Architecture is more than buildings and architects. It also involves photographers, writers, advertisers and broadcasters, as well as the people who finance and live in the buildings. Using the career of the critic J. M. Richards as a lens, this book takes a new perspective on modern architecture. Richards served as editor of
The Architectural Review from 1937 to 1971, during which time he consistently argued that modernism was integrally linked to vernacular architecture, not through style but through the principle of being an anonymous expression of a time and public spirit. Exploring the continuities in Richards's ideas throughout his career disrupts the existing canon of architectural history, which has focused on abrupt changes linked to individual 'pioneers', encouraging us to think again about who is studied in architectural history and how they are researched.
No more giants traces the development of the architectural profession throughout the life and career of the influential critic James Maude Richards. It tells a story of changing relationships between the profession and the public, the emergence of new ideas about public participation and the shifting role of the media in architecture.
As the longest serving editor of The Architectural Review (1935-71), Richards was active throughout the ascent and descent of modern architecture in British culture. He took the view that architects should be anonymous experts guiding a community to create better, modern buildings, rather than individual 'giants' expressing their individuality. Rather than looking at buildings, this book traces the definition and fortunes of modernism through what was written, broadcast and exhibited and the audiences that Richards and his friends sought to address.
Richards was part of a wide network of artists and architects who shaped culture during the mid-twentieth century. His life and his consistent argument that architects must allow the public to participate in architecture offer a fresh perspective on the history of modernism in Britain.
