I think the South Bank is probably unique in the world as a place that presents first-class cultural activities in one place, though I'm told that Oslo has the Opera House and Munch Museum near each other and on a waterfront. The book reveals another unique aspect of the South Bank: the continuity of architecture.
The centre-piece of this complex is the Royal Festival Hall, a permanent reminder of the 1951 Festival of Britain and now a much-loved arts venue. Its positioning was considered as far back as 1943 with the design starting in 1948 under the direction of the LCC's chief architect Robert Matthews. He appointed Leslie Martin as his deputy and he is generally regarded as the main creative force for the design. I was intrigued to read that he had just turned thirty. Another youngster promoted by Martin was Norman Engleback, in his late twenties, he and his team worked on the National Film Theatre, Hayward Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Considering that this site by the Thames was designated as an arts centre not much happened between 1951 and the early sixties, apart from the NFT, opening in 1957 and tucked under Waterloo Bridge. The author makes the point that architecture had moved on from the Fifties and the newer buildings on the South Bank reflected the brutalist style (the Prince of Wales said in a book...'the National Theatre seems like a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting').
From the early sixties onward the Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room were designed by Engleback and his team and Denys Lasdun designed the National Theatre, opening in 1976. This has three theatres, the Olivier, Lyttelton and Dorfman (originally called the Cottesloe). Lasdun's National celebrated his career but was controversial because of the use of unadorned concrete and it became part of the style wars in the media at the time (though conservationist John Betjeman liked it).
The author writes about the six main buildings of the South Bank Centre in a very readable conversational style breaking down the chapters into concept, design, delivery and revisions. The back pages have a Chronology, a Directory of the leading personalities, a Bibliography and Index. I was disappointed that there are no architectural style graphics revealing profiles of the insides of the buildings, the Festival Hall, Hayward and the National have many different tiers and illustrations would complement Rachael Smith's interior photos.
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