Sweet Geometry: Edward Reynolds at the Architectural Association, 1956–58. (2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Franklin, Geraint
• Is Part Of: Architectural history. Volume 62(2019)
• Page Start: 171
• Page End: 203
• Publication Date: 2019
• Subjects: Architecture -- History -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Great Britain -- History -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Historiography -- Periodicals; Historic buildings -- Periodicals; Architecture -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 720.9
• DOI: 10.1017/arh.2019.7
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0066-622X

Abstract

Abstract: This article considers the position of the Anglo-Portuguese architect Edward Reynolds (1926–59) in the British avant-garde of the 1950s. In Modern Architecture: A Critical History (1980), Kenneth Frampton suggested that Reynolds's student projects at the Architectural Association in London 'exerted a decisive influence on the development of Brutalism'. This article scrutinises that claim through the lens of Reynolds's interactions with his peers, including the so-called French House group, an informal network that included his tutors John Killick, James Gowan and Peter Smithson. Notable characteristics of Reynolds's work — chiefly the use of complex and irregular geometries to articulate patterns of activity and movement — are discussed, as are contemporary projects by other members of the group and trends such as the New Brutalism, biomimicry and the revival of pre-war strands of Modernism.