London's 'Big Bang' Moment and its Architectural Conversations

The Built Environment as a Subject of Public Discourse
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-79818-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 222 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Routledge Research in Architecture

This book explores the topic of architecture as a component of public discourse, focusing on the reception of four high-profile developments in the City of London (the UK capital’s financial district) dating from the final years of the twentieth century. During this time, the City’s mode of operation, culture and built environment were all transformed as a result of the market deregulation process labelled ‘Big Bang’. It was also a period which saw the subject of architecture attracting public and media attention, becoming a prominent feature of national conversation.

The book examines the extensive and often contentious discourse generated by the four case study projects. It looks at how these projects were viewed and interpreted retrospectively, when they had become part of the City’s long and rich history. Topics explored include building and urban form on the eve of the millennium; the place of new development in a setting of unique historic importance; the ‘iconic’ building and ‘celebrity’ architect; and the role of (then) Prince Charles as an architectural critic. Also referenced are many of the broader issues of the day, including the Thatcher government policies and the preoccupations concerning London’s infrastructure, public realm, inner city areas and inequalities. Furthermore, ranging across the discourse is the theme of the relationship between buildings and global finance, foreshadowing later controversies concerning London’s post-millennial towers and their impact on the capital’s skyline.

The book will be of interest to researchers and students of late-twentieth century British architecture and urban development, London’s history and UK public discourse in the 1980s, a decade of profound political, economic and social change.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rosser, Stephen

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Gestaltung, Darstellung, Bautechnik
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Städtebau, Stadtplanung (Architektur)
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Architektur: Berufspraxis
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Gebäudetypen Öffentliche Gebäude, Gewerbliche Bauten
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Architektur: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Architektur Geschichte der Architektur, Baugeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of figures

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

The architectural context

The Big Bang context

The research context

Overarching themes and case studies

2.  Bold vision or destructive obsession? Peter Palumbo and the Mansion House project

The project narrative

Peter Palumbo: Inheritance and identity

The Mies scheme unveiled

Mies in a changed world

Militant conservationists

The nation’s best known architectural critic

The theology of the New Right

The Stirling version

Modes and makers of discourse

Conclusion

3.  The City’s first ‘iconic’ building: Lloyd’s of London

The project narrative

Another Pompidou?

The building and the client

Modernism compromised?

In dialogue with history

Building and context

Building and users

Public face, private world

The building and Lloyd’s trauma

Icon of the age

Conclusion

4.  The burden of history, the challenge of context: Paternoster Square

The project narrative

Reconnecting with the past

Holford, Pevsner and their legacy

Prince Charles and his public

Style wars resumed

A test case for classicism

Conclusion

5.  Big Bang City, expansionist City, Americanised City: Broadgate

The project narrative

Mega-project, enlightened developer

New offices for a new City

Private sector placemaking

Theatre of Big Bang

Globalised architecture for globalising clients

Broadgate and its neighbours

A monument to the era

Conclusion

6. Conclusion and afterword

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Stephen Rosser holds degrees in history and the history of art from the Universities of Oxford and London and completed his PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. As an independent scholar, his research interests centre principally on the subject of architectural writing.