PETER SMITHSON | ICARCH 2024

Summary

Highlights

• Peter and Alison Smithson were renowned British architects who significantly influenced modern architecture 🇬🇧.
• Their designs emphasized minimalism and elegance while incorporating traditional elements 🌿.
• Structures like the Robin Hood Gardens stood out for their social housing approach, respecting community interactions 🏠.
• The Economist Building in London exemplifies their successful integration of modern structures into historic urban environments 🏙️.
• Despite pressures to demolish, their buildings, such as the Robin Hood Gardens, are now recognized for their historical and architectural value 📜.

Key Takeaways

• Peter and Alison Smithson were notable figures in modern architecture despite not focusing on grandiose structures 🏛️.
• Their work was characterized by a blend of modern and traditional elements, highlighting their innovative approach to architecture 🤝.
• One of their notable works, the Robin Hood Gardens, showcased their dedication to creating socially responsive, yet aesthetically pleasing housing complexes 🏢.
• Their designs often incorporated elements such as exterior corridors to facilitate social interaction, as seen in Robin Hood Gardens 🏘️.
• The economist building in London is another testament to their architectural philosophy, blending into its historical context while showcasing modern aesthetics 🌆.

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 05:00: Introduction to Peter Smithson The chapter introduces Peter Smithson, an important British architect born on September 18, 1923. He is known for his collaboration with his wife Alison, forming the iconic duo Alison and Peter Smithson, a significant name in the history of modern architecture.
• 05:00 - 10:30: Collaboration with Alison Smithson This chapter discusses the collaboration between Alison Smithson, a well-known British architect, and her partner. Despite not having an extensive or particularly spectacular body of built work, they remain highly respected figures in the architectural world. The chapter highlights their strong partnership, suggesting they shared a deep bond and worked closely together, utilizing tools like the T-square and rectangle in their architectural practice.
• 10:30 - 15:00: Early Works and Competitions This chapter focuses on the early work and accomplishments of Alison and Peter, who are likely architects. There is mention of their presence in videos on YouTube, where Peter is seen drawing and explaining concepts related to architecture. He creatively depicts them, including their heads, as buildings, showcasing their vision and artistic approach.
• 15:00 - 24:00: House of the Future The chapter titled 'House of the Future' reflects on the fashion trends of the past, specifically mentioning the British style of wearing interesting shirts in the 1960s. It contrasts these with the more extravagant shirts of an individual named Bruce, while noting that a character referred to as Mr. Smithon didn't have long hair, his shirt was still in the spirit of the era.
• 24:00 - 31:00: The Sagan House The chapter discusses the collaborative work of Peter and Alison, particularly focusing on their involvement in architectural competitions to secure commissions. It highlights a specific instance of their creative process through a drawing for a building project that they eventually constructed.
• 31:00 - 40:30: Upper Lawn Pavilion The chapter titled 'Upper Lawn Pavilion' discusses the construction and design aspects of a building that was also built in another location, likely London. It references some drawings which are deemed interesting, and notes the minimalistic representation of the building in these drawings. The speaker expresses uncertainty about the purpose of certain elements or persons depicted in the drawings.
• 40:30 - 51:00: Economist Building in London The chapter discusses the design and impact of the Economist Building in London. It mentions the presence of human figures within the architecture, adding a dynamic and engaging element to the space. The narrative emphasizes how the building's design punctuates and interacts with its environment, highlighting the manual effort involved in its creation during its time.
• 51:00 - 64:00: Robin Hood Gardens Housing Complex The chapter discusses the Robin Hood Gardens Housing Complex through a transcript of a conversation. The speaker mentions a French actor, possibly named Philip, and describes the process of creating artistic renderings or drawings. These renderings are depicted as modern and sensitively crafted, using simple but effective methods to build perspectives. The focus seems to be on the modern architectural style and the artistic interpretation involved in such projects, highlighting the significance of creating relevant and impactful visual representations.
