A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain

Last updated
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain.jpg
First edition
Author Owen Hatherley
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Subject British architecture and urbanism, modern architecture, brutalist architecture
Published2010 (Verso Books)
Media typePrint
Pages400 [1]
ISBN 9781844676514

A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is a book by the British writer Owen Hatherley, published by Verso Books in November 2010. [1] The book is a critique of the architecture and urbanism of postmodern Britain, [2] taking the form of a tour of British cities. [3]

Contents

Background

A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is Hatherley's second book, following a quartet of essays entitled Militant Modernism published in 2008. Considerable overlap and repetition exists between the two works. [4]

Overview

Hatherley introduces A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain as "an autopsy of the urban renaissance", referring to a program initiated under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and associated with the private finance initiative, city academies and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. [2] In his introduction, Hatherley quotes Karl Seitz's statement upon the opening of the Karl Marx-Hof in Vienna: "by these stones shall we be judged." Seitz's words, set in the context of the attack on the Karl Marx-Hof a year later by fascists fighting the Austrian Civil War, serve as guiding principles for the book. [5] The book forms a catalogue raisonné of what the author describes as "pseudomodernism". [4]

The journey, on which Hatherley was accompanied by photographer Joel Anderson, [6] begins in Southampton, where Hatherley grew up, and takes in Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Manchester, Tyneside, Glasgow, Cambridge, several towns in Yorkshire, Cardiff, Liverpool and Greenwich. Hatherley focuses on the prior decade's programmes of regeneration and the remains of past civic improvements. [3] In Cambridge, Hatherley reluctantly praises the Accordia development; [2] while in Glasgow he describes BBC Pacific Quay as "decent, upstanding, moderate modernism" and praises buildings in the vicinity of Glasgow Central station; [5] and in Tyneside he praises T. Dan Smith's desire to build a "Brasilia of the North". [4]

Hatherley most keenly explores the public and municipal architecture of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including Thamesmead in Greenwich, Red Road in Glasgow, Park Hill in Sheffield and the Get Carter car park in Gateshead. [2] Particular attention is paid to "the Former Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire", where Hatherley sees the promise of Socialist Brutalism having come closest to fulfilment. Hatherley criticises Bob Kerslake, the former chief executive of Sheffield City Council who presided over the demolition of council housing, and the Pathfinder scheme. [4]

Hatherley's influences include Ian Nairn, [3] Nikolaus Pevsner, [3] J. B. Priestley's English Journey [2] [3] [5] and Iain Sinclair. [3]

Critical reception

Patrick Wright, writing in Architecture Today, compares Hatherley's approach to that of William Cobbett, the 19th century agitator who criticised industrialisation in his Rural Rides ; however, he points out that while Cobbett defended the British countryside, Hatherley is concerned with the urban Britain envisioned by post-war Modernist architects which he argues has fallen victim to regeneration schemes. [2]

Rowan Moore, writing in The Observer , describes Hatherley as "not entirely fair" for his failure to grant a right of reply to those he criticises, the book's lack of input from the citizens and residents of the areas described, and its lack of any proposed alternative, but describes A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain as "essentially right: for all the talk of renewal, renaissance, regeneration and world-class architecture, and all the billions expended, our cities are, with some exceptions, more screwed up than they have ever been." [3]

Will Self, reviewing Militant Modernism and A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain in the London Review of Books , describes the latter as "engaging and even stimulating", but argues that Hatherley fails to accept the deep-seated and philoprogenitive bad taste of the masses, instead favouring an ethic shaped by urban reductionism. Self also alleges similarities between Hatherley's argument regarding "pseudomodernism" and that of the architect Rem Koolhaas, whose work Hatherley criticises. [4]

Related Research Articles

Ian Douglas Nairn was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised critiques of London and Paris, and collaborated with Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, who considered his reports to be too subjective, but acknowledged him as the better writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Barker</span> British film director and philosopher

Jason Barker is a British theorist of contemporary French philosophy, novelist, film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is a professor of cultural studies at Kyung Hee University in the Graduate School of British and American Language and Culture, and visiting professor at the European Graduate School, where he teaches in the Faculty of Media and Communication alongside Alain Badiou, Judith Butler, Jacques Rancière, Avital Ronell, Slavoj Žižek, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottingham Contemporary</span>

Nottingham Contemporary is a contemporary art centre in the Lace Market area of Nottingham. The gallery opened in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Hatherley</span>

Owen Hatherley is a British writer and journalist based in London who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Properties</span> Property company of the United Kingdom

West Properties (UK) Ltd is a United Kingdom based property development company. The company focuses on high-end development projects, including Skyline Central, Lumiere, and Vivo in Manchester. Revenue for the 2008 fiscal year fell from £13.9m, down sharply from £26m the previous year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jubilee Library, Brighton</span> Public library in Brighton and Hove, UK

The Jubilee Library is the largest running public library in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The Jubilee Library forms part of the Jubilee Square development in central Brighton, as a £50 million endeavour to regenerate a 40-year-old brownfield site. Opened in 2005 by the Princess Royal, the library has won several architectural design awards, and on one occasion dubbed, "A triumph" by the Pevsner Architectural Guides. In terms of the number of daily visitors, the library is one of the busiest in England. The library brought together facilities previously housed in separate sites.

