Wednesday 5 November 2025 1:30pm
Lecture Room 1, Department of Architecture and online
About
Professor Antonello Alici (Associate Professor in History of Architecture Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Architettura Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Lecture abstract:
The urban history of Cambridge offers a compelling case study for examining the debate behind the evolution toward modernity within British urban and architectural culture since the 1930s. Half a century later, this topic has regained international relevance and is worth revisiting, particularly through the biographies of its key figures and the enduring quality of their architectural and planning achievements.
In the post-war period, Cambridge’s three principal authorities – the County Council, the City Council, and University with its Colleges - were called upon to define a coherent urban model and shaping the city’s future identity. The central dilemma lay in balancing the preservation of Cambridge’s historic character and human scale as a prestigious university town with the need to accommodate population growth and urban expansion. Here, the controversy aroused by the spread of modernity across the country was amplified in the microcosm of the colleges, seeking to maintain their identity grounded in the medieval court model and expressed through a rigorous communal ritual.
Nikolaus Pevsner records this transition through the editions of his Cambridgeshire guidebooks: «The change between the situation early in 1958 and early in 1968 is astounding. The volume of new building over these ten years has been prodigious [...] Cambridge is now one of the happiest hunting-grounds in Britain for specimens of the architectural style and fashions of the nineteen sixties».
In such a dynamic context, St John's College shows remarkable wisdom and ability to manage complex choices for the restoration of its historical heritage and expansion of its facilities for new and more comfortable students' accommodation.
Between 1956 and 1962, the college set up a well-planned sequence of actions involving the entire community with passion and compactness. Humphrey Cripps, a former undergraduate student of St John's in the 1930s, was the generous patron of the new residential complex, while Sir Leslie Martin was the first consultant advising on the site, and proposing, together with his assistant Colin St John Wilson, the first extensive survey of the college property. The choice of the architect was shared among many Fellows and supported by the RIBA archivist and librarian who collected a wide selection of publications. The list provided is in itself a fascinating journey into the new British architectural avant garde, as is the final invited competition between two successful London-based practices: Powell & Moya and Denys Lasdun. The winning scheme by Powell & Moya, completed in 1967, shows the sense of place and the capacity for a delicate dialogue with a layered context. The Cripps Building – according to Pevsner’s architectural guide – «is a masterpiece by one of the best architectural partnerships in the country».
Speaker bio:
Antonello Alici, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in Architectural History at Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, and a Beaufort Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, University of Cambridge.
He is board member of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums (ICAM), board member of the Italian Association of Architectural Historians (Aistarch), the President of Do.co.mo.mo Italia, Research Fellow in Architecture at the British School at Rome.
His research interests deal with the urban and architectural history of 19th and 20th century, with a special focus on the Nordic Countries, Great Britain and Italy. He is also involved in research and PhD programs on cultural heritage, architectural conservation, and museum management.
You are very welcome to join us either in person or online, and can sign up here: Https://buytickets.at/martincentre/1930789