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.

Clarification

British high-tech architecture 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 The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

'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 Archigram was an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s ⁠that was neofuturistic, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist, drawing inspiration from technology in order to create a new reality that was solely expressed through hypothetical ...

, a loosely arranged group including

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

(responsible for Plug-in City and Instant City), Mike Webb (Sin Centre) and

Ron Herron Ronald James Herron () was an English architect and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his work with the seminal experimental architecture collective Archigram, which was formed in London in the early 1960s. Herron was the creator of one of ...

(Walking City). Alongside Archigram were the mechanistic schemes of

Cedric Price Cedric Price FRIBA (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture. The son of an architect (A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon), Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire ...

, who, with engineer Frank Newby, designed a number of unbuilt projects, most notably Fun Palace, a community theatre to the brief of

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

, 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) The Independent Group (IG) met at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, England, from 1952 to 1955. The IG consisted of painters, sculptors, architects, writers and critics who wanted to challenge prevailing modernist approaches to c ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ ABK Architects (previously Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) is a British architectural practice. It was founded in 1961 by Peter Ahrends (born 1933, Berlin, Germany), Richard Burton (born 1933 in London, United Kingdom, died 2017), and Paul ...

(previously Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) for an extension to the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

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 imagery of Archigram, 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 newly created building methods at Chatsworth House's conservatory completed in 1840, and later at

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took p ...

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, 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 at Howden, Yorkshire during his work in the 1920s on the R100 Airship 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, 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 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 A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of Corrugated galvanised iron, corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British ...

from WWI, and later the

Quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War ...

(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 Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American people, American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, ...

, 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 Dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic do ...

s, 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 Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, an ...

and

Felix Samuely Felix James Samuely (3 February 1902 – 22 January 1959) was a Structural engineer. Born in Vienna, he immigrated to Britain in 1933. Worked with Erich Mendelsohn on the De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (1936), the British Pavilion for the B ...

, who believed in 'total design' an earlier term for 'multi-disciplinary' design. In addition, a small group of sympathetic structural engineers, including Frank Newby,

Anthony Hunt Anthony James Hunt (22 June 1932 – 16 August 2022), familiarly known as Tony Hunt, was a British structural engineer of numerous world-renowned buildings, with a career spanning from the 1950s until his retirement in 2002. As a leading propo ...

, Ted Happold, Mark Whitby and

Peter Rice Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer. Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and ...

, 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 style. * Michael Aukett (1938-2020) *

Reyner Banham Peter Reyner Banham Hon. FRIBA (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: Th ...

(1922-1988) Writer and critic * John Batchelor (illustrator) (1936–2019) Technical Illustrator – aircraft and other – Subjects include work by Foster *

Misha Black Sir Misha Black (16 October 1910 – 11 October 1977) was a British-Azerbaijani architect and designer. In 1933 he founded with associates in London the organisation that became the Artists' International Association. In 1943, with Milner Gray ...

(1910–1977) Contributor to patronage of 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

and to

Design Research Unit The Design Research Unit (DRU) was one of the first generation of British design consultancies combining expertise in architecture, graphics and industrial design. It was founded by the managing director of Stuart Advertising Agency, Marcus Brum ...

(DRU) * Hugh Broughton (architect) (b. 1965) Formed Hugh Broughton Architects in 1995 * Cuno Brullmann (b. 1945) Worked in association with Piano + Rogers and Ove Arup and Partners * Marcus Brumwell (1901–1977), a founder of

(DRU) *

(1895–1983) *

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

(1910–1999) Director of Architecture for the 1951

Warren Chalk Warren Chalk (1927–1988) was an English architect. He was a member of Archigram. Amongst the group he was known as "the catalyst of ideas". Early life and education Chalk, (John) Warren (1927–1987), architect, was born on 7 July 1927 at 32 ...

(1927–1988) Founding member of Archigram *

Peter Cook (architect) Sir Peter Cook (born 22 October 1936) is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a founder of Archigram, and was knighted in 2007 by the Queen for his services to architecture and teaching. He is also a Ro ...

(b. 1936) founding member of Archigram *

Dennis Crompton Dennis Crompton (born in 1935) is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a member of Archigram Archigram was an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s ⁠that was neofuturistic, anti-heroi ...

