Modernism, brutalism, good design

Counting down my top 8 posts from 2016- In at number 2 is Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate, London by Neave Brown.

© 2016 Alex James Bruce

Skybreak House, Radlett (1966) by Team 4

House designed by Team 4 and completed in 1966. Team 4 consisted of Norman Foster, Wendy Cheeseman, Richard Rogers and Su Brumwell, and they designed a house in brick which sloped down a hill with long slanted glass windows for entrepreneur Tony Jaffe. The house was used by Stanley Kubrick as the interior of the writers house in A Clockwork Orange (bottom image).

Bolshy Flatblock: The buildings of A Clockwork Orange

Lecture Theatre, Brunel University, Uxbridge (1968) by Sheppard Robson & Partners

Featured in the film as the Ludovico Medical Clinic where Alex is brainwashed, the Lecture Theatre at Brunel University in Uxbridge is now Grade II listed. Designed by John Heywood of Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners and completed in 1966, the lecture theatre was part of the expansion of the university campus, which also included buildings by Stillman & Eastwick-Field. The structure is built from reinforced concrete, with projecting box shaped lecture theatres, finished in board marked concrete. These are held up by concrete piers and a first floor of prefabricated concrete panels.

Bolshy Flatblock: The buildings of A Clockwork Orange

New House, Shipton-Under-Wychwood (1964) by Stout & Litchfield

Designed by Stout and Litchfield for prominent London barrister Milton Grundy in 1964, New House has an interesting composition of five linked pavilions with monopitch roofs, and a Japanese gravel garden. The house, constructed of local Cotswold stone, was Grade II listed in 1998. Used by Stanley Kubrick   for the exterior and garden shots of the writers house in A Clockwork Orange.

Bolshy Flatblock: The buildings of A Clockwork Orange

The Beckers, Rectory Road, Hackney (1958) by Frederick Gibberd.

Social housing scheme for Hackney Borough, consisting of two eleven storey blocks and four lower storey blocks of four and three floors. This estate, designed in association with G.L. Dowling, the surveyor for Hackney, was one of many Gibberd designed in the borough in the immediate post war period.

Habitat ‘67, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 1967

Fulwell Cross Library and Swimming Baths, Barkingside (1968) by Frederick Gibberd & Partners.

Grade II listed library and swimming baths, designed by Ilford Council by Frederick Gibberd & Partners. The building is situated on a narrow triangular site, and the library is designed a low circular concrete drum with a copper green roof.

Mensa, University of Konstanz, Germany, 1975

The Barbican, London by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon.

© 2016 Alex James Bruce