Connell, Ward and Lucas and the emergence of the British modern movement in architecture

This dissertation examines the important contribution of the three-man architectural practice of Amyas Connell (1901-80), Basil Ward (1902-76) and Colin Lucas (1906-84) to the establishment and development of British modern architecture. The three architects worked together from 1933 until 1939, when the outbreak of war forced them to curtail their activities. During that brief period they carved out a reputation for themselves as one of the most daring and experimental architectural firms operating in England. Since then, however, the three architects have fallen from view.; The study begins with an examination of the three architects' early academic training and its effect on their subsequent development. Connell and Ward, who started off as architectural apprentices in New Zealand before going on to London and winning scholarships to the British School at Rome in 1926, studied not only classical traditions of design, but also the recent work of such architects as Le Corbusier and Erich Mendelsohn. At Cambridge University in the mid 1920s, where he took a BA in architecture, Lucas was beginning to experiment with concrete in his designs. These investigations soon led to several milestones: Lucas's house at Bourne End in Buckinghamshire (1928), the first reinforced concrete house in England; and Connell's "High and Over" house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire (1928-31), the first example of modern British architecture that caught the public's attention.; In 1933 the three architects consolidated their growing reputations as leading exponents of the new architecture by forming a partnership. The study focuses not only on their significant designs from this period, but also their contribution to the then current architectural debates, including their founding membership in the influential Modern Architectural Research Groups (MARS) and Connell's role in the famous radio debate of 1934 with Sir Reginald Blomfield.; Of special interest is Connell, ward and Lucas's unique contribution to the problem of affordable housing for the poor. The prevailing scholarly view is that during the 1930s British modern architects, despite the best of intentions, failed to make any headway in the field of low-income housing. The findings of my research, however, indicate that Connell, Ward and Lucas did succeed in developing low-cost housing solutions. In their most notable work, the Kent House flats in London (1935), the three architects produced a bold reinforced concrete structure that compares well with anything being done on the Continent from this period. Such works also anticipate the postwar mass housing principles of the London County Council.; The last section of the study looks at the work Connell, Ward and Lucas did in the second half of the 1930s, a period in which the three architects expanded their architectural practice and broadened their modern vocabulary of forms. It explores the commercial work they did at Sound City Studios in Shepperton and their decision to model their designs for the Hertford and Newport Civic competitions after Ragnar Ostberg's Stockholm Town Hall. This final section also chronicles Connell, Ward and Lucas's shift away from reinforced concrete to traditional materials such as brick and wood in their late domestic work, an approach that reflected a growing interest among modernists in Britain and abroad in developing a building solution sympathetic to the local environment. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...