(b. 1935) founding member and archivist of Archigram *

Charles and Ray Eames Charles Eames ( Charles Eames, Jr) and Ray Eames ( Ray-Bernice Eames) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of ...

(1907–1978, 1912–1988) * Ezra Ehrenkrantz (1932–2001) architect of the SCSD (School Construction Systems Development) project *

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...

(b. 1935) co-founder (1963) of

Team 4 Team 4 was a British architectural firm, established in 1963 by architecture graduates Su Brumwell, Wendy Cheesman, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. Friction emerged within the firm, and by June 1967, Foster and Rogers decided to dissolve t ...

* Wendy Foster (1937–1989) co-founder (1963) of

David Greene (architect) David Greene (born Nottingham 1937) is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a member of Archigram. Early life and education Greene was born in Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitar ...

(b. 1937) Founding member of Archigram * Nicholas Grimshaw (b. 1939)

Grimshaw Architects Grimshaw Architects (formerly Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners) is an architectural firm based in London. Founded in 1980 by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm was one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture. In particular, they are known for their d ...

founded in 1980 *Fritz Haller USM Modular Furniture * Ted Happold (1930–1996) Founded Buro Happold in 1976 *

(1930–1994) Founding member of Archigram * Andrew Holmes (b. 1947) * Michael Hopkins (architect) (b. 1935) Former partner at Foster Associates, set up Michael Hopkins Architects in 1976 * Patty Hopkins (b. 1942) Cofounder of Michael Hopkins Architects in 1976, completed Hopkins House, Hampstead in the same year *

Richard Horden Richard Manaton Horden (26 December 1944 – 5 October 2018), was a British architect based in London. Following an early career with Norman Foster, where he worked for ten years, he established his own practice Richard Horden Associates in ...

(1944–2018) *John Howard (architect) *

(b. 1932) Formed Anthony Hunt Associates in 1962 * Ben Johnson (artist) (b. 1946) Subjects include architectural works by Foster and Rogers *

Jan Kaplický Jan Kaplický (; ; 18 April 1937 – 14 January 2009) was a Neofuturistic Czech architect who spent a significant part of his life in the United Kingdom. He was the leading architect behind the innovative design office, Future Systems. He was be ...

(1937–2009) Drawings of Neo futuristic Architecture *

Ian Liddell William Ian Liddell (born 1938) CBE FREng FIStructE Hon FRIBA is a structural engineer and the designer of London's Millennium Dome. He was one of the founding partners of Buro Happold and is a Royal Academy Visiting Professor of Engineerin ...

(b. 1938) * Syd Mead (1933–2019) Artist specialising in Neo futuristic imagery – subjects include concept work for1982 movie ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' *Max Mengeringenhausen, Founder (1948) of Mero Structures now named

Mero-Schmidlin Mero-Schmidlin (UK) plc is a business specializing in building construction systems. It is based in Surrey in the United Kingdom, and is owned by the German MERO-TSK Group. The name ''MERO'' is an abbreviation for ''Mengeringhausen Rohrbauweise ...

*John Miller (b. c1930) Formed partnership with Alan Colquhoun in 1961 *

Hidalgo Moya John Hidalgo Moya (5 May 1920 – 3 August 1994), sometimes known as Jacko Moya, was an American-born architect who lived and worked largely in England. Biography Born 5 May 1920 in Los Gatos, California, US, to an English mother and Mexican f ...

(1920–1994) Formed partnership with

Philip Powell (architect) Sir Arnold Joseph Philip Powell (15 March 1921 – 5 May 2003), usually known as Philip Powell, was an English post- war architect. He was educated at Epsom College and then the Architectural Association. He was the father of "Humane mod ...

in 1948 * Edric Neel (1914–1952) Through Arcon sought better links between architects and industry * Brendan Neiland (artist) (b. 1941) Subjects include architectural works by Grimshaw and Rogers * Frank Newby (1926–2001) *

Constant Nieuwenhuys Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (21 July 1920 – 1 August 2005), better known as Constant, was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, author and musician. Early period Constant was born in Amsterdam on 21 July 1920 as the first son of Pieter ...

(1920–2005) * David Nixon (architect) (b. 1947)

Future Systems Future Systems was a London-based architectural and design practice, formerly headed by Directors Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete. Future Systems was founded by Kaplický and David Nixon after working with Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster, Renzo ...