The Holyrood estate is a housing estate in Southampton, England. It was constructed as a new city district to replace a slum bombed in World War II, and designed by Lyons Israel Ellis, who later designed Wyndham Court. Owen Hatherley describes the estate as a "straightforward scattering of low and medium-rise Modernist blocks, using the soft-Brutalist vernacular of stock-brick and concrete." Hatherley praises the estate's layout over its aesthetic. The estate is situated between Queensway to the west and Threefield Lane to the east, and Bernard Street to the south and Lime Street to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyndham Court</span>

Wyndham Court is a block of social housing in Southampton, England. It was designed by Lyons Israel Ellis for Southampton City Council in 1966, and is located near Southampton Central station and the Mayflower Theatre. Wyndham Court includes 184 flats, three cafes or restaurants and 13 shops, and was completed in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moore Street electricity substation</span>

The Moore Street electricity substation is an electrical substation in Sheffield, England, designed by Jefferson Sheard in 1968. The substation is an example of Brutalist architecture. Owen Hatherley describes it as "a shocking paroxysm of a building, an explosion in reinforced concrete, a bunker built with an aesthete's attention to detail, a building which is genuinely Brutalist in both senses of the term."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Union of Mineworkers headquarters</span>

The National Union of Mineworkers headquarters is a building in Sheffield, England which formerly housed the head office of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Laura Oldfield Ford, also known as Laura Grace Ford, is a British artist and author. Her mixed media and multimedia work, encompassing psychogeography, poetry and prose, photography, ballpoint pen, acrylic paint and spray paint, explores political themes and focuses on British urban areas. Her zine Savage Messiah, which centres on London, was published from 2005 to 2009 and collected as a book in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UCL Urban Laboratory</span>

UCL Urban Laboratory is a cross-disciplinary centre for the study of cities and urbanism, based at University College London. It carries out research, education and outreach activities both in London and internationally. The Urban Laboratory was established in 2005. UCL Urban Lab is a department of the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment which also co-operates with the faculties of Engineering, Social and Historical Sciences; and Arts and Humanities. The current director and Head of Department is Dr Clare Melhuish, who took on the role from Dr Ben Campkin in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marchwood ERF</span> Waste-to-energy power station near Southampton, UK

Marchwood ERF is a waste incineration plant in Marchwood, near Southampton, England. It is situated beside the estuary of the River Test where it meets Southampton Water, opposite the Port of Southampton. It burns municipal waste and produces electricity for the National Grid.

<i>The Revenge of History: The Battle for the Twenty First Century</i> 2012 book by Seumas Milne

The Revenge of History: The Battle for the Twenty-First Century is a 2012 book by British journalist and writer Seumas Milne. An updated edition was published in 2013.

Georgie Wolton was a British architect, an original member of the architecture firm Team 4. Critic Jonathan Meades describes her as the "outstanding woman architect of the generation before Zaha [Hadid]".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House for the Future, Cardiff</span> Building in Cardiff, Wales

The House for the Future, sometimes called House of the Future and more recently renamed Ty Gwyrdd, is a modern house located in the St Fagans National History Museum on the western edge of Cardiff, Wales. Completed in 2000, it was originally a showcase of the latest green building technologies, but was later transformed into an education centre. It was described by architectural writer Owen Hatherley as "a rather ambitiuous gesture for a place devoted to reconstructing the past".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hove Town Hall</span> Municipal building in Hove, East Sussex, England

Hove Town Hall is the headquarters of Brighton and Hove City Council. The current building was constructed in 1970 in the Brutalist style by John Wells-Thorpe, to replace the original 1882 Hall which was damaged by fire in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Hill Estate</span> Housing estate in London

Central Hill is a social housing estate in the London Borough of Lambeth. It was designed by Rosemary Stjernstedt, Roger Westman and the Lambeth Council planning department during the directorship of Ted Hollamby. It comprises more than 450 homes built in 1966-74 near the site of the former Crystal Palace. Lambeth Council plans to demolish the estate so that it can build an extra 400 homes, many for private sale, so that it can finance the construction of new social housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Point, Bradford</span> Commercial building in West Yorkshire, England

High Point is a high rise former commercial building in Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is a prominent example of Brutalist architecture. Designed by John Brunton Partnership of Bradford, it was completed in 1972 to serve as the headquarters of the Yorkshire Building Society but went unused for decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ievgeniia Gubkina</span> Ukrainian activist and architectural historian

Ievgeniia "Jenia" Gubkina is a Ukrainian architect, architectural and urban historian, and curator specializing in architecture and urban planning of the 20th century in Ukraine, and a multidisciplinary approach to heritage studies. Since 2014 she has co-founded the NGO Urban Forms Center and the avant-garde women's movement "Modernistki".

References

  1. 1 2 A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain. Verso Books. July 2011. ISBN   9781844677009 . Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wright, Patrick (24 October 2010). "A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain: Owen Hatherley". Architecture Today. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Moore, Rowan (3 October 2010). "A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley". The Observer . Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Self, Will (8 March 2012). "It hits in the gut". London Review of Books . 34 (5): 22–24. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "Book review: A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain". The Scotsman . 18 October 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  6. ↑ Worpole, Ken (11 December 2010). "A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain". openDemocracy.net . Retrieved 18 April 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.