7 10 61 https://nam.maydayrooms.org/files/original/750edb1b3a91da269678c1361865ad15.pdf 00047d8401c8df8b4c757d241dfb42b7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Introduction and Origins Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource What is the New Architecture Movement? Subject The topic of the resource Description of NAM's Aims, Origins, Activities, Structure, Participation and Support, Enquiries. (12 page copy) Description An account of the resource JUSMISAOPT 01N{D9IIYOIY MON NeAM is a movement Of architects and laymen committed to radical change in the relationship of the profession to the public, and within the profession itself. NeA.M, Believes that architecture is a public service which should be equally available to all sectours of society. Therefore we are working to redistribute power in architecture among the 80% of the population who at present have no say in the design or use. of their environment, The following pages give a synopsis of our background, aims and programme of action. If you wish to find out more, or join us please contact:— John Browning, 36 Elm Grove, London N8 014-348-7669 . .>: : noe ° Au? ARGHITacTUR ie at 1. BACKGROURD . @ It has taken almost exactly twenty-five years for the ; impetus behind the first .odern jovement inthis, country to:be 7a exhausted. The festival of Britain 1951 and. jAIT- taken as the official niles tones at the amumataen and closure ef the period respectively, ‘e seem to stand new at the beginning cf a new phase , in which the eriteeia of ‘relevant! action will be determined as much by the understanding of our legacy as our current political standpoint, | The effeots of the piacese at radicalization induced by war emuld be seen in the arrival of the first. modern Socialist Government ih its far-reaching s>cial referms on the damestic scale, and in eur modified nation status in | ‘ate and the realization that we were no longer an imperial power. | : os cfenvironmenttheNewTownsMovement, the Town & Country Play ine Act ey iat hone the first expression of a new vision and omfidence that had already permeated other Bpoven) af BeOL Sys including for example the health services. The South Bank Pxhibitien and ue Associated Housing schemes in Lansbury, ast London epitomised the mixture of exuberance and ‘committed concern' while sheving that modern architecture was not simply a flat roof or a corner window, but a cemprehensive urban language. The underlying ideas, had of course been werked out long befare : it was tcedified visually in the 1938 Exhibition that is at about the time when @nthe threefold premise of cheap ! energy, expansionist economics and enlightened paternalism, | "progressive"architects and planners (now comfortably established in government institutions and Wall connected practices) were ready for the big boom, The extent of development, publicly or privatelys sponsered during thel960's, is unlikely te be equalled during the lifetime of anyone reaching this - and the housing, new towns, universities, tansport infrastructure etc., of this period will somehow fone be do for the majcrity of us and our children till the latter are middle-aged. of the Mars Group, which itself derived its premises from the parent CIAM movement in Barope. But theclimate of 1945 wasdifferentbointdehgreeandinkina. Thepost-warar.:.°fortheft timesawtheallianceofthe "new wisdom', hithertu phevecupation ef dissatisfied intellectuals and enlightened bourgeois patrons, withall ins executive farce of government and the major institutions. At the very moment that the pioneer's thesis appeared ts be vindicated, so the process ef institutionalizing its assumptions ean in its adeptien by a new establishment due ta become infinttery more sophisticated ~ and bureaucratic than any hitherte. Naturally it was intelligent° enough to abserb . the prece ss and perssnalities that would otherwise haye beew dynamite, and throughout the 50's the ’professions ef architectuarned planning were happy to be included in the monolithic drivefor reconstruction. Me anti-thosis which tan Tea a ins in conflict with¢ this centralist orthodoxy Speed ants in the 1960's in phenomens, ranging from the satire novenent, to student protest, But abteriés were hardening . In 1970 the DOE - a concept that would have seemed revolutionary 25 years earlier - established itself in the now familiar faulty towers, sited carefully separate from Waitehall ; and expressing so precisely its blant combination of technogracyand officialdom, to provide over a process -that was already: in decline. What would happen now? Obvious with hindsight ;& simple coronary case with enmplications. We ran out of fuel — petro-: chemical, financial, and most important social. For by new the assumed popular consent on which all this development had been based was solidly organised into community groups, environmentalists, conservation lobbies, spaceship earth economists, tec of increasing expertise. It began to seem once more that the people with the power were less intelligent than the people without it. The -complications? Almost as fast as the develapment boom fever was dying in the establishment the antihodies were being absorbed, Particpation, piecemeal planning,rehab and recycling have been hastily substituted in the official policies of national and local authorities and the professional institutilns such that concepts of ‘community Architecture' and Neighbourhood Participation! are already bandied with bogus fone and trendy humbug, without much noticeabje advantagteo the intended beneficiaries. The cur rent climate is pluralistic and diverse to the extent that, given the rifgt form of words , everyone can apparently claim to be progressive - the rg5, RIBA, most L.A. 