Part of:

People:

Cedric Price (architect)
Felix J. Samuely & Partners (consulting engineering firm)
Cedric Price (archive creator)

Title:

BMI/HQ

Date:

1967-1971

Level of archival description:
File 74

Extent and medium:

285 drawings
210 reprographic copies
19 panels
4 maps
1 model
1 photograph
0.38 l.m. of textual records

Scope and content:
File documents the unexecuted design for the headquarters of the Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI), in Birmingham, England. This project is related to the Shantasea Development (AP144.S2.D72) from which Cedric Price resigned as architect to take on the role of architect for BMI, one of the proposed tenants for the Shantasea project. Cedric Price proposed a municipal and regional "nerve centre" to house seminar and study rooms, workshops, galleries, film, television and music studios, a library, a planetarium, and a theatre. A flexible life-cycle plan (expansion, static, contraction) for the building and the activities would allow BMI to expand in the short and medium term, and to shrink in the long term, when it was assumed that many of its roles would be replaced by the UK's Open University plan (Works II, 42). Work on the project came to a stop in 1970 under a new city council (Architectural Design, June 1971, 368). Existing conditions material consists of maps and a survey of Birmingham. Conceptual sketches and drawings include: annotated diagrammatic plans and sections used to develop the building's massing and the horizontal/vertical relationships between functional areas; axonometric views showing the building's general form/functions; plans used for calculating square footage; diagrams showing visual and physical movement through the building; information and movement charts; and flow charts showing the building's organization. Design development drawings consist of graphs showing how functional areas might be used over time. Design development and working drawings include: diagrammatic plans and sections; exploded axonometric views of the functional relationships between areas; exterior axonometric views; sectional perspectives; space allocation plans; circulation drawings; diagrams showing activities throughout the day; furniture equipment schedules; theatre seating and stair studies; and elevations for exterior cladding. Charts show links between activities/actions; activity distribution; activity/capacity; progress of pre-contract work; and the telephone network. File also includes drawings by engineering consultants Felix Samuely and Partners and Zisman, Bowyer and Partners. Presentation material includes: newspaper clippings and text concerning the project; diagrammatic plans, sections, and charts; and a photo collage of the site; and a text by Cedric Price entitled "The Present Position". Some materials in this file were published in "Cedric Price Supplement No. 3", 'Architectural Design', vol. 41, (June 1971), 364-368, and 'Cedric Price-Works II' (London: Architectural Press, 1984), 36, 42. Material in this file was produced between 1967 and 1971.
Zisman Bowyer and Partners appear as the mechanical and electrical consulting engineers; Silk and Frazier as the quantity surveyors; and Versa-Serve Ltd as the catering consultants on this project.

File contains cartographic materials, conceptual drawings, design development drawings, panels, photographic materials, presentation drawings, presentation panels, publication drawings, technical drawings, and textual records.

Reference number:

AP144.S2.D74

Arrangement:
Materials in this series were kept in the original order in which they were received.

Location:

Birmingham West Midlands England United Kingdom

Language of material:

English

Related units of description:

For additional materials related to this project, see files DR2004:0036, DR2004:0104, DR2004:1158, DR1995:0216:398-399, DR1995:0229:301:003, and DR2004:1167 in this fonds. The following files in this project series contain materials related to other projects: File DR1995:0243:397-412 contains a progress chart for project series AP144.S2.D81, Blackpool Project; Files DR1995:0243:504 and DR1995:0243:523:001 contain materials that relate to project series AP144.S2.D72, Shantasea Development; File DR2004:0292 contains AD layouts and relates to files DR1995:0222:001 - DR1995:0222:021, DR2004:1418, and DR2006:0111 in this fonds.

General note:

There was a public exhibition (October 1970) and a Cultural Conference (August 1969) with respect to this project.