HLM50+ Towards a Social Architecture

Since its sudden and dramatic formation upon winning the competition to design Paisley Civic Centre in 1963, Hutchison, Locke and Monk (HLM) Architects has consistently served and adapted to the changing requirements of Britain’s Welfare State, and has instinctively dedicated its professional services to community architecture. In each of the five decades of its existence, HLM’s core activities have reflected the new political objectives to meet the evolving needs of the Welfare State. Firstly focusing on civic projects, which supported the reformation of local government, the practice then concentrated on residential projects, in accordance with the new social housing Acts. With the modernisation of the NHS, HLM then worked primarily on healthcare, designing and building over 30 major hospitals and becoming Britain’s leading healthcare specialists. The company then worked on defence projects to meet national security needs and most recently, on education and the important schools programme. Written from the unique perspective of Tony Monk, one of the founding partners, this book reveals the inside story of how this partnership grew to become a leading practice with six offices across the UK. It sets out the early influences and progressive design philosophy of HLM Architects and analyses how they developed their design ethos from Late-Modern through contextual Post-Modern architectural styles by the early 1980s and then matured into producing its own contemporary designs, explaining the reasons why these changes took place over that period. As well as reflecting the transformations in the social and political landscapes and in aesthetic approaches, it also inevitably records the changing social history of the architectural profession from the labour-intensive manual presentations using drafting pens and drawing boards, through to the slick mass produced computer modelling that accompanied the digital revolution and the fundamental adjustments needed to meet the realities of managing an efficient modern and commercial business. The critical Introduction by Dr Edward Denison re-examines the practice’s philosophy and contribution to the evolving Welfare State during the second half of the 20th Century. The complex relationships described shed new light on previous architectural histories and, in doing so, this book adds to the knowledge of post-war British architecture.

Professor Tony Monk is an architectural practitioner, an educationalist and an author. He graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, London and obtained a master’s degree from Yale University where he was a contemporary of Lord Norman Foster and Lord Richard Rogers. He was a founder and joint senior partner of Hutchison Locke and Monk (now HLM Architects) who are a national architectural company renowned for their healthcare work. He was the first Head and Professor of Architecture at the University of Bedfordshire, where he secured RIBA recognition for their new architectural degree. He was the author of two books, "The Art and Architecture of Paul Rudolph", being the biography of America’s late modernist and then subsequently, "Hospital Builders" which is a definitive publication on healthcare design and management. Formerly an advisor to the Sports Council lottery panel, a non-executive director of the Building Centre and a founder director of the Acton Housing Association, he is now an elected Governor of the new Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust.