Peter Smithson: Conversations with Students: A Space for Our Generation

by Catherine Spellman (Editor), John Meunier (Introduction)

When Peter Smithson died in March 2003, architecture lost one of its most inspired practitioners, incisive theorists, and charismatic teachers. Along with his late wife and partner, Alison, Smithson emerged in the postwar era as Britain's preeminent advocate of architectural modernism.
The Smithson's achieved cult-figure status in the architectural world, particularly among students who admired the power of their ideas and work. But with no built projects in the U.S., they remained something of an enigma there. Now, as part of our Conversations with Students series, Smithson's ideas will be made widely accessible in a handy and inexpensive format for the first time.

Genres: Architecture

100 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2005

Reviews

[Michael]

Interesting if rather specific observations from an important practitioner. Mostly, Smithson waxes poetic about the lifestyle of the modern consumer, and the changing residential requirements to accommodate said lifestyle. Good read as a historical document of the late preoccupations of Smithson and his wife Alison, who were instrumental in the rise of Brutalism in post-war Britain.