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Pessimist Utopia: Theo Crosby 1950-1990

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Pessimist Utopia: Theo Crosby 1950-1990 Pessimist Utopia: Theo Crosby 1950-1990 Juliana Yat Shun Kei History of Design, Royal College of Art June 2019. This text represents the partial submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Royal College of Art. Copyright statement This text represents the partial submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Royal College of Art. This copy has been supplied for the purpose of research for private study, on the understanding that it is copyright material, and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Table of Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................................................ I LIST OF APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................. V AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ......................................................................................................................... VII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 1 0.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 1 0.2 RESEARCH SUBJECT: THEO CROSBY .............................................................................................................. 5 0.21 Crosby in Existing Historiography ....................................................................................................... 10 0.22 Crosby’s Disappearance: the 1970s and onwards ................................................................................ 13 0.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: OPERATIVE HISTORY ..................................................................................... 17 0.4 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 23 0.41 Using Biography .................................................................................................................................. 23 0.42 Reconsidering ‘Environment Design’ .................................................................................................. 27 0.43 Mixing the Archives ............................................................................................................................. 29 0.5 CRITICAL HISTORICAL CONTEXT ................................................................................................................. 31 0.51 Pessimist Utopia: Britain in the 1970s ................................................................................................. 31 0.52 Pessimist Utopia and Postmodernity .................................................................................................... 33 0.53 Architectural Postmodernism in Britain ............................................................................................... 37 0.54 Preservationist Architecture in Britain ................................................................................................. 39 0.55 Postmodernism and Technology .......................................................................................................... 41 0.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS .......................................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 1 NEW BRUTALISM’S ETHICS AND AESTHETICS ............................................................. 48 1.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 48 1.2 REVISITING NEW BRUTALISM ...................................................................................................................... 49 1.3 JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE ........................................................................................................................... 53 1.4 THIS IS TOMORROW ..................................................................................................................................... 69 1.5 THE LINGERING INFLUENCE OF JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE ......................................................................... 76 1.6 UIA CONGRESS 1961 ................................................................................................................................... 86 1.7 COLD WAR PRE-FAB FEVER ....................................................................................................................... 102 1.8 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 109 CHAPTER 2 TEN PRINCIPLES .................................................................................................................... 116 2.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 116 2.2 TEN PRINCIPLES AND POUNDBURY ............................................................................................................ 117 2.3 EVALUATING TEN PRINCIPLES ................................................................................................................... 131 2.4 THE ANTHOLOGY OF TEN PRINCIPLES ....................................................................................................... 137 2.5 AN ARCHAIC NON-PLAN? .......................................................................................................................... 144 2.6 PROGRAMME AND LANGUAGE ................................................................................................................... 149 2.7 FULHAM STUDY ......................................................................................................................................... 153 2.8 ULSTER TERRACE AND TEN PRINCIPLES AS A PROPOSITION FOR PRESERVATION ...................................... 163 2.9 THE USE OF DISORDER .............................................................................................................................. 175 2.10 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 183 iv CHAPTER 3 HOW TO PLAY THE PRESERVATION GAME ................................................................. 186 3.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 186 3.2 EXHIBITION AS CRITICISM .......................................................................................................................... 191 3.3 “GAME THEORY” AND “STATE OF PLAY” .................................................................................................. 204 3.4 PESSIMIST UTOPIA ..................................................................................................................................... 207 3.5 ARTS COUNCIL AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................ 214 3.6 PRESERVATION AND ACTION ..................................................................................................................... 219 3.7 THE TECHNOLOGY OF PRESERVATION ....................................................................................................... 231 3.8 THE ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................................... 238 3.9 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 245 CHAPTER 4 THE NECESSARY MONUMENT: SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE ........................................ 251 4.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 251 4.2 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GLOBE THEATRE (1969-1997) ............................................................................. 255 4.3 GLOBE IN SHAKESPEAREAN SCHOLARSHIPS .............................................................................................. 257 4.4 GLOBE AS A POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................... 261 4.5 GLOBE AS AN URBAN REGENERATION VISION (1970-73) .......................................................................... 268 4.6 MODERNISATION AND MONUMENT ........................................................................................................... 276 4.7 THE NECESSARY MONUMENT .................................................................................................................... 286 4.8 THE GLOBE AND “WEST-ENDISATION” ...................................................................................................... 290 4.9 PEOPLE’S PLAN .........................................................................................................................................
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