• 64:00 - 72:00: University of Bath Projects The chapter discusses the subjective and objective nature of rendering in design, as exemplified by a project at the University of Bath. A notable point is how rendering goes beyond just visual representation, involving elements of perception and interpretation. The discussion includes a reference to the use of a famous French actor in a project, suggesting the incorporation of familiar cultural icons into design work to resonate with viewers. Finally, the chapter previews a segment on futuristic household interiors, indicating a focus on innovative and forward-thinking design solutions.

PETER SMITHSON | ICARCH 2024 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 and now we go to a very important British architect who was born also on September 18 in 1923 Peter Smithson who worked with his wife and partner Alison U Alison and Peter smithon that's how they are known in the history of modern architecture Allison and Peter smithon and here they are uh and at one point they were the
• 00:30 - 01:00 best known British architects in the world they didn't build a lot and they didn't actually build very spectac in a very spectacular way but they are very respected even today and um perhaps with good reasons here they are again probably in love most surely in love working together laboring with a t- square and a rectangle
• 01:00 - 01:30 in all the days uh here they are Alison on the left Peter on the right uh you can find on on YouTube uh videos with them and or with him there is one with him where he's uh you know attacking L uh drawing you know schematically showing them as Architects meaning as buildings almost at least the heads
• 01:30 - 02:00 and here they are again you know sometimes the British sport interesting shirts like not as interesting and extravagant like the shirts of Bruce go but still you know these in flowered shirts but then it was I guess in the 60s you know the keeping movement even if Mr smithon didn't have a very long hair but the shirt at least was in the spirit of U of the times I
• 02:00 - 02:30 guess anyway drawings some drawings by them because I they work together so you cannot truly separate Peter from Alison they did competitions like most young architects who try to you know get commissions they work on competitions so this is um a drawing for a building which they actually bu
• 02:30 - 03:00 built uh and U they buil this one as well we are going to see it in London now I just show some drawings I don't know what this person is doing here but uh you know interesting drawings in a way the drawing the the building is very you know in a way minimalistically represented draw
• 03:00 - 03:30 but then you have these human figures kind of alert at least this and then this one even more you know punctuating space in you know rather engaging ways and at that time of course they threw manually
• 03:30 - 04:00 here is an important uh french actor I forgot his name Philip Philip something with Philip anyway these are just renderings or drawings you know which again you can do a very you know sensitive and uh relevant drawing with simple means you know you just build a perspective you know simply it's a modern building and then you introduce some uh
• 04:00 - 04:30 elements of uh you wonder how could objectively you cannot see this here like this is no not just glass but uh it works because I think rendering is not just objective is also subjective and you know you can place here famous French actor and U it's okay now this is an interior we are going to see a household the future that
• 04:30 - 05:00 they imagined this is a building uh I think this was built in London I'm a little bit confused because um this axonometric looks a little bit different or maybe it's just a project for a competition uh this was built and we are going to see it kind of interesting and I like this uh urban planning which is um you know it's not Ian is it has a movement almost
• 05:00 - 05:30 a subversive movement if I can call it so it has a level of intricacy and you know a little bit labinal so it's not just order here it's also also a certain level of a certain degree of disorder not so much in this section I mean talking about disorder now the
• 05:30 - 06:00 house of the future project which was built for an exhibition is here and uh you know the future I I read somewhere that Brazil is the country of the future and it will always remain so here we have an interior which is was dedicated to Future and perhaps although this was done probably more than 60 years ago or around 60 years ago ago 55 60 years ago
• 06:00 - 06:30 it it it could still be somehow you know the the house of the future and here we see some interesting U you know notations or you know data so to speak you know a heated heated flooring this was done the nylon cloes now I don't know about that I mean n Nylon cloes are not so comfortable class reinforce
• 06:30 - 07:00 chair okay trolley with wormed compartment and in infraed Grill so this was really about the future you know a wishful thinking table rises from floor well from where should it rise well I guess yeah when it says Rises is that that it could go down into the floor again when it's not used folding perspects chair I don't know what perspectives is but I guess
