1980s architecture

There have been various items in the news recently about 1980s architecture and how it is now eligible for "listing" (a process whereby selected buildings are put on a list that must be preserved for the future).  The Broadgate development has been exciting comment, but there are many other examples that should be considered.  Here are some of my random thoughts (slightly distracted since I am simultaneously watching Newsnight).

Above:  I went to look at Broadgate which was opened by Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s.  I was immediately struck by how it resembles the Colosseum in Rome.  This architecture represents, symbolically, the competitive nature of corporate finance in the 1980s - the office as arena.

Above:  my favourite 1980s building is not in London but in Stevenage.  This is Kings Court, designed by Cullearn and Phillips and put up in 1988.  Cullearn and Phillips did some nice work in the 1980s, especially in Manchester.  Although this is a big utilitarian building the use of classic motifs gives it a human scale.  It also has a sense of luxury, which is unusual in an office block.  The building is well-known because you can see it clearly from the East Coast Main Line (one day I got off at Stevenage, walked about half a mile, and took this picture - but this view does not compare to the impact created by seeing the building from a moving express train, a mirage of the 1980s, shimmering with reflected light).

Above:  I also like this little terrace in a provincial town.  No idea who the architect was - probably put up by a jobbing builder.  The pedimented doors are lovely - the 1980s fetishised home ownership, and here we see the humble flat treated like a temple.

Above:  the use of classic motifs in 1980s architecture makes me wonder whether classicism can be traced in other elements of 1980s culture.  Here you can see a screenshot of a live Duran Duran concert in 1984.  The set design features a Doric propylaeum that could have been designed by Albert Speer.

Above:  a selection of 1980s album designs.  The Spandau Ballet LP features a torso that resembles the ancient Greek statue Discobolus; the Ultravox LP has an illustration of various coloured marbles in the form of an idealised classic building.  The Associates EP includes a photograph of a naked, slightly podgy "Associate" (a very corporate name for a band) lying face-down on a marble floor, in a classic rotunda, while an over-dressed young woman empties a bucket of semi-precious stones over him.

Above:  two 1980s book designs.  The Foodie Handbook (1984) shows food in the shape of a Greek temple.  The 1980s experienced a huge expansion in gourmet dining.  The Jorge Luis Borges collection of short stories is a 1986 edition and features an original illustration by Peter Goodfellow.  It shows a skeleton standing beside a classical table tomb.  Reminiscent of Poussin's Shepherds of Arcady (et in Arcadia ego). 

Above:  selection of 1980s advertisements (actual tear sheets, pulled out of the magazines).  Notice the preference for black and white.  Classic motifs are associated with money and luxury, two cultural themes of the 1980s.

Anyway, I have to stop now.  As usual this post is rushed through and poorly thought out.  Maybe one day I will return to these themes and give them proper consideration.