Architecture

Long description:

Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.

This collection documents the lives of British architects and those in associated professions. Prominent interviewees include Sir Hugh Casson, Ralph Erskine, Sir Denys Lasdun, Mary Lutyens, Sir Philip Powell and Colin St. John Wilson.

Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past.  The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective.  The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.

In this unique collection of biographical interviews British architects and those associated with them to talk at length, but in layman's language, about their routes into the profession and the challenges they met there. The interviews were carried out for the National Life Stories project Architects' Lives, which began in 1989 and continues today. Amongst the earliest participants were the generation born in the first decades of the twentieth century, whose recordings remind us of the desolate landscape of damaged post-war Britain and the importance of the Festival of Britain in reviving a spirit of renewal. The collection includes testimony from those involved in the government's new schools and public housing schemes as well as those taking on private client commissions. Together, the recordings form a tapestry that enables the listener to hear varying perspectives of the dominant figures and of the experience of working in firms of differing sizes and complexity. Topics include theoretical approaches, the impact of new building materials and the effect that the era of the computer has made on the design process.

The project acknowledges the support of:-

Lutyens Trust

Monument Trust

Stockholm Architecture Museum

Rayne Foundation

The National Trust

Kleinwort

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

What the interviews tell us

One-to-one oral history interviews explore memories and narratives rarely found elsewhere. First-hand personal testimony fills knowledge gaps, provides new insights, challenges stereotypical views, and overturns orthodoxies. These recordings reveal collective memory, individual agency, gender, skill, influence and intentionality. Shifting family, work, health and educational trends and debates emerge alongside the impact of changing technologies, belief structures and political contexts. Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.

Ethical use of oral history

The interviewees have been generous in sharing their memories - often traumatic, confidential and intimate - and listeners are asked to treat this material with respect and sensitivity. Recordings should be analysed and presented in context, so that the interviewee’s meaning is not misconstrued. Quotations and audio clips should be referenced as, for example: “Interview with Peter Shepheard by Andrew Saint, 1989, Architects' Lives, reference C467/01 track xx, © The British Library”.

Each interviewee whose recording appears on this site has assigned copyright to The British Library Board and given their consent for the recording to be used for educational study. We have made every effort to contact all the interviewees and inform them about this project. However should any participant wish to discuss their involvement they should contact the Curator for Oral History at the British Library Sound Archive (oralhistory@bl.uk)

Oral history at the British Library

The interviews on this site are a small selection from the many thousands held in the Oral History section of the British Library. These recordings go back over 100 years and cover many facets of life in Britain.

Many interviews were gathered through National Life Stories, an externally-funded unit within the Library established in 1987 to “record first-hand experiences of as wide a cross-section of present-day society as possible”.

All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.