• 07:00 - 07:30 some kind of a plastic the plastic finish molded wasall the transparent plastic wall so plastic appears a few times here times change no because today plastic is considered you know not really a sustainable material but at that time there was no interest in So-Cal sustainability so you know the cloth is were
• 07:30 - 08:00 imagine to be even desire to be made of nylon and then you know transparent plastic walls and folding perspect CH and plastic finish molded walls okay we see other images of this under project and axonometric image of the of the plan which is kind of interesting even by today's standards ideal hope
• 08:00 - 08:30 this is the pl and it is interesting you know somehow it's more interesting than the built work it it looks more you know complex somehow and even visceral to an extent not to a large extent but still it's a rectangle but within the rect rectangle there are islands of organicity most most of them are gu in
• 08:30 - 09:00 plastic or you know derates an interesting plan nevertheless and uh you know something like this could be done even today by Japanese Architects or not just Japanese Architects I was thinking a little bit of the Rolex Center by kazuo Sima and her partner this was the original Dr growing
• 09:00 - 09:30 um for for this house of the future and other images where you see they didn't they were not concerned just with the with the house but also with the inhabitants and the way they were addressed so there was some kind of meeting between architecture and fashion here is the plan again and It looks interesting you know it is
• 09:30 - 10:00 interesting it shows clearly that they had you know artistic U concerns and and talent and aspirations yes so this was built based on that plan that we saw there
• 10:00 - 10:30 those magical 60s you know when they uh when the world was was uh flirting with optimism and energy and Revolution I suggest to you to watch a very nice film by mikelangelo antonioni the the very important Italian uh film director it's called blow up and the ction takes place in London around
• 10:30 - 11:00 that time in the 60s or early 70s it's a very nice film and it's it's about kind of what we see here to an extent now of course the man is reading the newspaper and the lady is cooking because this is uh you know concern with the preparing food while he is leg off the leg leg uh over leg reading the
• 11:00 - 11:30 newspaper with his back towards her so welcome to the Discrimination between men and woman even in a progressive Society like the British Society of the 60s nice nice bus stub
• 11:30 - 12:00 now build projects I mean besides this um you know installation the Smith Don High School in honon Northfolk from 1954 49 1954 so uh almost 70 years ago I like this building it's kind of an international style building but it's very very well uh it's very well crafted
• 12:00 - 12:30 and it's uh it's somehow the the presence of this stone wall uh adds something to the to the work you know the structure is very very clearly uh defined and expressed but there is an Elegance to it and um so the the work is is honest in its uh its display of materials and
• 12:30 - 13:00 structure but there is a feeling of uh it's not a heavy building I mean this is heavy here but uh you know this the major part of of this complex is not maybe that one was not even built by them it's possible and I think even uh you know for the present this building is doesn't
• 13:00 - 13:30 seem to me to be you know an old if you build something like this today would be considered quite uh you know legitimate somehow even if it's not a fluid architecture it's not an organic architecture it's a you know it uses rectangularity and cartisian spirit but it has an Elegance
• 13:30 - 14:00 that um I think should be appreciated and the interior as you can see has colors primary colors it's it's a joyous actually building it's not an oppressive building 1954 a call Dan of the school of H H hon Norfork now a house from 1956 the Sagan house
• 14:00 - 14:30 uh yesterday we had a discussion with u young architect who participates often at this uh at our meetings on Zoom about the new and the old but about invention and tradition now here we see an example where actually they try to negotiate between the old and the new there are interventions that are clearly by them they were not part of the old building
• 14:30 - 15:00 but they are Incorporated in an older building they didn't build this building in my opinion you look at the chimneys these are old uh so they brought the new to the world to the old so there isn't really a a frontier a brutal separation between the new and the old it's some kind of a you know intertwining intermingling uh they try to create some kind of a
• 15:00 - 15:30 cooperation between what it was before and what you know what the present time offer to them even the interior you know this is an interior which is uh ambiguous in a way because it's on one hand it's kind of you know connected with tradition with the past uh even the pieces of furniture add to this feeling uh this is really what the past you know
• 15:30 - 16:00 did but then at the same time there are maybe this big opening is rather modernistic uh uh intervention uh and you see the this elevation you know it's it's a building that proba maybe they Amplified uh but it's it's a building that has U modern insertions like these windows and they
