The shadow institution

• Facsimiles indicating the parent-child relationship of the shadow institution anticipated by Cedric Price

[edit] Foreword

This article is a result of an exchange between Cedric Price and Norman Fellows on 14 December 1978:—

• NF "I think it's already here."
• CP "What is?"
• NF "The shadow institution."
• (Meeting notes, 1978). [1] [2]

Thus Norman Fellows made an assertion, namely:—

• ... that "the shadow institution" exists.

The purpose of this article is therefore:—

• to establish whether or not Norman Fellows' assertion that the shadow institution exists has any factual basis.

[edit] Introduction

Prior to the original exchange Cedric Price had published ...

This assertion was based on the study of two sets of literature in particular, namely:—

1. the publications listed in Cedric Price's bibliography;
2. the publications listed in the Architectural Association's Graduate Schools' bibliography 'Social Institutions 1978'.

However, the meanings implicit in this exchange require some unpacking.

Thus the purpose of this article is:—

• to make a fuller exchange.

[edit] Introduction

For some time prior to the exchange Architectural Design had been publishing schemes by Cedric Price ... (see CP Bibliography)

According to Norman Fellows:—

• "My conception of the shadow institution had been anticipated on paper by Cedric Price."
• (Updated commentary, 2024) [3]

However, it had not been named.

Thus the term 'the shadow institution' is attributed to Norman Fellows. [4]

[edit] The meeting

[edit] Preview

The term 'shadow institution' is attributed to Norman Fellows. [3]

The original exchange contained an unsubstantiated assertion. However, according to Norman Fellows:—

• "My conception of the shadow institution had been anticipated on paper by Cedric Price."
• (Updated commentary, 2024) [4]

In addition, Norman Fellows has written at length about :—

"This study proposes a valid national and regional distribution of educational institutions." (Cedric Price) Learn More

"This work has been concerned with postulating a coarse model of a potential 'housing' service". (Cedric Price) Learn More

• Table 1: Facsimiles from the Potteries Thinkbelt (left) and Housing Research by Cedric Price aka "Son of Thinkbelt" (right).

n.b.

Thus ...

The "Learn More" links in Table 1 lead to articles on this website about the two particular schemes by Cedric Price

... to articles on the Designing Buildings website by Norman Fellows.

... provide a fuller account of

indicating the parent-child relationship of the shadow institution anticipated by Cedric Price

Thus this article focusses initially on the relationship between the Potteries Thinkbelt (PTb) and "Son of Thinkbelt". [5]

The findings were:—

1. ... that the PTb study proposed "a valid national and regional distribution of educational institutions."
2. ... that the work on the "Son of Thinkbelt" postulated "a coarse model of a potential 'housing' service".

The argument then is:—

• ... that there is a parent-child relationship between these two shadow institutions.

[edit] Facsimile 1

[edit] Facsimile 2