News on Screen

Series

Series Name

The Pacemakers

Issue

Issue No.

8

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. Sir Basil Spence

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

COI synopsis: Sir Basil Spence is an architect, one of the most eminent in Britain and the world. He sprang into fame when his design won the open competition to rebuild Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. The uncompromisingly modern nature of his work caused an outcry, at first of astonishment and later of admiration. Today he is at work on buildings in London, Rome, Geneva and Athens. His major works include a whole new university, Sussex, an airport in Glasgow, and his minor ones cover fishermen’s cottages and a mock baronial hall in the wilds of Scotland. He is an engaging, articulate, enthusiastic man with decided views on the nature of an architect’s work. The architect is a curious mixture of engineer, artist and sociologist. He must know how to use materials and how to build boldly. He must create a huge three-dimensional piece of art, a beautiful piece of environment, a sculpture to live in. But above all he must create a place for people, for people to use, to like. Sir Basil Spence reveals in this one of the main springs of his work, and for an uncompromising modernist it’s almost a surprising one. He’s a romantic, looking for the beautiful expression of a human emotion in brick and stone. He likes buildings with "a sense of occasion", that state their purpose clearly. In this film Sir Basil Spence talks about three principal projects: the University of Sussex, a Civic Centre in London’s Hampstead which knocks the pomp out of municipal buildings and the new barracks in Knightsbridge for the men and horses of the Household Brigade. His charm is all-absorbing, and his dedication too: "...after all architecture is a very humble art, it is a very humble art. It is clothing people’s lives. Exactly the same way as the tailor clothes your body, architecture clothes the lives of people, they live in it, you can’t get away from it."

Keywords

Buildings and structures

Written sources

COI Catalogue Cards [BFI National Archive]
Viewing Copy - BFI National Archive
COI Microfilm Roll 16 [BFI National Archive]   Used for synopsis

COI Reference

MI 1461/8

Credits:

Sponsor

Central Office of Information (COI)

Sponsor

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)