Abstract
AN important modification of the building plans of the University of London on the Bloomsbury site is announced. Mr. Charles Holden's original model published in 1932 proposed a building nearly a quarter of a mile long with two towers and long facades on Malet Street and Woburn Square. This was afterwards modified by the introduction of two bays on the Malet Street frontage. The design received almost complete commendation from the lay and professional Press. NATURE in an article by “T. L1. H.” published in the issue of July 9, 1932, was the first journal to express misgiving. ”Questions of style apart,” it was suggested, “air, sunlight, and accessibility are crucial in considering the design. Is it wise, from these viewpoints, to build a single huge building, possibly the largest in London, a break-air, if the word may be coined?” Attention was directed to the difficulty of ventilating a large building and the plea put forward ”that the idea of a single great building should be abandoned and an alternative design adopted treating the problem in a more free and characteristic way". This policy has now been officially adopted and a group of buildings surrounding the garden of Torrington Square will be substituted for the northern part of the site. Sites have been offered to Birkbeck College and the School of Oriental Studies. Birkbeck College has in recent years greatly developed its work in scientific teaching and research, particularly for evening students, and will presumably require large laboratories, lecture theatres and other accommodation.
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New Buildings for the University of London. Nature 140, 1088 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401088c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401088c0