Denys Lasdun

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The complex of the Royal National Theater in London built by Denys Lasdun (1967–1976)

Sir Denys Lasdun CH CBE RA (born September 8, 1914 in London ; † January 11, 2001 there ) was a British architect . He was one of the most important representatives of British post-war modernism. Its most famous building is the Royal National Theater in London.

Life

Lasdun attended Rugby School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture . During his studies in the early 1930s, he joined the Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS), which had set itself the goal of anchoring modern architecture in Great Britain. Later he also took part in meetings of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne . He reaffirmed his ties to the group of modernist architects when he joined the architecture firm of Wells Coates , one of the best-known representatives of the MARS group.

Lasdun's first independent project was the design of a private house in the London borough of Paddington in 1937 , which shows the early influence of Le Corbusier on his work. Architectural historian Joseph Rykwert describes it as "one of the most beautiful modern houses in Great Britain". In 1938 Lasdun joined the group of architects Tecton, which was shaped by Berthold Lubetkin , who was particularly interested in reinforced concrete construction .

Hallfield Housing Estate in Paddington, built 1951–1958

The Second World War interrupted Lasdun's architectural career for six years from 1939; during this time he served with the Royal Engineers. He then worked again with the Tecton Group, which had been commissioned to develop the Hallfield Housing Estate , a major social housing project in Paddington. The group broke up, however, before the realization began in 1951, and it was finally Lasdun who, along with Lindsay Drake, was responsible. Lasdun also built a school in Paddington during this time. He entered into a partnership with Drake and other architects.

Another project of the 1950s was the Keeling House in the London borough of Bethnal Green , built 1952–1955. Here, for the first time, Lasdun showed a limited departure from the principles of the international style and the prefabricated building method by fanning the high-rise into several wings, creating maisonette apartments and adding open galleries in front of them. He built one last major residential building in 1958 with a complex of luxury apartments on St. James's Park in London.

University of East Anglia buildings

The rest of his architectural work consisted almost exclusively in the planning and realization of buildings for institutions and the public sector, mainly works for universities. In the 1960s, for example, Lasdun designed the campus of the newly founded University of East Anglia in Norwich (1962), new buildings for Christ's College in Cambridge , London University in Bloomsbury and the University of Leicester as well as the sports center at the University of Liverpool (1963 ). In 1962/63 Lasdun taught as a professor of architecture at the University of Leeds .

The Royal College of Physicians, completed in 1964

Lasdun's predominant stylistic device in the buildings of this phase was the use of exposed concrete . This also applied to his two best-known creations, the new buildings for the Royal College of Physicians in London's Regent's Park (1964) and for the Royal National Theater, which was built between 1967 and 1976 on the south bank of the Thames . The large building complex, which connects several theaters, has often been criticized as a late example of brutalism . A judgment by Prince Charles , who compared the building with a nuclear power station , is much cited . But Lasdun's work has also found a lot of supporters who rank the Royal National Theater among the most important modern works in Great Britain.

With the building of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg , Lasdun created his only important structure outside of Great Britain in 1973. Plans to rebuild the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem , which was destroyed in the Palestine War , remained unrealized.

After the completion of the Royal National Theater in 1976, Lasdun was ennobled. Other honors and awards include being awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1965), full membership of the Royal Academy of Arts (1991), and the Order of the Companions of Honor (1995).

Since 1954 Lasdun was married to Susan Bendit; the two had two sons and a daughter. Denys Lasdun died in London in January 2001 at the age of 86.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jan/12/guardianobituaries
  2. ↑ In the original: "one of the most beautiful modern houses in Britain". See: Joseph Rykwert: Sir Denys Lasdun.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Independent . January 12, 2001 (obituary, accessed May 23, 2013).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.questia.com  
  3. ↑ Denys Lasdun, RA in the database of the Royal Academy of Arts (English, accessed on May 23, 2013).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lasdun, Denys
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British architect
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 2001
Place of death London