British high-tech architecture is a form of high-tech architecture, also known as structural expressionism, a type of late modern architectural style that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture grew from the modernist style, using new advances in technology and building materials.
British high-tech architecture[1] is a term applied principally to the work of a group of London-based architects, British High-Tech Architects, who, by following the teachings of the Architectural Association's futuristic programmes, created an architectural style best characterised by cultural and design ideals of: component-based, light weight, easily transportable, factory-finished using standardised interchangeable highly engineered parts, fun, popular and spontaneous Pop-up buildings.
Within the Architectural Association were a number of overlapping spheres of influence – the most notable being Archigram, a loosely arranged group including Peter Cook (responsible for Plug-in City and Instant City), Mike Webb (Sin Centre) and Ron Herron (Walking City).[2] Alongside Archigram were the mechanistic schemes of Cedric Price,[3] who, with engineer Frank Newby, designed a number of unbuilt projects, most notably Fun Palace, a community theatre to the brief of Joan Littlewood, and Potteries Think-belt, a scheme which would re-use decommissioned railway routes to create a university on wheels. Price also promoted the idea of architecture having a fourth dimension: Time. In addition to the aforementioned was the Independent Group (art movement), which influenced the British side of the pop art movement, through architectural luminaries Peter Smithson a Head of the Architectural Association and Colin St John Wilson.
The British high-tech movement remained in the ascendency from the 1960s until 1984, when an intervention by HRH Charles Prince of Wales over a competition-winning design by ABK Architects (previously Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) for an extension to the National Gallery in London signalled an end to High Tech architecture in the UK. More, from that date, the group of leading proponents of British High Tech architecture distanced themselves from the High Tech style to endear themselves to sponsors. By such action, they would continue to design buildings of national and international significance. In satisfying the demands of conservative clients, planners, conservationists and funding organisations, the essence of High Tech was lost.
This article, British high-tech architecture, traces the development of technological advances and industrial innovations that went hand-in-hand with the emergence of the High Tech style, and without which British high-tech architecture would have remained where it started – as the pop art [4] imagery of Archigram,[5] the most influential of the Architectural Association visionary groups.
Background
The history of light-weight, mass-produced, component-based dry construction, which, as a means of assembly differentiates system building from traditional building methods, dates back to the 19th C. It started in the UK with Sir Joseph Paxton's[6] newly created building methods at Chatsworth House's[7] conservatory completed in 1840, and later at The Great Exhibition[8] of 1851, when he used steam-powered woodworking machines to manufacture batches of identical components. At the same time (1829), Henry Robinson Palmer patented corrugated iron,[9] using his invention to construct a shed roof for the London Dock Company the following year.
Progress continued in another industry entirely, the lattice framed trusses required for airships developed by Barnes Wallis[10] at Howden, Yorkshire during his work in the 1920s on the R100 Airship[11] resulted in the development of light weight tubes made from spiral-wound duralumin strip in a helical fashion.
Later, solutions to housing shortage and replacement of other war-decimated facilities required fresh thinking about factory rather than site based building, such as the post-war building of Arcon prefabs in the United Kingdom in large numbers, and of system-built schools such as Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme CLASP,[12] filtered through to building design in the form of High Tech System Building. Generally, it has been an engineering innovation that has given rise to architectural opportunity.
Between 1961 and 1967 in California, the SCSD (School Construction Systems Development ) project[13] offered architects and educationalists more options than had been available previously - providing greater column-free floor space by using longer spans, and flexible room layouts below. A deep structural zone into which power, H&V, lighting and concertina partition tracks could be accommodated reduced the need for the rigid restrictive planning grids that had hampered the earlier systems.
Further innovations: space frame roof structures derived from WWII aircraft hangar roofs, Rectangular Hollow Section (RHS) (to include Square Hollow Section) steel, known in the US as Hollow Structural Section (HSS) developed in the UK by Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and advances in 'Patent Glazing' during the same period of time, which allowed greater freedom in both wall and roof glazing – presented architects and their clients with near-unlimited flexibility in a building's planning, layout of accommodation and use patterns.