• 16:00 - 16:30 they are s simultaneously present on this facade with a door which I'm sure was not designed by Alison and Peter smithon it's such a difference between you know this this uh framing of the window and this door this is an old door but this is not old so you have the old and the new um present at the same time in theana anatomy of the
• 16:30 - 17:00 building and this you see also in the interior there are Parts which are belong to the old there are Parts which belong to the new and yes it's not a radical architecture it's not they try to insert touches of modernity within an older building and I think they succeeded to an extent you know uh and it is kind of interesting this
• 17:00 - 17:30 cohabitation between the old and the new it's not always easy to do this because you can arrive at a certain cacophony you know it's it's difficult actually to marry you know stylistically different elements in the in the physynergy of the
• 17:30 - 18:00 building they did more uh you know this is an early work they did more radical Works later we are going to see them interesting also the drawings that end ings the manually drone you know
• 18:00 - 18:30 elevations with something you know childlike in a way about them they have a certain innocence which I think is a quality that's not how a mature architect professional architect usually draws but I like exactly this fact that it is it is in a way childish or childlike the upper lone Pavilion in fill estate
• 18:30 - 19:00 uh 1959 1962 uh here we have a building that is uh more resolutely modern but they kept the old wall uh and uh this also I like the fact that you know they didn't try to create a pure so-called architectural object but they try to marry existing uh you
• 19:00 - 19:30 know things like this wall you know which is not even in great shape but they kept it and I think it it was a good thing and U you know here you you have a fragment of an previous wall so you look at this architecture and you look at this and uh yes they belong to two different walls in a way but the tree uh I mean this yeah Tree Grows here in a dramatic way attached as it was as it
• 19:30 - 20:00 was probably to the old world and then extending itself on the on the new facade I like to think maybe that's how I maybe I put it correctly that that the tree is is attached with more affection towards the old world and towards this because really uh you know how could you you know this uh you know the
• 20:00 - 20:30 artificiality of the new with the you know with the with the organicity of of nature yeah you see it doesn't cannot even attach itself to the the OPA parts of the elevation it can't it's I don't know what it is here maybe metal you know but here it can and it did but it's an interesting uh project it's an interesting work you know
• 20:30 - 21:00 because it's modern it's clearly modern but then there are parts of the old that they kept and I like the the way you know the rooms open you know towards the the courtyard or the open space kind of a little bit like the some houses by Laton and
• 21:00 - 21:30 vasal interesting also that they used a letter which is you know abrupt and Mr Neer would have protested against but this is done everywhere in the world and uh you know it works you might even have
• 21:30 - 22:00 pleasure in using an uncomfortable stair which is actually not uh demanding I mean it is demanding in in the sense of using it but otherwise is a modest presence in the in in the house the house is more or less a box when you see all the doors closed uh and definitely more that but I like very much the the pavement here and
• 22:00 - 22:30 also here you know it's it's uh some might say it's not perfect but this is a virtue that it is not perfect it it's like the bark of the tree almost except that it's horizontal and it's done with with stones the stone finds itself also inside the house and you wouldn't expect to find maybe it's the chimney here I don't know no but uh uh when you look at
• 22:30 - 23:00 the exterior of the building you wouldn't expect uh this kind of wall inside you know but it is so I think they they they attempted to unite the Opposites modernity with the past um the metal covering of the facades or the frames of the windows and the doors being at the same time uh you know in cohabitation with stones and
• 23:00 - 23:30 bricks and so on now look at this I like this you know and in fact it's very relevant to the discussion we had yesterday that here we don't see a frontier between the old and the new quite the opposite they try to unite them uh but of course the new shows itself as the new and the old shows itself as the old but they are married in in the way they
• 23:30 - 24:00 were able to to do it to express this picture in particular I think is very relevant to this discussion is it possible to bring the new into the old and make them uh work together I think it's possible but it's not easy it's true it's not easy I think the tension between between the old and the new uh creates a richer
• 24:00 - 24:30 richer environment you know even this old bench here and uh you know the the way the building opens up in the corner with a with a stairs a little bit not quite perpendicular it seems on this worldall at least the first ones anyway an interesting little house I would say
