Author: Swenarton Mark
Place: London
Publisher: Lund Humphries
Year: 2017
Volume: The h 8
Pages: 327
ISBN: 978-1-84822-204-5
Source: Received from Mark Swenarton (Liverpool Univesity)
Subject: Housing
Sub-Subject: Modern Housing
Keyword: Modern Housing, Camden Housing Projects
Shelf: C3R1
Accession No: B1468
Contents: Foreword, Preface, Chap 1: Introduction, Chap 2: Sydney Cook at Camden: geared tp producing ideas, with the emphasisi on youth, Chap 3: Developing a new format for urban housing: Neave Brown and the design of Fleet Road, Chap 4: Creating a piece of city: Neave Brown and the design of Alexandra Road, Chap 5: A city on a hill: Peter Tabori at Highgate New Town, Chap 6: Class war in Hampstead: the battle of Branch Hill, Chap 7: The poetics of housing: Benson and Forsyth and Branch Hill, Chap 8: Gospel Oak: from Powell & Moya to Benson and Forsyth, Chap 9: Only connect: Benson and Forsyth at Maidan Lane, Chap 10: Urban desnity: Edward Cullinan Architects and Colquhoun & Miller, Chap 11: Politics versus architecture: the Alexandra Road public enquiry of 1978-81, Chap 12: Conclusion: Cook’s Camden today, Appendix 1: sydney Cook as I knew him: recollections by Neave Brown, Frank Dobson, John Green, Martin Morton and Peter Tabori, Appendix 2: Neave Brown, The form of housing (1967), Appendix 3: Cook’s Camden A-Z, Cook’s Camden Map, Abbreviations, Notes, Index
Abstract: In the 1960s and 1970s, under borough architect Sydney Cook, Camden built groundbreaking housing projects that remain influential in UK urban design. Rejecting tower blocks, schemes like Alexandra Road and Fleet Road emphasized street-based housing with front doors, achieving high densities without high-rise buildings. Cook assembled leading architects such as Neave Brown and Peter Tábori, fostering a human-scaled urbanism that harmonized with its surroundings. This book explores the creation, design principles, and enduring relevance of these developments, illustrated through archival images by Martin Charles and contemporary photography by Tim Crocker, offering insight into both the architecture and the lived experience of residents.