's, the RTPIetc, ete - concealing the fact that major idealogical change is eccurring with little or no.commensurate redistribtuiion of power. Fnvironmental matters ccntinue to be detemminedon the basis +f power, not of need, and the status quo is effectively maintained. It is this situation that NAM was formed to study and pehetrate. So much for what amounts te the context in ‘the sutside world. Meanwhile, what ofour context in the profession? In the same perind the profession has transformed iteself from a craft-orientated elite of aesthetic gastronomes supported by forelock tugging draughtsmen, into and army of professionals dpeendant on a very different calibre of re cruit, a university educated, mainly middle class mass of aspiring principals whose habit of identifying with employers has blurred their vision of the pelitical reality within their offices and throughout the RIBA. Contessccoes Salatied architects, more direct and satisfying the majority of the profession, who may relationships with the users of their products, have little to be optimistic about because of the economic crisis, The professions. governing body, RIBA, is dominated by the interests of private practice and salaried architects have to realise that the NAM is the only*effective voice challenging the Private Practice Principal's Party , 66 Portland. Plage... Such a.state. of. affairs,.when 80% of a ea ake profession is misrepresented by default (or not at all) would be absurd at the best of times, now ‘that the crisis bites home the contrdietions | between principals and assitants, established and still at college. grow daily more apparent. The Middle East Klondike can only briefly disguise the fact that wheras the publiss access to lawyers and doctours was relatively easy, until the goverment. use of architects beaurocratic offices. cuts reduce this. too,: the publics. only existed by surrogate clients and a remote . ceeTe Ae hope for It is out of this uneasy climate of reality and alussion, wisdom and displicity that N.A.M. developed. At the unlikely venue of Harrogate a gathering of under a hundred people meet for a weekendi:n November, 75,- at the invitation of a small group called ARC, ARC had been preoccupied with such questions for a couple of years,— The outcome was the nucleus of a New Architecture Movement which has since distinguisheidt’s om identity from that of ARC and-at the same time consolidated its aims and membership. More on aims later. The two essentail characteristics of the Movement that Harrogate established ares- ‘ a. It must have a constructive attitude: founded on strong annalysis. Yet another vocal articulation seemed unnecessary and. abortive. b. That its. structure should be both federal and national, allowing the individual personal involvement and avenues of action. Apart from a rudimentary liason process the character of the movement is its diversity and localised basis. A centralised power elite was seen as alien and. unconstructive, Individualansdlocalgroupsspreadthrougthheocountrymakeupthe movement, all are ofan equal status and are free to.develop their own programmes in support of the generally agreed aims. Any material produced is signed, Edinburgh NAM Group, or NAM Cardif Group. The~ purpose of the small, at present London based, .Liason Group is to maintain and develop contacts and to set up the next National Congress, If you are thinking of joining we hope that our contact list has:a member close by you, if not then we would be delighted if you initiated your own NAM Group. Speakers and information can be sent to yOUs In time a network of groups should develop to cover the country, each one working out its own ideas wether localised or more universal. The Congress will be one way of communicating between groups and for working out overall.aims and strategies, a The key to this decentralised structure is that of individual commitmant and local autonomy. We are not a movement with presidents or celebrities, its strength lies in the involvement of you, and the help we can all give each other. , For a Schubert or’“a.Cangin such constraints as “imposed ‘by patronage — were minimal for they were in effect their own patrons dirécting thei creative energies towards thair own needs and conditions. But in architecturheis is by no.means so easy, for it is a rare occurrence for the architect to.act as nis own patron, except say, when he builds his own house. Of all the’arts, “then, architecture is particularly dependent on patronage. , for without patronage there is no building and without building architecture.enters the realms of graphics and sculpture. For those whose art is less dependeont on external- patronage for their well being there has been the opportunity ‘to liberate themselves from stereo-typed convention, but in architecture we have- ‘been trapped. Tach move into a mew mode of work is frustrated. Those whohave attempted to escape by side stepping the issue altogether have: fled ‘to the world of ‘alternative technology! or to the world of the 'conceptualists!. For the alternstive technologists