Architects and The Lay Public in An Age of Disillusionment: some notes on activism, satire and self-criticism in British architectural publishing

The years separating the release of the first architectural cartoon by Louis Hellman and Charles Jencks’ announcement that Modern Architecture had died on July 15, 1972 in Saint Louis, witness the resurgence of a longstanding tradition of English architectural writing and campaigning. Much of the arguments of this writing was drawn on the discrepancy between the assumptions and goals of the architects and planners and those of the ordinary users of buildings. My paper focuses on a few voices of a less studied strand of British architectural criticism appearing at a time when all theories that had previously supported Modern architecture begin to crumble: although different in tones, scopes and cultural premises, the publications chosen share a similar concern. Among the intents of their authors is the ambition to create the conditions for a necessary dialogue between the architectural professions and the lay public of users and amateurs. A special attention will be paid to the registers and languages in which this attempted dialogue happens, encompassing a diverse spectrum of genres, from public condemnation, to polemics and crusades, to mockery and self-reflective analysis.