Part of:

People:

Cedric Price (architect)
J. Lyons and Company Limited (client)
Frank Newby (engineer)
Felix J. Samuely & Partners (engineering firm)
Stephen Mullin (assistant)
Sol Cornberg (consultant)
Douglas Smith (quantity surveyors)
Baker, Wilkins & Smith (quantity surveyors)
Keith Harrison (consultant)
Raymond Spottiswoode (consultant)
Sandy Brown (consultant)
Aerofilms and Aero Pictorial Ltd. (photographers)
Magna Models Ltd (model maker)
Cedric Price (archive creator)

Title:

O.C.H. Feasibility Study

Date:

1927-1967, predominant 1965-1966

Level of archival description:
File 59

Extent and medium:

159 drawings
148 reprographic copies
7 panels
0.26 l.m. of textual records
0.03 l.m. of photographic material

Scope and content:
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.

Reference number:

AP144.S2.D59

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

Location:

London Greater London England United Kingdom

Language of material:

English, German

Related units of description:

For additional materials related to this project, see files DR2004:0036, DR1995:0236:534:009 and DR1995:0300:001-008 in this fonds. Files DR2004:0091 and DR1995:0224:342 in this project series contain textual materials related to another project series, AP144.S2.D46, Fun Palace.