Expendabilia vs. architecture: debates around permanence, temporality and ‘glamour’ in architecture 1960-1971
Kelly, Jessica (2016) Expendabilia vs. architecture: debates around permanence, temporality and ‘glamour’ in architecture 1960-1971. In: Design History Society Annual Conference, 8-10 September 2016, School of Art and Design, Middlesex University, UK. (Unpublished)
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In 1960, Reyner Banham wrote a series of articles in The Architectural Review called ‘Stocktaking’, which explored, among other things, the theme of ‘expendability’ in architecture. The series highlighted the very different perspectives within the editorial team about the relationship between architecture, popular culture and permanence. This paper will explore these debates over the longevity of architecture and the differing ideas about architecture’s response to changes in technology and taste over time. As well as revealing ideas about temporality and architecture, these exchanges allow us to reflect on the real or imagined generational divisions within architectural culture.
For instance, in one Stocktaking article, Hugh Casson dismissed architecture produced by ‘a team of specialists’ as akin to “the cornflake packet – efficient, salesworthy, disposable and to me, without any interest or value whatsoever” (Banham, 1960; p.386). Reyner Banham countered Casson’s suggestion that these mass industrially produced objects were “of no interest or value”, arguing that to “plenty of architects and fanciers of architecture, these things are of considerable value” (Banham, 1960; p.385). There were, Banham insisted, a new group of architects or journalists who were interested in ephemeral industrial design and popular culture and were increasingly concerned that architecture could not “match the design of expendabilia in function and aesthetic performance” (Banham, 1960; p.385). He went further than simply suggesting that the cornflake packet design should be a subject of serious consideration, he argued that buildings should be thought about in the same terms as such “expendables”, buildings were, after all, just “long-term expendables” (Banham, 1960; p.385). Banham’s insistence of the equivalency of the cornflake packet design and architecture reflected his interest in commercial culture and disposable design. Casson, on the other hand, and the older generation of editors dismissed these interests as “a preoccupation with glamour”. The term ‘glamour’ became a by-word on the pages of the The Architectural Review for this debate over permanence in architecture.
The respective attraction to and rejection of ‘glamour’ was indicative of two different perspectives on architecture’s relationship to commercial culture and popular taste. There was agreement between both generations that architecture should be representative of the “spirit of the time”, but disagreement over what and where one should define as “the time”. This paper will trace these debates on the pages of The Architectural Review to reflect on the changing responses to time and permanence in British architectural culture.
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