Title:
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The architecture of the urban school : London's comprehensive schools 1945-1986
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Post-War educational policies were radical, but not radical enough for
London's social educational agenda. The London County Council, the largest
education authority in England, pursued a revolutionary type of education that led
to a completely new type of secondary school, despite the urgent need to repair
considerable war damage.
The launching of the new comprehensive school was a daring operation
involving the controversial closing of numerous established schools. Their policy
was divisive, generating opposition from politicians of both sides, from the
government and even within the council.
This thesis charts the history of the architecture of the London
comprehensive school. It is a critical review comparing London with national
developments, and examines the way the new educational requirements led to a
new architecture for the new comprehensives. Architects were at last able to
practise modernist architecture for a social purpose, and design for increased
complexity in architecture and function. The authority's architects, together with
numerous private practices, were able to creatively design schools with a great
diversity of modernist architecture.
The architecture and how it was perceived together with educational
planning is examined. The early difficulties faced in launching the new schools and
the special problems of the city school are highlighted. System construction and
the reasons why it was not relevant for London are also discussed.
This is the first time a wide-ranging selection of London schools has been
collated, examined and evaluated. It reveals a rich collection of English modernist
architectural developments. The London urban school, ranging from the fifties with
Kidbrooke school, to the eighties and into the age of High-Tech with Waterfield, is
recorded. Comprehensive schools are now being radically reinvented, altered or
demolished, and this work attempts to record the making of their architecture
before the history is lost.
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