• 24:30 - 25:00 Alison and Peter Smith they built also Collective housing they they were very interested in social housing Collective housing apartment buildings and you are go you can see on YouTube several videos with this theme so now we we we arrive at a building in picad in London uh uh you
• 25:00 - 25:30 know in an important area in London The Economist building from 1959 to 1965 uh there are actually several buildings it's not just one but they all belong to the same function and the same companies this one is by him this one also and uh yeah you might say from today that they are you know what's so special about them but I think they were masters of discretion actually you can
• 25:30 - 26:00 if you if you study carefully the buildings you discover subtleties that at the first sight you might not see them you know yes it's the language of 70 60 years ago yes it's done with a certain you know reticence but still they have I think a certain monumentality which is not crushing I mean yes there are even U you know not
• 26:00 - 26:30 perhaps Innovations but look at this huge window here you know uh it's huge even by today standards and then smaller Windows uh I think it's an interesting work I myself didn't didn't uh analyze it to carefully but I think it deserves to be to be analyzed
• 26:30 - 27:00 The Economist in London I think I have an image also seen from a far away and you can see it's actually a cluster of buildings it's an office building that's what it is for homoeconomicus I imagine but you know you look at the
• 27:00 - 27:30 existing old buildings and then we look at their proposal and what was built and yes they are modern but somehow they are not you know irritating the old I don't think they are I read that the Alison and P smithon were actually
• 27:30 - 28:00 um the best known uh British Architects for a certain period of time in the 50s and 60s and this is not a little thing so they build these three buildings plus this addition here and uh you know again these are modern and this building is not but there is a certain level of um I don't know if in intimacy but uh interconnectedness or or a desire
• 28:00 - 28:30 for some kind of a dialogue to respect each other and you know it's done I don't know you know I didn't visit these buildings but I imagine it's a pleasant uh environment where you Asser because the new was asserted but at the same time the new the old was not U you know insulted with the new
• 28:30 - 29:00 interventions Garden building in at Oxford the S St hildas College 1968 this is also an interesting building and Al almost puzzling I look at the facade you know uh you wonder what are these is this the structure uh on the carcass of the building um you know it's it's it's uh Peter Cook tried well not quite like
• 29:00 - 29:30 this in in Vienna he built a building across the street from the building by car Pinos and also across the if we can call it a street is a ponal ponal pedestrian walkway uh in the students campus from uh the library by zaha Hadid and he has wooden um it's not structure but some kind of a wooden uh you know
• 29:30 - 30:00 elements on the facade here we also have wood you wouldn't expect wood to be the exterior of the of the of the facades in this way it's because it's almost like the rural the rural is enveloping the the urban and this is very interesting I think
• 30:00 - 30:30 why they did it this way I don't know but it is interesting and you know where you have in a campus like Oxford done something so know in a way provocative you know because the meeting between the rural and the urban often is is uh tensent if not uh if not provocative
• 30:30 - 31:00 because it's a hibrid structure you know you have the concrete structure and then you have these elements which are you wonder you know they're not structural but what is their all you know uh interesting it has to be it has to be
• 31:00 - 31:30 other pictures with this complex of buildings are perhaps less uh less interesting but we see also the same language in Ood that we see outside and I like this is is this meeting between what we call the rural and what we call the the the urban uh and and and this touches of
• 31:30 - 32:00 rurality if I can call them so might refer to a certain affection towards the past towards what we call Tradition but they bring worms to the building although the building is in its planning in its uh you know uh specificities it's actually a modern building but through this wood presences I think the the the possible brutality
• 32:00 - 32:30 of modernity is softened and yes I think it's interesting you know uh this idea to marry wood with concrete in this way is um I think Innovative and the plants seem to like the building that's why they climb on the building a private house extension for Lord kennet based W in London 1960 but no pictures sorry now this is a very
• 32:30 - 33:00 important work by them but was destined for demolition uh and I think they saved it but it was a big uh discussion in England in Great Britain uh they did want to to demolish it the Robin Hood Gardens housing complex in popular East London but I think it was saved you know it's a it's a something is a is a brutalist housing
