Online talks, autumn/winter 2020/21
11th November and 2nd December 2020
Docomomo Scotland are pleased to present two online talks over the coming months on Modern architecture and planning. The talks are free, but you will need to register by e-mail.
11 November, 6 – 7.15 pm (via Zoom)
“Too Commercial, No Convictions”: R. Seifert & Partners, Selling Commercial Modernism
Dr Ewan Harrison, curator, RIBA
This talk will offer an historical overview of R. Seifert & Partners, one of the largest, most prolific and most profitable architectural practices in the post-war period. From offices in London, Glasgow and Manchester, the practice designed hundreds of speculative and commercial commissions for property developer clients, including Glasgow’s Anderston Centre. This talk will examine its commercial operation, its approach to design, and its contemporary critical reception.
To sign up, please e-mail mail@docomomoscotland.org.uk stating that you wish to attend the Seifert talk. A Zoom link will be sent on the day of the talk. Please keep an eye on your e-mail inbox!
2 December, 6 – 7.15pm (via Zoom)
Remaking Edinburgh’s South Side: from Percy Johnson-Marshall to the South Side Plan, 1955-80
Dr Alistair Fair, Reader in Architectural History, University of Edinburgh
At the start of the 1960s, with plans for the reconstruction of its central campus in hand, the University of Edinburgh began to look to the wider neighbourhood. Encouraged by its new consultant planner, Percy Johnson-Marshall, the University proposed the creation of a Comprehensive Development Area, taking in Nicholson Street and stretching east towards the Pleasance. Outline schemes were prepared and there was optimistic talk of a “new New Town”. This talk will examine what was proposed, and how the grand plans of the 1960s were replaced during the 1970s by something rather more sensitive.
To sign up, please e-mail mail@docomomoscotland.org.uk stating that you wish to attend the Edinburgh talk. A Zoom link will be sent on the day of the talk. Please keep an eye on your e-mail inbox!
Further talks are planned for early 2021. Keep an eye on our newsletter and Twitter feed for more details in due course.