File documents a feasibility study commissioned by J. Lyons Co. Ltd for the conversion of the Oxford Corner House, in London, England, United Kingdom, into a combined information, education and skill centre. The unrealized project was to include a ‘self-pace public skill and information hive’ with facilities for conferences, teaching, exhibitions, computer use, planetarium, audio-visual library, and public eating areas. The project included a movable floor system and projection screens. Reference material includes plans and details of London Electric Railway subway line, alterations to Oxford Street Corner House by J. Lyons and Co. Ltd., field notes, photographs and photomontages of site. Conceptual diagrammatic plans explore designs for the organization of activities. Charts show variables, including number of people, monitors/screens, and study carrels; circulation patterns; and maximization of viewing capacity. Preliminary presentation boards illustrate project feasibility and include photographs of model and existing conditions. Design development drawings include floor plans, plans exploring the relationships between various activities, analysis of building volumes and networks, comparative plans showing main structural grid, sections, diagrammatic sections for public activity areas, axonometric drawings of roof, perspectives of projection screens and moveable floor system, progress charts, and diagrams and graphs of communication and travel modes, routes, and time into central London from outlying areas. Some material in this file was published in Price, Cedric. ‘Cedric Price-Works II’ (London: Architectural Press, 1984), 11, 54, 112; Landau, Royston. ‘New Directions in British Architecture’. New York: George Braziller, 1968. 108-111; and ‘Self-Pace Public Skill and Information Hive.’ ‘Architectural Design’. (May 1968), 237-239. Material in this file was produced between 1927 and 1967, but predominantly between 1965 and 1966.
Group DR1995:0224:001-013 contains reference drawings attributed to London Transport Architect’s Department and J. Lyons & Company Limited Architect’s Office. Group DR1995:0224:333-341 contains drawings attributed to Richard Sutcliffe Limited, Felix J. Samuely & Partners, and G.E.C. (Process Engineering) Ltd.File contains conceptual drawings, consultant drawings, design development drawings, presentation drawings, presentation panels, reference drawings, photographic material, and textual records.
Canadian Centre for Architecture
REFERENCE
Price, C. (1966) O.C.H. Feasibility Study, Canadian Centre for Architecture
FURTHER READING
Fellows, N. (2020) S2.D067 Oxford Corner House: A selection of digitized images from the Cedric Price fonds, Flickr