In Person: Spring Lecture Series 2023: The 1980s and 1990s Complete Series
In Person: Spring Lecture Series 2023: The 1980s and 1990s Complete Series
Thursdays from 2 February to 9 March at 6.30 pm
The Gallery, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
The complete series of the Spring Lectures for 2023. The six lectures will look at the 1980s and 1990s. In 1980 the Firestone Factory was demolished, leading the Thirties Society to campaign for the listing of Art Deco buildings. Society was changing, as was architecture, and the National Lottery and Millennium Commission were launched in 1994 fuelling a revival in High Tech, designed by ‘Starchitects’. Now more than thirty years ago, few of those buildings are listed, an era that is clearly in need of reassessment, and who better than the C20 Society to rise to the challenge!
1. The Architectural Profession of the 1980s Thursday 2 February
Alan Powers will give an overview of the architectural profession in the ‘Me’ Decade of the 1980s. There have been a few other transformations in architecture as radical as in the 1980s, but not many.
2. Post-Modernism Thursday 9 February
Geraint Franklin will provide an introduction to post-modern architecture in Britain, tracing its influences, distinctive characteristics and key practitioners such as James Stirling, John Outram, Terry Farrell and Piers Gough.
3. ‘Pull Up The Bumper’, The Age of the Consumer Thursday 16 February
Elain Harwood will look at the style of the 1980s. This was the era of new shops and showrooms that celebrated style, and new offices that celebrated the re-purposing of the British economy.
4. Public Architecture in the 1980s Thursday 23 February
The 1980s is rarely seen as a golden age for public-sector architecture. Dr Alistair Fair will talk about the richness of the field, suggesting that it should be characterised as one of innovation in the face of challenges.
5. British Architecture in Germany in the 1990s Thursday 2 March
Alexander Davidson will look at the work of British architects abroad in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in Germany – a subject he is developing further in the Society’s next Journal.
6. Moaning Minnie and the Tank Factory Thursday 9 March
Gillian Darley will give a personal perspective of a decade in architecture, including the David Mellor factory, and the Avenue De Chartres Carpark, as well as discussing the typologies in use when she was a journalist at the Observer.
C20 Society Members: £60 Non-Members: £80
Includes a glass of wine
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Note: This event is hybrid and is being run both in-person at Cowcross Street Gallery and online via Zoom. The event will be recorded and offered as a catch-up lecture avilable for two weeks after each event.
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
Above: Clore Gallery, Tate Britain, James Stirling, 1987 Image: Alastair Hunter
THIS BOOKING IS FOR AN IN-PERSON TICKET ONLY (COWCROSS ST. GALLERY)