Cedric Price

• Montage: "Pull quote on perspective", Cedric Price, 'FAX to IFCCA Prize Coordinator', 14 January 1999. [1] [2]

Cedric Price gave two reasons for his "own nomination and extreme interest in participation in the IFCCA project", namely:—

1. ... because it is singular, if not unique, in recognising, in architectural terms, the necessity for anticipation of social change in community and the individual, and in the constructive response of the built environment; and
2. ... because it assumes that not only is the 'city' likely to remain a humane container but that architecture is still deemed as a key participant.

Cedric Price also identified a need. namely:—

• The need to equate the involvement of Human aspirations with the form, movement and ' 'life' span of the Inanimate is still an incomplete equation which requires continuous updating. [3]

This Table indicates a range of urban planning and design projects by Cedric Price.

[edit] Notes

[1] Cedric Price (1999) 'FAX to IFCCA Prize Coordinator', 14 January.

[2] Cedric Price (1999) 'perspective view looking east from the Hudson River', CCA.

[3] According to the Canadian Centre for Architecture:—

• "[Cedric Price] worked from the premise that in order to establish a valid equation between contemporary social aspirations and architecture, it is essential to add to the latter "Doubt, Delight, and Change," as design criteria."
• (CCA, 2009, 'Cedric Price fonds').

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[edit] References

Cedric Price fonds

Cedric Price Memory Bank

Cedric Price at MOMA

Cedric Price on Wordpress

Cedric Price Supplement

[edit] Further Reading

Wikipedia (2023) 'Social change', 16 March.

--Archiblog 16:30, 27 Mar 2023 (BST)

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

ATOM: A generating system designed by Cedric Price

Digital socialism and the non-planners

Norman Fellows

Potteries Thinkbelt

[edit] INTRODUCTION

the short life housing study - i.e.

During the late1960s Architectural Design (AD) published schemes, articles and comments by Cedric Price. However, according to Peter Murray, the Editor of the CP Supplements:—

• "...much of the published work requires rethinks and updated commentaries." [2.1]

This work includes:—

However, none of the published work contained the term 'the shadow institution" referred to in the exchange between Norman Fellows and Cedric Price.

To make fuller exchanges about major experimental projects EXP began in November 2003 a series of 'Supercrits' starting with 'Supercrit #1: Cedric Price, Potteries Thinkbelt'. [*] These ... were recorded and published ...

The series ... with 'Supercrit #1: Cedric Price, Potteries Thinkbelt' on 5 November 2003 and in 2007 a book of the same name was published. [*]

The Supercrit was attended by an invited audience which included 20 participants... There is no mention of the shadow institution in the transcript ... as an alternative to the University. However, Stephen Mullin, Cheif assisant on the Potteries Thinkbelt, ... that the view taken by the Potteries Thinkbelt carried with it a ... corollary, namely:—

• ... that ... >>> Deeplish study

To clarify what he meant by the term, Norman Fellows has added:—

• "I'm still thinking roughly that it means 'not having official status'." [2.2]

A reading of the literature on logic indicates:—

• ... that "the institution" and "the non-institution" are categorical terms designating two complementary categorical classes. [2.3]

In other words, 'the institution' has official status and 'the non-institution' does not.

In order to make a fuller exchange than the one cited ... this article ... two propositions, namely:—

1. The shadow institution as an alternative to the University; and
2. The shadow institution as a 'housing' service.

This article looks at two examples of the non-institution in relation to the institution:—

1. The shadow institution as an alternative to the University; and
2. The shadow institution as a 'housing' service.

Thus the article concludes:—

• ... that the shadow institution is derived from an anticipatory shadow scheme. [2.4]

According to Royston Landau:—

• "The anti-isolated-learning-community view taken by the Thinkbelt carries with it an anti-dormitory corollary." [*}

[edit] PROPOSITION: The shadow institution as an alternative to the University

According to Wikipedians:—

• "In the United Kingdom, the Privy Council is responsible for approving the use of the word university in the name of an institution, under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992." [3]

The schemes without university status are briefly presented below in two columns:—

1. The left-hand column contains a digitized image from the CCA file representing each particular scheme together with a 'Learn More' link to the file.
2. The right-hand column contains 'Notes' linking to articles on this site.

[edit] • Potteries Thinkbelt

• "This study helps to indicate a valid national and regional distribution of educational institutions." [4.1]
• See also [4.2] [4.3] [4.4] [4.5].)

