2026/04/08 by Alistair Fair · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Engineering · Arts and Humanities · #Political and Economic history of UK and US #Architecture, Modernity, and Design #Architecture, Design, and Social History
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/02665433.2026.2651180
Essex County Council’s Design Guide for Residential Areas, published in 1973, is best known as the progenitor of what became the standard style of 1980s English low-rise housing, featuring brick, tile, timber boarding, and ‘vernacular’ touches. However, whilst reflecting growing interest in local character and history, the Guide drew on and developed approaches which could also be understood to relate to modernism, not least the ideas of Gordon Cullen and Ian Nairn, and the Townscape movement. Second, while visually contextual, the Guide was radical in its proposals for traffic. Third, the Guide aimed not to weaken the role of the planner by offering a template for non-expert emulation, but rather was intended as a statement of the value of the expert architect-planner. An examination of the Guide thus offers the chance to reflect on the status of the trained expert and the nature of collaborative design in a period of administrative and architectural change.