The trend for light weight dry construction also had its roots in military fast-response use, when administration, storage or workshop buildings might be required at short notice. The Nissen hut[14] from WWI, and later the Quonset hut[15][16] (a derivative of the Nissen design) developed during WWII were both produced in large quantities. However, notwithstanding its origins for military use, light weight design principles were seized upon by American architect and philosopher Richard Buckminster Fuller,[17][18] who advocated the use of slender or tensile structural components as they would be less wasteful of Earth's scarce resources than would be their bulkier traditional counterparts. His message became something of a creed for the generation of High tech architects. Fuller's designs used well-engineered batch produced components in designs for his renowned Geodesic Domes, although the term 'geodesic' is attributed to Barnes Wallis in his fuselage design for the WWII Lancaster bomber aircraft. German-born Konrad Wachsmann also taught the principles of this type of component-based building design at USC School of Architecture-SAFA.
Proponents of British high-tech architecture
Most architects associated with British high-tech emerged from the Architectural Association; others worked in London at the offices of those that had. Some, like-minded, had come through the offices of modernists such as Ove Arup and Felix Samuely, who believed in 'total design'[19] an earlier term for 'multi-disciplinary' design. In addition, a small group of sympathetic structural engineers, including Frank Newby, Anthony Hunt, Ted Happold, Mark Whitby and Peter Rice, became essential to the development of the movement. As a result of the symbiotic association between architects and engineers, a freedom of design evolved away from the constraints of the everyday. Aside from the architectural and engineering impetus, there was a wider cultural involvement as the principal proponents shared friendships centred upon art, writing and industrial design. Most operated as freelancers working in small studio home offices which became their calling-cards identifying with the High Tech[20] style.
Howard V Lobb & Partners[36] (architectural practice formed 1950) merged with HOK (firm) (architectural practice founded 1955) renamed Populous (architectural practice renamed 2009)
Williamson Faulkner Brown (architectural practice) now named FaulknerBrowns Architects (architectural practice from 2013[37])
Gillinson[38] Barnett & Partners (architectural practice formed 1970) now named Barnett & Partners (architectural practice)
Contemporary imagery
In the austere post World War II Britain, illustrations associated with the comic-book heroes, science fiction writing, aircraft and aerospace industries and military hardware such as the Bailey Bridge provided inspirational imagery for the British High Tech architects.
Furthermore, in 1951, the Festival of Britain[39][40] intended to lift the spirits of the nation following the austerity of WWII, brought together under the architectural Directorship of Hugh Casson a group of leading architects and engineers to create a series of mainly temporary exhibition buildings located primarily on South Bank area of London.
Most of all in 1969, Apollo 11 and its Lunar Module pointed the way towards light weight exoskeletal transient structures free from conventional building limitations. Science Fiction images from Paolo Soleri,[41]Georgii Krutikov,[42] Buckminster Fuller, Robert McCall, Syd Mead,[43] and, of significance, British author Arthur C. Clarke, (who in 1948 wrote the short story, first published in 1951, "Sentinel of Eternity", which was used as a starting point for the 1968 novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey), provided a rich source of inspiration for the High Tech movement.
High Tech Buildings for leisure
Wide span column-free dome, cuboid and pyramid shaped building envelopes provided flexibility for internal layout and use patterns. Dutch architect Constant Nieuwenhuys in New Babylon, his long work including drawings and writings of 1959–1974 (not yet called High Tech), foresaw a fictitious world in which the pursuit of pleasure and play, rather than work, had become the mainstay of everyday life for the élite of society.
UK Local Authorities in the 1970s, both at seaside locations and as a part of urban regeneration initiatives, sought to recreate the fun attractions of sun-bathing and swimming in artificially-created waves. Out-of-London UK architects Gillinson Barnett & Partners (Leeds), and Williamson Faulkner Brown Architects (Newcastle upon Tyne) were leaders in this form of design with schemes including Summerland in the Isle of Man (destroyed by fire two years after opening),[44] Sun Centre Rhyl North Wales (now demolished),[45]Oasis Leisure CentreSwindon,[46] and Bletchley Leisure Centre in Milton Keynes (now demolished).[47] Only the Oasis Leisure Centre remains as an example of this building type, although it is itself presently[48] under threat of demolition.[49][50][51]
Industrial aesthetic (US also esthetic)
Factory-finished components, brought to site and bolted together, provided uniformity in appearance and standardisation which would allow components to be replaced or reconfigured. Typical of this design trend was the use of a Braithwaite water tank[52] by the Smithsons in their designs for Hunstanton Secondary Modern School in Norfolk UK.
Industrialisation
Industrial components, batch-produced in factories using newly invented materials or new manufacturing processes allowed the construction/assembly of High Tech buildings to move forward.
