WELCOME TO

GOOD MORNING
EVRYONE…
PETER SMITHSON
AN INITIATING ARCHITECT TO BRUTALISM..

BY,
R.POORNIMA
 ABOUT SMITHSONS..
ALISON SMITHSON (1928 - 1993)
PETER SMITHSON (1923 - 2003)

 BIRTH – STOCK ON- TEES,ENGLAND

ALISON-SHEFFIELD

 MARRIED - 1949

 EDUCATION -NEWCASTLE
ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL
SMITHSONS - members of  EDUCATION (MASRTERS) -
MARS (Modern Architectural DURHAM UNIVERSITY (DEPT OF
TOWN PLANNING) 1938 - 1948 (MET
Research Society), the English HIS WIFE AS STUDENT LOVED &
branch of CIAM in 1951. MARRIED)
 THEIR PART AT CIAM…
 1953, THEY SUBMITTED “URBAN
RE-HABITATION GRID” , AT 9 TH
MEET.

 IN 1953 ,SMITHSONS WITH

‘YOUNG ARCHITECTS’ TEAM 10,
REVOLT AGAINST OLD ‘CONGESS
INTERNATIONAL’ PHILOSOPHERS
OF MODERNISM .

 IN 1959 , THEY WITH ALDO VAN

EYCK , COINED AND LEAD,TO

‘NEW BRUTALISM’
 CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHITECTURE..
 SMITHDON HIGH SCHOOL, (1949–54).
 HOUSE OF THE FUTURE EXHIBITION ( 1956 ).
 THE ECONOMIST BUILDING,  LONDON (1959–65).
 GARDEN BUILDING, OXFORD (1968).
 ROBIN HOOD GARDENS HOUSING (1969–72).
 UNIVERSITY OF BATH, ARCH & ENG(1988).
 CANTILEVER-CHAIR MUSEUM.

UNBUILT WORKS OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

• Coventry Cathedral To CIAM
• Golden Lane Estate Books about urbanism
Brutalism
• Sheffield University INSPIRATION TO PHILIP JHONSON
• Haupdstad other urbanists.
• British Embassy Professor , preserved mies van der rohe
work.
 ROBIN HOOD GARDENS HOUSING LONDON, (1969–72).

 Robin Hood Gardens is a SOCIAL

HOUSING COMPLEX in East London
 Built during POST-WAR BRITAIN.
 Built with BALFRON tower .
.
 213 apartment houses - made of
TWO HORIZONTAL STRUCTURES.
 Designed for- location and its use
-social spaces
-exhibit his theories on brutalism

 IMPROVING PEOPLE’S LIVES

THROUGH DESIGN.
 MATERIALS- PANELS OF PRE-CAST
CONCRETE & GLASS.

Concept –streets in sky..

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS HOUSING LONDON, (1969–72).
 Both apartment have ONE AND
TWO STORY APARTMENTS .
 A HUGE GARDEN between two
built-up.
FOR - SOCIAL SPACE
HAVE -RISING HILL with
CONSTRUCTION REMAINS.

TEXTURED
FAÇADE
ON east side by
stone

To allow in more
SOUTHERN LIGHT, one
of the buildings is ten stories
high, while the other is seven
stories.
Concept –streets in sky..
 Every THIRD LEVEL OF THE
BUILDINGS a wide concrete
BALCONY.

 Its VIEWED towards the

CENTER OF THE SITE,
overlooking the garden.

 To him it is
NEIGHBORHOOD STREET
for these housing units.
  It made multiple people to WALK
and for children to PLAY.

CRITICS- CRIME Takes place

there…more structural costs….

It is denied and left un preservable,but still it is

reference & monument of British modernism.
 GARDEN BUILDING Smithson, St Hilda, Oxford(1968)
 SITE SELECTION – AT MIDDLE not to
close the VIEW OF THE RIVER for rest of
the college at present or in future.
 SERVICE ROAD at the back of the
building, for vehicular service for the
FUTURE COLLEGE GROWTH
without impacting on the green space.
 Center
space
was
selected.
The problem was the boys
colleges nearby and
To create privacy to this
block..

CONCEPT – PRIVACY IN ELEVATION

 PRIVACY TO BUILDING
SOLUTION :The elevations
design floating timber oak
frame work resting on
concrete knuckles, precast
concrete mullions as load
bearing frames in front of load
bearing cellular brick walls.

SMITHSONS EXPLANATION

Light is vital but

separate external
screen of timber
members, cut glare,
obv sense of
insecurity.
 Planning aspects and
approach
The building fulfilled-
BED LAYOUTS, ACOUSTICAL
PRIVACY, SHORT CORRIDORS, WASH
BASINS IN MINI-DRESSING ROOMS and
clothing storage for each unit, which all came
within the allocated costs.
 The building (three sides with windows)
and a back (with London stock bricks).
• Smithsons drop a big box of a lean-to roofed
‘Trunk room’ size = Opening between the
two brick panels,
• The box structure looks like a lid which has
unhinged from the building to rest on the
ground.

TWO OPENINGS, one on each side of this room

(which is now demolished) ENTRY to the pedestrians
from the SERVICE AREA AT THE BACK. 
 UNIVERSITY OF BATH (1988)
The Second Arts Building
PLANNING AS
BRACE
Triangular landscaped
courtyards

‘INTERNAL WAYS’, (corridors

To smith :   to you and me) + exposed
blockwork finish + carefully
calculated acoustic quality.
‘the noise of one’s feet getting quieter as one
penetrated the building’. CORNICE
described by
 RIBBON Smithsons as a
WINDOWS MOGHUL
and v-joints in STYLE
concrete CHUJJA’ 
surfaces 

IDEA FROM HIS GARDEN BUILDING

  THE SMITHSONS’ ECONOMIST PLAZA(1964)
 Each block is faced in PORTLAND STONE with a
fossil and is CHAMFERED to soften its relationship
to the others.

Perspective view
From street
edges.

 The Georgian brick the

columns touch ground
with slight rebate,
 The BAROQUE LIKE
STONE is revealed
unpolished and
unsealed.
 The joints are expressed
with DEEP GROOVES. INITIAL
THE LEVELS AND OBLIQUE ANGLES MAKE A JOYFUL AND UNEXPECTED PLANNING
SERIES OF MOMENTS - TOM GRIEVE.
 HOUSE OF THE FUTURE(1956)
 ORGANIC FORMS allow the rooms flow into each other.
 A MODERN CAVE like planning.

No blankets, house maintains

a comfortable temperature

No rooms, spaces
are formed by
sliding wall.

Wall: fibrous stucco  

 Small courtyard nucleus with a view to

heaven.
 bath : lower than
the ground level & Two spatial boundaries: hollow
easy to clean. walls and hollow objects.
Kitchen -oven height = eyelevel
Concept –Home for young couple without children (exhibition model)
Light changes to the mood of the moment.
 • SMITHDON HIGH SCHOOL,HUNSTANTON (1949–54).
 FIRST ‘NEW BRUTALISM’ BUILDING. GLASS PANELS-shade in summer ,
 EXPOSED STEEL FRAME + GLASS. prevent heat loss in winter
Water tank into TOWER Service element (eg.pipe) exposed.
 LAST WORKS….CANTILEVER
CHAIR MUSEUM

PROPOSOL TO TREE
URBAN PLANNING

COLOURED
STEEL +
OTHER WORKS… GLASS
HANKS
(any questions…