HARLOW HOUSING
Harlow Development Corporation invites architects to submit designs for houses and flats to be erected on a site in Passmores Neighbourhood, Harlow, Essex. With the aim of stimulating new thinking about questions of layout and house design, an interesting, undulating site has been chosen, and among the general conditions of the competition the Corporation points out:
It is sometimes said that architects are too restricted by rules and regulations that were framed a generation or more ago; that new ideas, new forms of construction, new conceptions of the use and furnishing of living space, are stifled because of the need for strict compliance with building bye-laws, street bye-laws, doctrines of the local planning authority, specifications of the Housing Manual, stipulations of the fire, police, sanitary and traffic authorities and local government. All these regulations are directed to specific points that must be satisfactorily met, but if architects, while having full regard for the underlying objects of existing regulations were given a freer hand to solve these old problems in new ways, it might result in a pattern of living the better suited to the needs of modern urban society and might even mark an outstanding advance in architectural development.
”Where a winning entry does not conform to certain of the statutory and other requirements listed above but nevertheless provides a satisfactory pattern for living … the Corporation will be prepared to seek the necessary relaxations and approvals required from the responsible authorities concerned.”
Assessors are H. T. Cadbury-Brown. A.A.Dip. (Hons.), F.R.I.B.A. and Victor Hamnett, B.S.C., A.R.I.B.A., DIP.T.P., A.R.I.C.S., A.M.P.T.I., (executive architect to the Development Corporation). First prize will be £1,000, second, £750; and 3rd prize, £500. Final date for questions to the General Manager, Harlow Development Corporation, Terlings, Harlow, Essex, September 1, 1960. Closing date for entries, March 6, 1961.
Architects' Journal, 14th July, 1960, p. 59
Competition
HARLOW HOUSING
The results of the competition for the layout and design of housing in the Passmores Neighbourhood, Harlow, Essex, have been announced. The first premium of £1,000 was awareded to Michael Neylan, A.R.I.B.A., whose scheme appears below. Second premium of £750 was awarded to Geoffrey J. Darke, A.R.I.B.A.., Dipl.Arch., and Robert Blom van Assendelft, and third premium to David Croghan, M.A., A.R.I.B.A., in association with David Davies, M.A., A.R.I.B.A. (consulting quantitiy surveyor: Victor Bugg, A.R.I.C.S.
Architects' Journal, 18th May, 1961, p. 723
[full competition report, Architects' Journal, 25th May 1961, 765-776 – no mention of Archigram]