there is bub one fate, the eventual take over by the owners of production who will appropriate their creations to further their owna@ids. Those inventions that have a potential for generating profit and maintaining the status quo will be exploited: those that do not will be thrown avay. For the conceptualists there is only the world of fantasy and dreams. Like the 'trip' one too maay it will end in trauma and despair, their self inflated bubbie w2.1l burst,for it has little content and no Substance, The New Architecture Movement offers a third alternative to this impasse. It is devising a strategy that attacks the heart of the dilemna, the principles of patronage. The notion of patronage encompasses 1 variety of associations but their common reference point is to an unequal relationship between benefactor and benificery. The benkficery of course is the architect. Hoi do we define patron2ge in our context patronage is the means by which the building needs of individuals and their institutions are determindd. ‘le realise that under any social system there will alvays be more users than patrons but we do not see this process of assessing building needs as an independent variable to the design problem. It is intrinsic to the forms that we will create. This is a »rinciple of our movement. Ye cannot wait for the real patrons to stand up. “ve must go to then, but this will only be achieved by removing the obstales in our own instituticns. ‘aArchitecture', it is suggested is the social art. Certainly the crertion of architecture is a prerequisite for civilisation. Undeniably, it effects everyone's aspect of peoples lives. And yet we have situations where architecture, which is about living, is practised by a group of veople, architects, who have erected barricrs around themselves, Our conclusions can only be thatthe barriers have been erected because either the practitioners are incapableo’f practising architecture or unnecessary, or their masters, the patrons, misuse their practice. Thus it is our belief that the institutions of architecture operate not only to the detrinmt of the non patrons but to architects themselves. As a creative activity architecture, supposedly represents values that exist beyond mere building. All creative activities experience to some degree or another three converging imagination, the power of technics and the exercise of patronage. ALE three interact through design and their’ megolution is~ the creation of forms, In the “sence of. patronag technics’ aes imagination have no context and thus no substance or meaning. onde? the force of the —2 NAM identifies these institutionass the way architects are organised, their education and their methods of sractice. Sach in turn reinforce and sustain the present system of patronage and moreover because the architect is the beneficery in an unequal relationship, they were intended to do so, .If we accept that patronage is ultimately exercised for its. own benevolence whether for prestige, profit or pover andifitisthemeansofassesthseibuinldgingneedsofsocietythan there is a prima facie case of ‘aiding, and abetting’. NAM intends to exemine each institution in turn. NAM will demonstrate the vay in which these institutions.act for patronagbey isolatins the practice of architecture. from..its. context. The RIBA claims to speak for architects as if they were one voice, Assension.and arguement is confined to the closed doors of Portland Place. It thefefore snuffs out any attempt to undermine a system of patronage at which it is the beneficery. Through education it produces students who aquiesSce to the status quo because the nature of their training has concealed from them the true nature of their work, The organisation of practice is so structured that it is only able to function in the context of the | existing patronase. the setting up of small scale loc lly based projects should be seen in the context of a national oxperiment. pimilarly. Housing associations, Housing .ctbion Areas and (IAs are controlled by professionals at the expense of the residents whom they purport to serve, In the long term, this can only render the professional impotent, for it is through real participation where the bases for decisions are exposed to all. that the orofessional will foster iis own development. Private practice is accountable only to the ae who weild power i.e. that.,small.sroup ve have identified as patvons. ‘here is no effective means of control by those who are affected by the buildings thus produced and there is little public awareness of the profits yielded by the. fee scale, ithin offices, a minority of employer architects exercise hierar— chical control,:due as much to their orn inclination as to their respon- Sibilities.sided: Partnership La» heir employees, lured by the carrot of eventual advancement ~— if chery find favour - are suspicious competi-~ tive and divided. Such a system will, in the long term collapse for Lt is-not sufficiently flevible to respond.to the wanging pattern of patronage: the dominance of the public ‘client and the increasing social. economic and environmental avareness expressed by the public at large. whether in conservation issues ‘or.politicel stances, N.aA.ii. therefore proposes a whole range of reforms within practice, from ensuring that private offices are subject to a form of local accountability, to office structures. based on the principleosf