• 33:00 - 33:30 complex it's for you know social housing it's for underprivileged people and it's quite big yes it is a lot of concrete here it's true but I don't I don't know I mean it depends on on the perceptions it depends on the subjectivity of anyone but if I look at this uh facade I wouldn't really describe it as being brutal it has a it still has a you know
• 33:30 - 34:00 a study proportions the windows the openings it has a certain movement yes this wall is of concrete but even the wall is divided into vertical parts and um I'm not saying that it's very very gra gracious this wall but you know I have seen blocks of Ls much less uh much less graceful than this but they wanted to destroy it
• 34:00 - 34:30 apparently what is funny is that Peter Smith on talked and you can see the video on YouTube uh where he where he kind of almost made fun of buildings by because they they invited vandalism on their outside but this happened to their own building the very same way maybe in an
• 34:30 - 35:00 even more Resolute or obious way so this is there were actually two buildings uh quite long and with this you know Garden Park in between them now you see how taste changes because when they were built they were you know considered Innovative Progressive beneficial and so on and then some years later you see the
• 35:00 - 35:30 section at the top some years later I don't know 30 years later or so uh they became undesirable and ready for the bulldozer uh so again can you could you actually say that this building and look how interesting is even the staircase you know how it it it becomes ornamental to
• 35:30 - 36:00 an extent and the facad has a a certain R micity and this fragmentation of an I would say rather it's not without sensitivity this building I wouldn't describe it as brutal it's maybe not sweet it's not a sweet building but I wouldn't call it in brutal terms as being brutal and also fin is you know if you are to
• 36:00 - 36:30 compare it with you know uh yeah I don't know I mean it is an important building by by by them this Robin Hood group of people but Robin Hood Garden interesting also the name because Robin Hood you we know what what he was so you couldn't do a an architect that is completely devoid of some some level
• 36:30 - 37:00 of heroism even you know because Robin H was in a certain way a hero even if somebody consider him a negative hero um I like the fact that the the access into the apartments is done from an exterior corridor I always say that it's very convenient to because you get cross ventilation in the Apartments you see people can actually talk to each other
• 37:00 - 37:30 on this Corridor is is a is a is a place an additional place where people could meet we cannot truly say the same thing about the interior Street uh interior inside the lunit building by because there there is no natural light there is no natural is no ventilation uh it's different here is uh you know you look over the the paret you
• 37:30 - 38:00 see trees and the sky and the city so I think it's much more conducive to to to meet people here and talk and so on I don't know I think this was a project done to change them somehow to soal improve them improve the building but personally I don't think you know yes taste check changes it's a social housing complex
• 38:00 - 38:30 quite large but I think it it testifies about a certain time and a certain place and certain architecture certain Architects and uh it has uh it has a personality I mean why is this building better you know which was still later it's hard for me to know this also probably used prefabrication I
• 38:30 - 39:00 imagine that these uh elements of the facade were prefabricated so it had elements of even the this wall here you know there there is a an element of progressivism here and here you see the apartments having access from the uh the exterior you know balcony or Corridor there are modest Apartments but uh I think they function very well and
• 39:00 - 39:30 they are duplexes you know you have two floors at your disposal so I wouldn't say at all these are um you know Apartments to be uh teared down to be uh you know cursed and and and demolished but taste changes yes what can you do
• 39:30 - 40:00 Alison and Peter smithon and here we see also details of the facade it was crafted in a certain way it's not so simplistic as it might appear at first
• 40:00 - 40:30 now buildings of the University of Bas including the School of Architecture here was not very clear to me what they did maybe they they me Le so well with the existing and the old that I I don't
• 40:30 - 41:00 know I try to discover what exactly they did because there were existing buildings uh also they also worked with a team of other Architects but still this architecture which is not impressive and is not you know wow architecture I think it's not a simplistic architecture and there are interesting things here po probably if you use the buildings you would discover
• 41:00 - 41:30 things that just looking at pictures is probably difficult or if not impossible in a way this is the British Spirit where tradition is important and there is a conservative side to the British culture and at the same time they also have very Innovative gestures but somehow this building compared to this building the little I see here this one seems to have a
• 41:30 - 42:00 certain hybridity and complexity