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alistairfair.bsky.social
Reader in Architectural History, University of Edinburgh. C20th architecture in Britain. New towns. Book 'Building Modern Scotland' now available! Own views.
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Thanks for hosting! We're hoping to organise an event in the university later in the spring, so for those who missed out (or who attended y'day and want to hear more about the new towns) watch this space!

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

Strathclyde Regional Council clothing (and other merch!) courtesy of TheRandomFactor on Redbubble.com...

submitted 23 hours ago • 0 comments

Looking forward to tomorrow evening at the RIAS bookshop discussing 'Building Modern Scotland' with @vawright10.bsky.social. Sadly Luna (pictured) won't be joining us but she has had a good look at the book at home. Tomorrow is sold out but we are hoping to do another event - watch this space.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Stevenage in the early days, from Historic England's book about the town centre (text on history by Emily Cole/Elain Harwood). I particularly like the streetlights with their big 'shades', which remind me of the kind of dryers that hairdressers might use to set a perm.

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

St Andrew’s Church, Clermiston, Edinburgh, by Basil Spence & Partners (1957-9). Parish church with free-standing bell tower. On a terraced site in a post-war suburb. Set to close and be sold. #Edinburgh #architecture www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinbur... 📷 2010 flic.kr/s/aHsjESLBBU

submitted 13 days ago • 3 comments

Publication day! A social & architectural history of post-war Scottish new towns: planning & buildings plus community, family, gender, work, education, home. The ebook is FREE via bit.ly/4hLkxn9. Print copy (more attractive!) via www.bloomsbury.com/uk/building-... - do ask libraries to purchase

submitted 21 days ago • 11 comments

Read my and @alistairfair.bsky.social article: ‘The core’: the centre as a concept in twentieth-century British planning and architecture. Part two: the realization of the idea www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... For key context for significance of SBAC: www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Do sign up and come along if you're in Edinburgh on 26 Feb. Copies of the book will be available at a healthy discount!

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Part of a big 1960s/70s civic complex including council HQ, police etc - now otherwise being dismantled. The original plans for the arts centre were even bigger than what was built, which was not small. Mold was to form part of a growth area; there were plans for a barrage across the Dee estuary.

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

Over the next week, I'll add to this post to create a thread about the new book I've co-written, 'Building Modern Scotland'. It's a social and architectural history of Scotland's post-war new towns, written collaboratively by a team from @edincollegeofart.bsky.social & Glasgow University (1/..)

submitted 29 days ago • 3 comments

This looks like a great exhibition & I'll be going. The photo shows Abronhill in Cumbernauld, c. 1970. Abronhill was planned as an extension to the new town, with this strong central route. The architects were Wheeler & Sproson, best known for their sensitive modern housing in Fife.

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment