Manplan: not only an object for the ‘70s rather a futuristic graphic project

History and theory of contemporary architecture ac 2021-22

Prof.ssa Gaia Caramellino

Teaching Fellows:

Valeria Casali, Nicole De Togni, Claudia Mainardi, Ludovica Vacirca

Group 09

Brunet Eliott, Andrea Di Tommaso, Lesani Abdi Artin, Martin Ariane, Maria Elisabetta Peluso

Abstract

Looking forward to the new decade ahead, in the autumn of 1969 The Architectural Review (AR) paused to examine and evaluate the state of the nation through its architecture and planning. This was by way of the publication of ‘Manplan’: a number of special editions of the AR focusing on topics ranging from housing to religion and how well these functioned within society.1 The 1960s witnessed an important change in the architectural representation, and more broadly in the periodical press of the discipline. Themes, approaches, graphics, and materiality of many European magazines have been impacted by the profound cultural and societal changes of the time, as investigated by Beatriz Colomina in her book Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X to 197X. The role of photography in this process is widely recognized, as proven by the images used by the Smithsons on the IX CIAM’s grid. Authors refer that architectural photography increasingly resembles photojournalism in the late 1960s, “depicting people not buildings”.2

The Manplan campaign calls for a profound social reform introducing a drastic change in the visual structure and content of the magazine, as well as in the broader conventions of the architectural press. Manplan formed a poignant reminder of British life at the end of the sixties since the project combined sociological inquiry and photojournalism from post- war England to rediscover a social role for the Architect at the end of the century. The title served as a reminder – to the editorial staff as well as the reader – that “this enquiry is angled at achieving within the resources available what our society needs most rather than what will pay best. Hence, the title “Manplan”. A plan for human beings with a destiny rather than fgures in a table of statistics.3

This paper will analyse the process that led the editorial panel to transform the magazine into an almost exclusively photographic model which painted a pessimistic portrait of the country. The topics addressed during the post-war period and the tools such as drawings and photography, kept a common ground which merged into the hard-hitting manifesto of Manplan. The surprising visual side – resulting from the photography and uncommon layout –, paralleled by a narrative side – articulating image and text and exploring sequence –, as well as a performative side – in a call for action – gives Manplan a hybrid nature, which crossbreeds the sociological enquiry and the photojournalism of the post-war England.

(2017) 1-9