Brook, R., 2018.

Drawing the Modern: The work of Gordon Hodkinson and post-war architectural education in Manchester

In British architectural culture the adoption of modernism was a slow and meandering uptake with practices known to have used both neo-classical and modern styles from project to project. Similarly in education, some schools were teaching modern and modernist design earlier than others. Manchester Municipal School of Art developed a curriculum based on visits to the Bauhaus. In the 1940s, the Head of Architecture, Douglas Jones, was resolutely modernist. It was in this modern school of architecture, that Gordon Hodkinson studied architecture between 1944 and 1951. He was sponsored by H.T. Seward of Cruickshank & Seward and went on to spend his whole career with the firm. In Manchester he was involved with the Ferranti factory in Wythenshawe and the nearby headquarters for the Renold Chain Company. Gordon was also project architect for the Renold Building on the former UMIST campus, the city's best group of twentieth century buildings. This exhibition, of Gordon's student work, shows a range of drawings from a range of projects. There are also briefs and lecture notes on display that show the type of education a student architect might encounter in post-war Britain. Also on display is material from the Cruickshank & Seward archive, showing some of the buildings with which Gordon was involved during his working life as an architect.