1979 founded by Kaplický and Nixon while working at Foster Associates *

Frei Otto Frei Paul Otto (; 31 May 1925 – 9 March 2015) was a German architect and structural engineer noted for his use of lightweight structures, in particular tensile and membrane structures, including the roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich for ...

(1925-2015) *

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

(b.1937) Formed partnership Piano + Rogers in 1971 *

Jean Prouvé Jean Prouvé (8 April 1901 – 23 March 1984) was a French metal worker, self-taught architect and designer. Le Corbusier designated Prouvé a constructeur, blending architecture and engineering. Prouvé's main achievement was transferring m ...

(1901-1984) *

(1934–2003) "Unconventional and visionary architect best-known for buildings which never saw the light of day" *

(1935–1992) Joined Ove Arup & Partners in 1956 *

Ian Ritchie (architect) Ian Ritchie (born 24 June 1947) is a British architect who founded Ian Ritchie Architects in 1981. His projects include the RIBA Award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall for the Royal Academy of Music, Sainsbury W ...

(b. 1947) Worked for Foster Associates and with Hopkins/Hunt on SSSALU (short span structures in aluminium) * Richard Rogers (1933-2021) Co-founder (1963) of

Partnership with Piano before founding Richard Rogers *

Su Rogers Susan Jane Rogers ( Brumwell; born 22 February 1939) is a British designer and educator. She was a co-founder and partner during the 1960s and 1970s in two architectural practices Team 4 and Richard + Su Rogers. From 1986 to 2011, she was a pa ...

(b. 1939) Co-founder (1963) of

Partner in Miller & Colquhoun Architects later John Miller & Partners * Walter Segal (1907–1985) Pioneer of self-build housing to the Segal self-build method * Rod Sheard (b. 1951) In 1998 Sheard's firm LOBB Sports Architecture (formerly Howard V Lobb & Partners) merged with HOK Sport. *

Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalism ...

(1928-1993) and (1923-2003) Pioneers of Industrial Aesthetic *

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

(1907-1976) Designer of bolt-together pavilion for

Colin Stansfield Smith Sir Colin Stansfield Smith, (1 October 1932 – 18 June 2013) was a British architect and academic. He played over 100 games of first-class cricket in the 1950s. Background Colin Smith was born in Didsbury, Manchester. His father, Stansfiel ...

(1932-2013) Hampshire County Architect and Patron *

Ralph Tubbs Ralph Tubbs OBE FRIBA (9 January 1912 – 23 November 1996) was a British architect. Well known amongst the buildings he designed was the Dome of Discovery at the successful Festival of Britain on the South Bank in London in 1951. Ralph was edu ...

(1912–1996) Designer of bolt-together pavilion for

* Konrad Wachsmann (1901–1980) * Derek Walker (1929–2015) Architect and Patron for

Milton Keynes Development Corporation Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) was a development corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, a new town midway between London and Birmingham. Establishment MKDC established o ...

Michael Webb (architect) Michael Webb (born 1937) is an English architect. He was a founding member of the 1960s Archigram Group. Biography Webb was born in Henley-on-Thames and studied architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London, taking seventeen years ...

(b. 1937) Co-founder of Archigram * Mark Whitby (b. 1950) Worked, early in his career, for Anthony Hunt Associates and Buro Happold *

John Winter (architect) John Winter (16 May 1930 – 12 November 2012) was a British architect born in Norwich who lived and worked in London. He was well known for his modernist designs, and was reported to have never have had a planning application refused. Wint ...

(1930–2012) Writer and critic *Georgina Wolton (-2021) Noteworthy architectural practices * Powell & Moya (architectural practice formed 1948) *Howard V Lobb & Partners (architectural practice formed 1950) merged with

HOK (firm) HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955. As of 2018, HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering f ...

(architectural practice founded 1955) renamed Populous (architectural practice renamed 2009) *

Building Design Partnership Building Design Partnership Ltd, doing business as BDP, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the United Kingdom and internationally. History BDP was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architects Bill White ...

