High-Tech Britain - Geraint Franklin

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Résumé :
A showcase of Britain's most astonishing examples of High-Tech buildings from the late twentieth century and beyond. Like the Lotus Esprit, the Atari home computer and the sounds of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, the glossy colour, clip-on components and bristling silhouettes of High-Tech architecture provide a polaroid snapshot of 1980s modernity. High-Tech was an international style forged in Britain, taking inspiration from Victorian engineering and science fiction alike. Geraint Franklin traces its trajectory from 1960s radicalism to the global mainstream, taking in such late 20th-century landmarks as the Lloyds building, the Sainsbury Centre, the Schlumberger Cambridge Research Centre and the Eden Project in Cornwall.High-Tech Britain?revisits the work of the 'big four' practices of Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Michael and Patty Hopkins and Nicolas Grimshaw. From their teams emerged a younger generation of designers including Eva Ji?i?n?, Ian Ritchie, Richard Horden and Jan Kaplick? who took the language in new directions. Alongside are profiled lesser-known stories such as the Patera kit building quietly rusting in London's Docklands and the workshop at Hooke Park, Dorset, engineered from waste wood. Illustrated with new photography by John East, High-Tech Britain?is an authoritative survey of the most groundbreaking examples of this extraordinary moment in British architecture.'An essential guide to the big, shiny style that ruled modern Britain.' - Rowan Moore'How did buildings as bright and light as 8-bit computer games and eighties sports cars come to dominate our urban landscape? Geraint Franklin tells a fast-paced design story beside John East's glorious images, full of fun palaces, floating canopies and facades of gleaming perfection.' - John Grindrod'This is a book that is about more than nostalgia. It reminds us that there was a time when the future of architecture was full of possibilities.' - Deyan Sudjic'Geraint Franklin deftly summarises the architectural and engineering revolution of high-tech,?exploring its roots, and setting its British-designed examples in a global context. He explains its 21st century transition into an ecologically aware movement that remains true to its original fascination with unconventional materials and kit-of-parts construction.' - Hugh Pearman'High-Tech is that most British of architectural fetishes, a collision of Victorian engineering and comic strip sci-fi, it was the UK's major contribution to modernism.? This survey takes in the whole range of High Tech, from trad to rad, a wonderful homage to a period still surprisingly fragile and endangered.' - Edwin Heathcote...

Biographie:
Geraint Franklin is an architectural historian from Historic England....

Sommaire:
A showcase of Britain's most astonishing examples of High-Tech buildings from the late twentieth century and beyond. Often associated with factories, offices and transport infrastructure, High-Tech is an elusive architectural style defined by expressed structure and services, 'clip-on' prefabrication, flexible interiors and the technological aesthetic of outriggers, tension rods and glossy cladding. This beautifully photographed book is an authoritative survey of the most groundbreaking British examples of the style from leading architectural historian Geraint Franklin, following on from his acclaimed book Post-Modern Buildings in Britain.Among the buildings featured are the awe-inspiring Lloyd's Building in London, the glorious Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia, the curvy press box at Lords Cricket Ground and the world-famous Eden Project in Cornwall, alongside lesser-known buildings which include private homes, facilities for civic, educational and community use as well as buildings for culture, sport and entertainment.Also covered are the origins and pioneers of High-Tech architecture from its radical origins in 1960s London and the epoch-defining work of the 'big four': Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Michael and Patty Hopkins and Nicolas Grimshaw, as well as the younger generation of designers such as Ian Ritchie, Richard Horden, Jan Kaplick? and Eva Jiricna who took the language in new directions. Now, more than 50 years on, the values and aesthetics of High-Tech architecture have been absorbed into the mainstream of global architecture, from international airport terminals to the 'serviced sheds' of industrial estates and retail parks, demonstrating the versality the style and the resourcefulness of its practitioners....