DETAILS VOL5: New Town - Stevenage & Milton Keynes

DETAILS, edited by Wayne Head, explores architectural details in 20th Century New Towns, comparing and contrasting Stevenage and Milton Keynes. It examines the art and architecture of these new towns, reflecting societal and political shifts over the years. The publications include drawings, insights, and stories, challenging the notion of "good" or "bad" details and their impact on buildings, architects, places, and movements in history.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 31 May 2022
Publisher: The Everyday Press

Eighteen iconic details of Milton Keynes and Stevenage are released in the latest editions of DETAILS, bringing drawings, insights, and stories into the architectural narrative of 20th Century New Towns. DETAILS is a publication edited by Wayne Head that interrogates architectural details in various locations across the UK and further afield. The series explores questions such as what makes a detail 'good or 'bad', what it might say about a building, an architect, a place, or a movement in history, and whether a building can manifest how we think. Previous series have looked at The Barbican and Golden Lane Estate, Radical Essex, Clerkenwell, and The City of London. The latest edition of DETAILS compares and contrasts the first post-war new town of Stevenage with the final, largest, and most ambitious new town of Milton Keynes, created 20 years later. The New Towns Act was passed in 1946, and the plan was to move people from over-crowded and bomb-damaged cities to self-contained communities inspired by the garden city model. In the end, Britain created 32 new towns, home to nearly three million people today. These editions and accompanying exhibitions explore the art and architecture of Stevenage (designated as the first new town in 1946) and Milton Keynes (one of the last wave, designated in 1967). They chart over thirty years of creative and pioneering designs, reflecting the dramatic shifts in society and politics along the way.

ISBN-13: 9781912458172