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This mixed use project in Bloomsbury was designed by Patrick Hodgkinson and built between 1966 and 1971. It consists of two parallel ziggurat-like stepped-section blocks of residential apartments enclosing a central spine of retail space raised on a podium slightly above ground level. The eastern side also houses the Renoir cinema.
The Brunswick was based on some early design studies by the chief architect of the London County Council, Sir Leslie Martin, whose best known building is probably the Royal Festival Hall. However, rather unusually for the era and type of project, it was privately financed by a subsidiary of the building firm, Sir Robert McAlpine. Some way into the construction, when the scheme failed to attract enough private buyers for the apartments, the residential parts were leased to Camden Council.
The original plans envisioned the project being considerably larger, extending northward to the Euston Road, but, apparently, the Ministry of Defence refused to release some land required for this that was used by the Territorial Army. Hodgkinson also intended the reinforced concrete and concrete blockwork of building to be rendered with a 'Regency stucco' finish in sympathy with much of the surrounding Georgian architecture, but once Camden Council became involved, financial restrictions meant that these surfaces were left rather more stark in their natural state.
Unhappy with the way the project was going, Hodgkinson resigned in 1970. However, he did get a second bite at the cherry in 2006, when he was appointed with Levitt Bernstein Architects, to refurbish the Brunswick, which allowed him to restore some of the original vision with many of the exposed concrete surfaces finally receiving their intended rendered finish.
Architecturally, it is significant as a pioneering example of a mixed-use megastructure in England. The stepped section profile of the residential blocks was to influence Neave Brown's Alexandra Road estate in Camden, which was completed in 1978. The building also offered an alternative to high-rise point towers and slab-blocks for high-density housing popular in the 1960s, inspiring a number of other low-rise, high-density housing schemes such as Darbourne and Darke's Lillington Gardens in Pimlico which, in its turn became a model for higher-quality public social housing through the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
Anyhow, enough chat, here's a few photos
1. Marchmont Road entrance to underground car park
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
2. The Service Towers are very reminiscent of the work of the Italian Futurist Antonio Sant'Elia and his series of designs for a Città Nuova ("New City") between 1912 and 1914
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
3. Eastern side facing Brunswick Square
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
4. Southern entrance to the retail 'spine'
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
5. Two concrete details: A sort of Yin-Yang positive/negative space thing going on with the ventilation grilles over the car park and another section where they aren't.
Brunswick Centre: Two Concrete Details by cybertect, on Flickr
6. Ground level flat on Marchmont Street showing the above in context
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
The Brunswick was based on some early design studies by the chief architect of the London County Council, Sir Leslie Martin, whose best known building is probably the Royal Festival Hall. However, rather unusually for the era and type of project, it was privately financed by a subsidiary of the building firm, Sir Robert McAlpine. Some way into the construction, when the scheme failed to attract enough private buyers for the apartments, the residential parts were leased to Camden Council.
The original plans envisioned the project being considerably larger, extending northward to the Euston Road, but, apparently, the Ministry of Defence refused to release some land required for this that was used by the Territorial Army. Hodgkinson also intended the reinforced concrete and concrete blockwork of building to be rendered with a 'Regency stucco' finish in sympathy with much of the surrounding Georgian architecture, but once Camden Council became involved, financial restrictions meant that these surfaces were left rather more stark in their natural state.
Unhappy with the way the project was going, Hodgkinson resigned in 1970. However, he did get a second bite at the cherry in 2006, when he was appointed with Levitt Bernstein Architects, to refurbish the Brunswick, which allowed him to restore some of the original vision with many of the exposed concrete surfaces finally receiving their intended rendered finish.
Architecturally, it is significant as a pioneering example of a mixed-use megastructure in England. The stepped section profile of the residential blocks was to influence Neave Brown's Alexandra Road estate in Camden, which was completed in 1978. The building also offered an alternative to high-rise point towers and slab-blocks for high-density housing popular in the 1960s, inspiring a number of other low-rise, high-density housing schemes such as Darbourne and Darke's Lillington Gardens in Pimlico which, in its turn became a model for higher-quality public social housing through the 1970s and into the early 1980s.
Anyhow, enough chat, here's a few photos
1. Marchmont Road entrance to underground car park
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
2. The Service Towers are very reminiscent of the work of the Italian Futurist Antonio Sant'Elia and his series of designs for a Città Nuova ("New City") between 1912 and 1914
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
3. Eastern side facing Brunswick Square
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
4. Southern entrance to the retail 'spine'
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
5. Two concrete details: A sort of Yin-Yang positive/negative space thing going on with the ventilation grilles over the car park and another section where they aren't.
Brunswick Centre: Two Concrete Details by cybertect, on Flickr
6. Ground level flat on Marchmont Street showing the above in context
Brunswick Centre by cybertect, on Flickr