Milestones in technological advance
Description of Advancement
How, Why and Where
Importance to British High Tech Architecture
Mass-produced identical timber components
Chatsworth House conservatory UK Joseph Paxton 1836–40
Unlimited column-free space allowing flexibility of use
Composite primary structure
IBM Travelling Exhibition[59][60]Renzo Piano/Ove Arup 1982–84 UK and other locations
Steel/wood/acrylic components in dry bolt-together construction
Technology transfer
Using 'component-based, light weight, factory-finished using standardised interchangeable highly engineered parts' as a template for High Tech Building, in due course technologies developed in allied industries such as boatbuilding, vehicle manufacture or cold storage were transferred to British High Tech architecture.
Transfer of Technology
Technology type
Detail of transferred use
Example of subsequent use
Boatbuilding
Use of ocean yacht stainless steel rigging as structural cross-bracing
Michael Hopkins (architect)/Anthony Hunt Patera Building, Stoke-on-Trent UK 1982
Boatbuilding
Use of ocean yacht aluminium mast extrusions for primary structural elements
Richard Horden Horden House[16], Woodgreen Hampshire UK 1984
Cold Storage
Use of panels designed for refrigerated cold storage rooms
Richard Rogers Rogers Wimbledon House, London UK late 1960s
Vehicle manufacture
Use of vehicle body panel hydraulic presses to form building panels
Michael Hopkins/Anthony Hunt Patera Building, Stoke-on-Trent UK 1982
Vehicle manufacture
Use of synthetic rubber vehicle gaskets for weather-sealing
Foster Associates/Anthony Hunt Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA Norwich UK 1978
Furniture manufacture
Use of scaled up furniture components for building use
Fritz Haller Stahlbausystem designed alongside USM Mobel-bausystem Switzerland from 1962
Early bi-plane aircraft design
Use of light weight struts and tension cables
Patty Hopkins/Buro Happold Fleet Velmead School UK 1984–1986
Light-engineering
Use of die-cast alloy castings for structural components
Konrad Wachsmann hangar space frame node joints USA Atlas Aircraft Corporation before end of WWII
Heavy-engineering
Use of heavy-engineering steel sandbox castings for primary structure
Renzo Piano + Richard Rogers Pompidou Centre France 1977
Michael Hopkins Architects/John Pringle/Anthony Hunt Associates/Mark Whitby/Longton Industrial Holdings Plc
Structural Steel Design Award 1983 commendation[78] Original prototype moved to London Docklands in 1984 and moved again c1989 to Albert Island in the Royal Docks area of East London
The use of computer-aided design (CAD) for 3D modelling, and therefore as a basic tool for architectural design, emerged during the 1990s[80] Prior to that date, CAD had been used to a limited extent in structural analysis and as a means of managing and recording traditional drawings. 1983 saw the first 2D Autocad software designed for PC use.[81] Earlier (c1975), "the architects (Gillinson Barnett & Partners) had to devise a computer programme to deal with the large number of components (in the Oasis Leisure Centre Dome roof, Swindon), and the ‘frame analysis’ was reportedly handled by a NASA computer at Houston".[82] In c.1984, Ove Arup and Partners produced computer-generated 3D modelling of the Schlumberger Gould Research Centre, Cambridge, roof membrane.[83]
With the widespread advance of IT, (the use of computers to store or retrieve data) CAD quickly became the essential tool of architectural and engineering design. Anthony Hunt is on record as saying: "... that it was only possible to design and construct the huge biodomes of the Eden Project... because of advances made in computer modelling techniques".[84]
The post mid 1980s reversion to technological modernism
The mid 1980s saw not only the damning "is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend" speech by HRH Charles Prince of Wales,[86] but also the death of several key proponents of British High Tech architecture – amongst which were Buckminster Fuller (1983), Jean Prouvé (1984), Walter Segal (1985) and Reyner Banham (1988), each of whom were significant for their teachings as well as for their building designs.
Use of high-tech methodology for sports stadia
Following the Taylor Report, a Home Office report, the result of a public inquiry into "The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster 15 April 1989",[87] recommendations were such that a new generation of all-seater football stadia became the norm for top division football clubs in the UK. Architects the Lobb Partnership (formerly Howard V Lobb & Partners) in conjunction with The Sports Council promoted designs for "A Stadium for the Nineties" giving rise to a new generation of UK football grounds, the first of which was Kirklees StadiumHuddersfield. Rod Sheard, Principal of Lobb Partnership (later known as Lobb Sports Architecture) designed a series of sports venues using High Tech methodology such as retractable roofs and flamboyant exposed steel structures.
