FREDERICK GIBBERD, A VERY BRITISH MODERNIST

In the mid 1930’s a young architect received his first major commission, a development of private flats in Streatham Hill. Pullman Court became one of the finest buildings of the Modern Movement in the UK and is now grade II* listed. The young architect was Sir Frederick Gibberd.

FPArchitects were commissioned to design a small exhibition to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of Pullman Court. The exhibition was to show original images of the building from a variety of collections: the RIBA Collections of Pullman Court which also includes a selection of Gibberd’s other significant works; the Architectural Press Archive; Henk Snoek’s Collection and some remarkable photographs taken by residents of the estate.

Full-sized OSB sheets, held together with clear cable ties in the shape of triangular prisms, were scattered in a random fashion under the canopy between the seven-storey back blocks, creating a free-flowing promenade space.

Their arrangement was aimed at establishing new ‘in between’ spaces to frame vistas of the buildings’ modernist forms. Visitors wandering through the six thematic sections of the exhibition were invited to compare views of Pullman Court with images of Gibberd’s other projects, thus creating a personal interpretation of the architect’s oeuvre.

“ … had I been less interested in people and more interested in building a monument, I’d

probably have been a better architect.” Sir Frederick Gibberd, CBE, RA.