(BDP) (architectural practice founded 1961) *Williamson Faulkner Brown (architectural practice) now named FaulknerBrowns Architects (architectural practice from 2013) *Gillinson Barnett & Partners (architectural practice formed 1970) now named Barnett & Partners (architectural practice)

Contemporary imagery

In the austere post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Britain, illustrations associated with the

comic-book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

heroes, science fiction writing, aircraft and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

industries and military hardware such as the

Bailey Bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. ...

provided inspirational imagery for the British High Tech architects. Furthermore, in 1951, the

intended to lift the spirits of the nation following the austerity of WWII, brought together under the architectural Directorship of

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 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

and its Lunar Module pointed the way towards light weight exoskeletal transient structures free from conventional building limitations. Science Fiction images from

Paolo Soleri Paolo Soleri (21 June 1919 – 9 April 2013) was an Italian-born American architect. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National ...

, Georgii Krutikov, Buckminster Fuller, Robert McCall, Syd Mead, 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

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 Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in the 1970s, both at seaside locations and as a part of

urban regeneration Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of bligh ...

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 ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

(destroyed by fire two years after opening), Sun Centre

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

North Wales (now demolished), Oasis Leisure Centre Swindon, and Bletchley Leisure Centre in Milton Keynes (now demolished). Only the Oasis Leisure Centre remains as an example of this building type, although it is itself presently under threat of demolition.

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 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.

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 Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires. Construction materials and methods Wood Wo ...

, vehicle manufacture or cold storage were transferred to British High Tech architecture.

Selected works and projects

Use of computer-aided design

The use of computer-aided design (CAD) for

3D modelling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

, and therefore as a basic tool for architectural design, emerged during the 1990s 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 AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...

software designed for PC use. 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". In c.1984,

Ove Arup and Partners Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

produced computer-generated 3D modelling of the Schlumberger Gould Research Centre,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, roof membrane. With the widespread advance of IT, (the use of computers to store or retrieve

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

) 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 The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...

... because of advances made in computer modelling techniques".

Equality of opportunity

In the

Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassmen ...

, which led the way to establishment of the

Equal Opportunities Commission (United Kingdom) The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) was an independent non-departmental public body (NDPB) in the United Kingdom, which tackled sex discrimination and promoted gender equality. Its last chair was Jenny Watson. It was set up under the Sex ...

, parity between men and women in pay and opportunity became enshrined in law. This coincided with a group of women such as Alison Smithson, Wendy Foster,

, Georgina Wolton and Patty Hopkins establishing themselves as equals in what had been up until then a predominately male-oriented profession.

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, 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 The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster Inquiry report is the report of an inquiry which was overseen by Lord Justice Taylor, into the causes of the Hillsborough disaster in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989, as a result of which, ...

, a Home Office report, the result of a public inquiry into "The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster 15 April 1989", 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 Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. Rod Sheard, Principal of Lobb Partnership (later known as Lobb Sports Architecture) designed a series of

sports venues A sports venue is a building, structure, or place in which a sporting competition is held. A stadium (plural: stadiums or stadia) or arena is a place or venue for sports or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely ...

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 The Dymaxion map or Fuller map is a projection of a world map onto the surface of an icosahedron, which can be unfolded and flattened to two dimensions. The flat map is heavily interrupted in order to preserve shapes and sizes. The projection ...

launched as "

World Game World Game, sometimes called the World Peace Game, is an educational simulation developed by Buckminster Fuller in 1961 to help create solutions to overpopulation and the uneven distribution of global resources. This alternative to war games uses ...

: 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".

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 Halley Research Station is a research facility in Antarctica on the Brunt Ice Shelf operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The base was established in 1956 to study the Earth's atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the disco ...

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"

Hugh Broughton Hugh Broughton (1549 – 4 August 1612) was an English scholar and theologian. Early life He was born at Owlbury, Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. He called himself a Cambrian, implying Welsh blood in his veins. He was educated by Bernard Gilpin ...

, one of the world's leading designers of polar research facilities including Halley VI, takes the High Tech concept further with designs for 'Building a Martian House' – an exhibition in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

led by local artists Ella Good and Nicki Kent. In 2015 Foster + Partners were shortlisted finalists for the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, organized by America Makes and NASA – submitting designs for a Mars settlement. Concept art for The Martian (2015) Steve Burg supposes accommodation modules on supporting legs (stilts) 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

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...

in 2002. 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.

References

{{Reflist High-tech architecture Prefabricated buildings