会（English Heritage）最近建议列出上世纪60年代和70年代的建筑地标，包括米尔顿凯恩斯（Milton Keynes）购物中心，再次引发了争论。随着建筑师，评论家和社区继续努力解决“现代”建筑的社会和美学价值，并且这种努力继续告知生产和拆除的环境，以及我们生活，工作和社交的环境，坚持在一系列社会和地理环境中调查我们与现代建筑设计的历史关系似乎很重要。本研究报告参照Kenneth Wood Associates的工作审议了这种关系。肯尼思·伍德在伦敦摄政街理工学院接受培训，并于1955年在萨里郡建立了一家私人诊所。伍德的实践，其中包括私人住宅，小型住房计划，教堂，办公室，学校和娱乐建筑的工作，虽然受到当代作家和专业同事，如J.M.理查兹和迈克尔曼瑟，是缺席的历史记录，英国建筑设计的战后时期。该研究探讨了为什么这个成功的建筑和设计实践的工作被建筑和设计历史学家忽视的原因，并考虑了其重要的遗产。研究的一个特别关注的问题是研究的作用，地理位置在确定关键和历史的反应肯尼思伍德协会的工作发挥。20世纪50年代中期战时建筑限制的取消为新合格的建筑师创造了建立私人执业的重要机会，伍德是当时在郊区开始职业生涯的许多现代主义建筑师之一。这些建筑师在战后建筑现代主义的发展和传播中发挥了重要作用，他们的工作仍然比他们的大都市同行少得多。从投机性开发的透镜来看，郊区往往被描绘成建筑上的统一和模仿，与城市更进步的关注点无关。然而，个别建筑的例子似乎经常挑战这种观点，并建议对成功的郊区公司，如伍德公司的工作进行更仔细的检查，可能有助于开辟新的视角，了解第二次世界大战后现代建筑产生的不同背景和条件，以及对现代建筑设计的态度。

项目成果

Kenneth Wood: Modern Surrey Houses of the 1950s and 1960s

肯尼思·伍德 (Kenneth Wood)：20 世纪 50 年代和 1960 年代的现代萨里住宅

• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: Journal of the Twentieth Century Society
• 作者: Fisher, F

The Picker House and Collection. A Late 1960s Home for Art and Design

皮克之家和收藏馆。

• 发表时间: 2013
• 作者: Black, J.

Designing the British Post-War Home: Kenneth Wood, 1948-1968

设计英国战后住宅：肯尼思·伍德，1948-1968

• 发表时间: 2015
• 作者: Fisher, F