co-ownership. Salaried architects should be givena real opportunity to organise and join unions for without such strength they are at the mercy of the market. Hor the public sector architect there looms a different series of frustrations, Local Authority architects work in large centralised rigid | organisations which, while.professing to serve he public, in reality serve md are ecountable only to co.mittee chairmen, Direct contact between users and architects is at least discouraged or forbidden. “he monolithic internal hicrachy fosters the promotion ethos. Success isto méve out of architecture into management. Rarely does:the Chief Architects? heavy responsibility for huge expenditure to one client create an office’ spirit any more inspired thea vell-organised defensiveness. “hy is this so? Host public architects have a firm belief in the. sist 4Oe" of their cause... liany’ have gone.to good vublic offices tO essoane the partner bréathing down their. neck. -.-Might it be that the, system. has been so devised to tolerate the mediocreo,r that it is so. fail-safe that no practitioner is that importent? It is clear that es bureaucracies. develop, the definition of roles becomes increasingly restrictive. ‘he public architect is. insulated from the very problems which @e the substance | of building néeds; and: the exercise of his imagination and skill becomes 7 irrelevant BS r . the Wew architecture liovement believes that she bide which is continually croding the basis of the architect's vork can only be turned by surplanting the local authority service by a National Design Service based on de~ centralised local authority design teams and offering a freely available service to groups and individuals in local -reas, ‘hese teams vould be organised in such a vay that not ohly would they to help articulate the needs of residents but also implement them, Such an intimate relationship vould automatically introduce a means of accountability. this is not a vague notion of control or criticism but a participatory process by which the skills of architects do not hide behind a bushel but are exposed to the commonsense of the laymen. Architectural education is dominated and controlled by the RIBA through the Board of Uducation, yet it is society which foots the bill without any means of control, or rather it has vested its control in the hands of architects. iwhis has encouraged an introverted montality, H.A.li. has been disappointed, but in rotrospect not surprised,a& the failure of achitec tural students to respond to the «uestions that NAH. ete have -posed. ~The fostering ‘of architectural studies in a world of unreality;whether.in.“theworstoxcessesofon aoe orteetinical.5 fetishes, ‘is producing. anew sowense ion of ¢lraving-board fodder or drop outs.oa ;ioe : : : te. NAN, dhidnde: to set up a’ sia aby group to examine the cuestion of.education but -it is clear that central to our attitude is to arrange a marriage between schools:and:. their communities. Schools of Architecture have considerable resources: which could be used for. the benefit of the community. /In:general, we should be’aimingf.or more autonomy in syllabus in order to enable’ cach school to respond to varying local con- dittons ond opportunitics. i : here can be few: doubts as to our attitude to the way the profession is. at present: organised and:controlled. ighty per cent of architects wrote off the BIBA years. ago. . Yet, though it no longer has any meaning for most architects, its power is immense and Council is controlled by the same faces year aftcr year. NAH. seeks 0 echoes ornor ples of practice outside the RIBA in such a way that’ are not cosettcd in their own front: room but are excposed, tothe street. ‘whese new principles of practice will range from a set of ethics, perhaps in the: form.of an oath; model rules on procedure,to the abolishing of mandatory feo scale, so that a range: of architectural ARCUK which is Bevory afront organisation of the RIDA. servismcoreeswid:elyavailabie Controloftheactiviticsofthe profession should be returned to where it was originally invested, namely par Laem the Asthey stand, the Registration Acts are’administored by:--: NA.'isnota igoly ‘Itspressontemphasisonele and theory is a-prelude to a programie of action.: Yhat action is aimed at breaking down the barriers bet:reen society and architects, Links will be forged with the local communities where we live through: trade unions, -. tenemts associations, local amenity groups and locel councillors. TC. hall. work to raise jhe expectations of the service provided by. practices sient offices,.Onabroader.scale,our.intentionistoco-operate with other progressive groups. By lobbying politicians we hope -to achieve changes in the Registration Acts. ‘Our prograime is not: reformist for all our actions are to! be judged.in. the light of our desire to seck fundamental changes in the exercise of patronage. In practising community architccture our philosophy.is not. to offer @ndy to innocent children but to demonsttrate the failure of established institutions to respond to the peoples needs. Sy this means people themselves will seek their own solutions; and for architects there is tho reward of their own fulfillment. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Liaison Group Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived JA Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource February 1977