Talk: UNBUILT with Christopher Beanland

25/07/2022 6:30 pm – 25/07/2022 8:00 pm | Design West

Join Christopher Beanland as he introduces his book Unbuilt: Radical Visions of a Future That Never Arrived

The most exciting architectural projects never built, from a dome over Manhattan to rolling pavements in Berlin; Christopher Beanland tells the stories of the plans, drawings and proposals that have emerged since the 20th century in an unparalleled era of optimism in architecture.

Many of these grand projects stayed on the drawing board, some were flights of fancy that simply could not be built, and in other cases test structures or parts of buildings did emerge in the real world.

In this talk featuring rich visuals, we go on a journey into how London, New York, Berlin, Glasgow, Tokyo and other world cities could have looked if the planners, architects and dreamers had their way. The book features the work of world famous 20th century architects Buckminster Fuller, Geoffrey Bawa, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and Archigram, as well as contemporary architects such as Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Will Alsop and Rem Koolhaas.

Including proposals such as plug-in cities, moving cities, revolving skyscrapers, bridges between countries and overhead motorways, many of them were just ahead of their time, and some, thankfully, we were always better without.

Tickets cost £8 / £30 with a copy of the book (all tickets include a drink)

Christopher Beanland is a journalist and author who specialises in architecture and travel writing. He is the author of Lido: A dip into outdoor swimming pools: the history, design and people behind them, Concrete Concept: Brutalist buildings around the world as well as two novels. He writes cultural journalism for newspapers and magazines around the world including The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, Mr Porter, British Airways and EasyJet. Christopher lives in London.

Image credits:

LOMEX, NEW YORK, USA 1967–71 – Model of Paul Rudolph’s LOMEX, wide view with transit hub. Inside the superstructure that Paul Rudolph envisaged. Image credit: Library of Congress

HOOK, HAMPSHIRE, UK 1965 – Idea for how Hook town centre could look. Image credit: London Metropolitan Archives, City of London GLC/DG/PUB/091/020

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BECOME OF SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 1957 -Paul Boissevain and Barbara Osmond’s design, which won third place in the international competition, 30 January 1957. Image credit: Fairfax Photographic Archive/Sydney Morning Herald/Stuart McGladrie