Sustainability
As an adjunct to Richard Buckminster Fuller's question "How much does your building weigh?", that expressed his philosophy of light weight building which in turn reduced wastefulness and therefore conserved Earth's precious resources, he backed up this concept with his Dymaxion Map launched as "World Game: a unique experiment to develop a computer coordinated model of planet earth to research world resources and develop ways of running the future for the benefit of mankind".[88]
The Legacy of British High Tech
In both the worlds of science fiction, space travel and in areas of extreme climatic conditions on Earth, the imagery of British High Tech architecture endures in real projects as well as those imagined. A series of buildings and design competition entries for the Halley Research Station at Halley Bay, Antarctica and Ski Haus by Richard Horden/Anthony Hunt derive solutions for extremes of climate from High Tech imagery. David Nixon promotes similar interests "Design, Construction and Operation of Buildings and Habitats in Extreme Environments" and in "a book entitled 'Architecture of the International Space Station' – the first book to examine the Station from an architectural viewpoint"[89]Hugh Broughton, one of the world's leading designers of polar research facilities including Halley VI,[90] takes the High Tech concept further with designs for 'Building a Martian House'[91][92] – an exhibition in Bristol led by local artists Ella Good and Nicki Kent.[93][94]
In 2015 Foster + Partners were shortlisted finalists for the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge,[95] organized by America Makes and NASA – submitting designs for a Mars settlement.[96] Concept art for The Martian (2015) Steve Burg supposes accommodation modules on supporting legs (stilts)[97] reminiscent of their light weight component-based bolt-together counterparts of the 1970s and 1980s such as the Rogers' Zip-Up House designed between 1967 and 1969 for The House of Today competition, and the aforementioned Hugh Broughton polar research station designs.
Archigram were awarded RIBARoyal Gold Medal in 2002.[98] Other recipients of this prestigious award relevant to this article are (in reverse date order): Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (2019), Frei Otto (2005), Michael and Patricia Hopkins (1994), Peter Rice (1992), Colin Stansfield Smith (1991), Renzo Piano (1989), Sir Richard Rogers (1985), Sir Norman Foster (1983), Charles and Ray Eames (1979), Powell and Moya (1974) and Buckminster Fuller (1968), demonstrating that the legacy of Proponents of British high-tech architecture has remained at the forefront of architectural pioneering work well into the twenty-first century.
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References
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↑ Sadler, Simon (2005). Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. ISBN978-0262693226.
↑ Colquhoun, Kate (2006). The Busiest Man in England: The Life of Joseph Paxton, Gardener, Architect, and Victorian Visionary. David R. Godine Publisher Inc; Annotated edition (16 March 2006). ISBN978-1567923018.
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↑ Jencks, Charles (1973). Modern Movements in Architecture. Middlesex England: Penguin Books. p.75. ISBN0-1402-1534-4.
↑ Chiei, Chris, Decker, Julie (2005). Quonset hut: metal living for a modern age (Firsted.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN978-1568986548.
↑ Rogers, J. David. "QUONSET HUTS"(PDF). web.mst.edu. Missouri University of Science & Technology. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
↑ Pawley, Martin (1990). Buckminster Fuller How much does the building weigh?. London: Trefoil Publications Ltd. ISBN0-86294-160-1.
↑ Seiden, Lloyd Steven (1989). Buckminster Fuller's Universe (Paperback 2000 ed.). New York: Basic Books A Member of the Persius Books Group. ISBN0-7382-0379-3.
↑ Jones, Peter (2006). Ove Arup: Master Builder of the Twentieth Century. Yale University: Yale University Press. ISBN978-0300112962.
↑ Kron, Joan and, Slesin Suzane (1978). HIGH-TECH The Industrial Style and Source book for the Home. London: Allen Lane Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN0-7139-1287-1.
↑ Banham, Reyner (1981). Design By Choice. London: Academy Editions.
↑ Davies, Paul (2019). "Reyner Banham (1922 -1988)". Architectural Review.
↑ Foster, Norman (2017). "AR 120: Norman Foster on Technology". Architectural Review (AR 120).
↑ Pitcher, Greg (28 October 2020). "Polar research specialist Hugh Broughton Architects has secured planning permission to build a 'Martian House' in Bristol". Architects Journal AJ.
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