[edit] • Oxford Corner House

• "Electronic links with Central and Local Government, Commerce, Industry and Education are provided for since many of the functions of OCH correspond to those previously found in the town hall, the labour exchange or the official envelope through the letter-box."
• (Cedric Price, 'Self-pace public skill and information hive', AD/5/68, pp.237-239) [5]

[edit] • Atom

• "...this thesis postulates both a first set of tools (buildings, equipment, etc.) together with a development plan sufficiently indeterminate to encourage varied and possible diverse development modes."
• (Cedric Price, 'Atom', AD/5/68, p.234) [6]

[edit] • Detroit Think Grid

• "The Community College would appear to be an ideal agency (for the task of introducing an addiitional comprehensive sensitive to needs not yet formulated) since not only has its role not crystallised into any particular authoritarian educational patern, such as is the case with most universities, but also its very structure can be extremely sensitive to society's change."
• (Cedric Price, 'Oakland Community College', AD/6/71, p.354) [7]

[edit] • BMI/HQ

• "...such a building as that proposed can provide the continuous scientific, technological, cultural 'servicing' required by both the individual and the group. At the same time the building can act as the nerve centre, producer and distributor of an enormous range of services to members and the public in the region."
• (Cedric Price, 'BMI: HQ/Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham, England', AD/6/71, p.364) [8]

[edit] • Inter-Action Centre

• "The Interaction Centre [...] is a logical follow-through from the earlier projects: the primary structure forming a relatively large-scale, long-life shelter and framework for the flexible secondary enclosures and components."
• (Steve Mullin, 'Cedric Price: or still keeps going when everything else has stopped', AD/5/76, p.286. [9]

[edit] • Generator

• "A forest facility for 1-100 users. Architecture is used as an aid to the extension of one's own interests. A series of structures, fittings and components that respond to the appetites that they themselves may generate. A 'menu' of items for individual and group demands of space, control, containment and delight. A place to work, create, think and stare."
• (Cedric Price, 'Generator, Florida, USA', AR/1/79, p.16.) [10]

[edit] COROLLARY: The shadow institution as a 'housing' service

• 'A change is required in our current attitude to “Housing”' [11.1]

Successive 'housing' schemes are briefly presented in two columns:—

1. The left-hand column contains a digitized image from the CCA file representing each successive scheme together with a 'Learn More' link to the file.
2. The right-hand column contains 'Notes' linking to articles on this site.

NOTE:—

• "This work has been concerned with postulating a coarse model of a potential 'housing' service which would help correct the shortfalls and ensure that future appetites and demands, as yet unknown, can be identified and when necessary, satisfied." [11.2]

[edit] • Potteries Thinkbelt student housing

[12]

[edit] • Steel House

... [13]

[edit] • 24 hour Living Toy

... [14]

[edit] • Housing Research aka "Son of Thinkbelt"

... [15]

[edit] CONCLUSION

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... [16]

Project: Potteries Thinkbelt, 1939-1987, predominant 1963-1967
AP144.S2.D56

[edit] End Notes

1 Foreword

• 1.1 Norman Fellows (14 Dec 1978) 'Meeting notes', unpublished. *
• 1.2 In August 1967 the author received a copy of AD/10/66 featuring Potteries Thinkbelt - see Appendix A for a full list of schemes in the collection.
• 1.3 See Appendix C. **
• entitled 'Cedric Price Works 1952–2003: A Forward-Minded Retrospective' edited by Samatha Hardingham ...

nb

• * The meeting was attended by Tyrell Burgess, Norman Fellows, Royston Landau and Cedric Price.
• Appendix B is a placeholder.
• ** The only instance of the term 'the shadow institution' being found on the internet is this article which was found by Google - see Appendix C.

2 Introduction

• 2.1 Peter Murray (1971) 'Introduction', in 'Cedric Price Supplement', AD/10/70, p.507.
• 2.2 Norman Fellows (2024) 'Updated Commentary', unpublished.
• 2.3 College Sidekick (2024) 'Categorical Propositions', collegesidekick.com
• 2.4 Norman Fellows (2025) 'The Shadow Scheme', unavailable.

3 Proposition: The shadow institution as an alternative to the University

• 3 Wikipedians (2024) 'University', Wikipedia.

4 • Potteries Thinkbelt

• 4.1 Cedric Price (1966) 'Potteries Think Belt', February in Norman Fellows (15 Aug 2024) 'Potteries Thinkbelt study: Further ongoing research'.

• 4.2 "The Potteries Thinkbelt was a self-sponsored project designed during 1964 and 1965."
• (Royston Landau, 1968, 'New Directions in British Architecture', p. 119)

• 4.3 "The Potteries Thinkbelt was a higher educational facility, a term carefully chosen to avoid the use of the word university."
• (Royston Landau, 1984, Cedric Price Works II, p.13)

• 4.4 "The only purchaser of the full Potteries Thinkbelt documentation was the Ministry of Housing and Local Government who bought the report and copies of every single drawing including the photo-montages."
• (ib. p.15)

• 4.5 "It was the result of a bet. I used to lunch with the junior minister, Lord Kennet, then known as Wayland Young, [Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government from 1966 to 1970]. We started talking about universities. He was responsible politically for new universities. I went on criticising them and complaining about new buildings in Cambridge, Brighton, and Lancaster."
• (Cedric Price, Interview in Stanley Mathews, 2007, 'From Agit-Prop to Free Space: The Architecture of Cedric Price', p.200)

[...]

• "Kennet got fed up with these criticisms and said, "Why don't you tell us what we should do?" That annoyed me so much that I decided to do something.""
• (ib.)

5 • Oxford Corner House

• Cedric Price (1967) 'Self-pace public skill and information hive', AD/5/68, pp.237-239.

6 • Atom

• Cedric Price (1967) 'Atom: Design for new learning for a new town', AD/5/68, p.234.

7 • Detroit Think Grid

• Cedric Price (1968) 'Oakland Community College, Think Grid, Michigan, USA', AD/6/71, p.354.

8 • BMI/HQ

• Cedric Price (1969) 'BMI: HQ/Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham, England', AD/6/71, p.364.

9 • Inter-Action Centre

• Steve Mullin (1976) 'Cedric Price: or still keeps going when everything else has stopped', AD/5/76, p.286.

10 • Generator

• Cedric Price (1979) 'Generator, Florida, USA', AR/1/79, p.16.

nb The quotation about Generator was not published in the Architectural Review until January 1979 - i.e. after the December meeting. However, Cedric Price's original drawing - i.e. DWG 132 029 entitled 'NETWORK' - was discussed at the first meeting between Cedric Price and Norman Fellows on 10 January 1978.

11 Corollary: The shadow institution as a 'housing' service

• 11.1 'A change is required in our current attitude to “Housing”' by Cedric Price - ExtremelyProvocative
• 11.2 (Cedric Price (1971) 'Housing', AD/10/71, p.620)

12 • Potteries Thinkbelt student housing

13 • Steel House

14 • 24 hour Living Toy

15 • Housing Research aka "Son of Thinkbelt"

16 • Conclusion

[edit] References

(William Cannady, 1970, New Schools for New Towns,

(Kathy Velikov, 2015, Tuning Up The City, p.42)

[edit] Further Reading

ATOM: A generating system designed by Cedric Price

Cedric Price

Housing Research by Cedric Price

Norman Fellows

Potteries Thinkbelt

Potteries Thinkbelt study

Potteries Thinkbelt study: Further ongoing research

[edit] APPENDIX A - A collection of related schemes

• 1964 (64) Potteries Thinkbelt
• 1965 (67) Oxford Corner House
• 1965 (69) Steel House
• 1967 (X15) 24 hour Living Toy
• 1967 (81) Housing Research aka "Son of Thinkbelt"
• 1967 (89) Atom
• 1968 (93) Detroit Thinkgrid
• 1968 (94) BMI HQ
• 1970 (102) Inter-Action Centre
• 1976 (I32) Generator

Note: The figures in brackets are Cedric Price's Job Numbers.

[edit] APPENDIX B - AA Graduate School Social Institutions Bibliography 1978

Argyris, C. and Schön, D.(1974). 'Theory in Practice: Increasing professional effectiveness', San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. *

Handy, C. B. (1976) 'Understanding organizations', London, England ; New York, N.Y., USA : Penguin Books.*

Laing, R. D. (1969) 'The Divided Self', New York, Pantheon Books.*

Landau, R. (Guest Ed.) (1972) 'Complexity (or how to see the wood from the trees)', Architectural Design, October.

Matza, D. (1969) 'Becoming deviant', Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall. *

Perlmutter, H. V. (1965) 'Towards a theory and practice of social architecture; the building of indispensable institutions', London : Tavistock Publications.*

Schön, D. A. (1971) 'Beyond the stable state', New York, Random House.*

Simon, H. A. (1969) 'The sciences of the artificial', Cambridge, M.I.T. Press.*

Vickers, G. (1968) 'Value systems and social process', London ; Sydney [etc.] : Tavistock Publications.*

Note: The asterisk indicates that the book is available on the Internet Archive.

[edit] APPENDIX C - Screenshot of internet search on 5 November 2024

• Screenshot: the shadow institution used as a search term on Google and DuckDuckGo on 5 November 2024.

BACK TO TOP

--Archiblog 19:00, 05 Nov 2024 (BST)

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

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Outtakes

Atom • "Architect Cedric Price placed maximum emphasis on electronic technology, as he amassed a Kit of Parts for a decentralized education system, based on John Tirrell and Albert Canfield's educational program for a projected new town which will be feasible by the year 1990." (William Cannady, 1970, New Schools for New Towns, p.24) • According to Velikov (2015), Tirrell and Canfield argued:— ... that learning could now take place almost anywhere and anytime, in "the home, the factory, the office and the shopping centre. What could this mean for the architecture of the new learning institutions? [...] The Atom kit of parts would operate as a flexible learning system, distributed and redeployable throughout the spaces of the city and its infrastructures, such as parks, buses, and other transportation facilities, streets, factories, parking lots, and apartment buildings." (Kathy Velikov, 2015, Tuning Up The City, p.42)