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Papers by Ben Tosland
Modern Heritage of Africa, 2022
John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood are significant architects whose partnership and work has spanned... more John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood are significant architects whose partnership and work has spanned eight decades, much of this undertaken in Nigeria between 1956 and 2017. Within these years, Godwin and Hopwood worked on more than 1000 projects to varying stages of completion, and thus had a key role in the creation of post-colonial and independent Nigeria’s built environment. To narrow the scope, this paper targets the four years leading up to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, a period that established the foundation for their careers in post-colonial Nigeria. My focus is to tease out the importance of their experimental approaches to passive cooling techniques while acknowledging capital’s complex relationship with power and in turn biopolitics. Such physical building techniques, however, remain important today in studying architectural forms and methods that conserve energy in maintaining buildings.
Histories of Postwar Architecture, 2021
All credit is due to Fraser and Golzari in their noble and innovative quest, and indeed any divid... more All credit is due to Fraser and Golzari in their noble and innovative quest, and indeed any divide between both 'sides' is entirely artificial and in part a product of Western political interference. Nonetheless, there is a crucial difference, and despite the two shorelines being only 56 km apart at the narrowest point, they are now worlds apart. This is not a Western cliché, it is clearly evident today in the built fabric, economies and political agenda, and this attracted our attention. Historically there may have been greater exchange and intercourse across the Gulf-it may even have been what Fraser and Golzari claim to be a 'singular entity', and this should be investigated-but this certainly is not the case today. Fraser and Golzari also chose to omit Iraq from their important study, whereas we are delighted to include articles that focus on Iraq and its contribution to the broader debate. The planning of Basra, its elegant port buildings, innovative airport and subsequent expansion are a subject worthy of study. It is not the length of the coast that determines significance here, but rather what happens there (as Tosland discusses in the planning of the Ubullah Neighbourhood plan, and also the wider flow of ideas explored by Kubo on The Architects Collaborative in Baghdad and elsewhere as revealed by Alshabib et al.). Exchanges and dialogue that operate transnationally are crucial here. Yet the discrete focus on individual cities denies this opportunity for a broader investigation, although through the work of firms such as The Architects Collaborative we can begin to see networks, school influences and collaborative approaches to projects across the region. Future scholarship must surely begin to investigate these flows and multiagency tactics more carefully, and this will undoubtedly lead to a 'decentring' of the architect in the story of the built environment, with greater emphasis placed on the role of contractors, developers, clients and political agencies. This will not lessen the need for more careful research into 'local' architectural firms (some of whom are beginning to commission publications such as Pan-Arab Modernism 1968-2018 8 , or are receiving new attention such as DAR here by Alkanderi), but it will require careful questioning of current 'archive' and 'source' material. The archival material available is clearly recording a particular and narrow set of data produced by a distinct, powerful minority. This repository of material, whilst useful and relevant, must be questioned and treated with scepticism. 9 It needs to be supplemented by more data from a much broader set of voices. This will require new repositories to be formed and platforms where discussion can take place, including in journals like this one. We have made an attempt here to attract new voices, we have given precedent to early career researchers (5 out of 8 papers are from early career researchers), and agreed to include papers that might not be readily sanctioned in the upper 7 Email excerpt from Murray Fraser to Roberto and Iain, 19 th August 2020.
Planning Perspectives, 2018
Between 1954 and 1956, the architect, educator and planner, Max Lock (1909-1988), produced a tril... more Between 1954 and 1956, the architect, educator and planner, Max Lock (1909-1988), produced a trilogy of plans to modernise the historical city of Basra and create new areas at Margil and Um Qasr in the south of Iraq. The New Basrah Plan was heavily inspired by the works of Patrick Geddes and aligned with contemporaries such as Lewis Mumford, Lock’s planning was progressive in scope and looked to differ from the planning of post-war principles in Britain through his notions of ‘civic surgery’. Contrary to this, his plans for Um Qasr and Margil focussed on infrastructure and the creation of more industrial areas not prioritising people and place as highly as he did in the New Basrah Plan. Lock’s ‘Civic Surgery’ offered an alternative to mainstream thought by attempting to create usable, humanistic spaces, which hampered by politics and legislation, resulted in the plan’s shelving and were contradicted by his other works’ philosophies. New retrospective analysis of his under appreciated career reveals the complexities of his planning which this article demonstrates through the ‘failure’ of the New Basrah Plan and his plans at Um Qasr and Margil.
Conference Presentations by Ben Tosland
This paper was given at the conference 'From Building to Continent: How Architecture Makes Territ... more This paper was given at the conference 'From Building to Continent: How Architecture Makes Territories' at the University of Kent on 29th June 2018.
Thesis Chapters by Ben Tosland
Modern Heritage of Africa, 2022
John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood are significant architects whose partnership and work has spanned... more John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood are significant architects whose partnership and work has spanned eight decades, much of this undertaken in Nigeria between 1956 and 2017. Within these years, Godwin and Hopwood worked on more than 1000 projects to varying stages of completion, and thus had a key role in the creation of post-colonial and independent Nigeria’s built environment. To narrow the scope, this paper targets the four years leading up to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, a period that established the foundation for their careers in post-colonial Nigeria. My focus is to tease out the importance of their experimental approaches to passive cooling techniques while acknowledging capital’s complex relationship with power and in turn biopolitics. Such physical building techniques, however, remain important today in studying architectural forms and methods that conserve energy in maintaining buildings.
Histories of Postwar Architecture, 2021
All credit is due to Fraser and Golzari in their noble and innovative quest, and indeed any divid... more All credit is due to Fraser and Golzari in their noble and innovative quest, and indeed any divide between both 'sides' is entirely artificial and in part a product of Western political interference. Nonetheless, there is a crucial difference, and despite the two shorelines being only 56 km apart at the narrowest point, they are now worlds apart. This is not a Western cliché, it is clearly evident today in the built fabric, economies and political agenda, and this attracted our attention. Historically there may have been greater exchange and intercourse across the Gulf-it may even have been what Fraser and Golzari claim to be a 'singular entity', and this should be investigated-but this certainly is not the case today. Fraser and Golzari also chose to omit Iraq from their important study, whereas we are delighted to include articles that focus on Iraq and its contribution to the broader debate. The planning of Basra, its elegant port buildings, innovative airport and subsequent expansion are a subject worthy of study. It is not the length of the coast that determines significance here, but rather what happens there (as Tosland discusses in the planning of the Ubullah Neighbourhood plan, and also the wider flow of ideas explored by Kubo on The Architects Collaborative in Baghdad and elsewhere as revealed by Alshabib et al.). Exchanges and dialogue that operate transnationally are crucial here. Yet the discrete focus on individual cities denies this opportunity for a broader investigation, although through the work of firms such as The Architects Collaborative we can begin to see networks, school influences and collaborative approaches to projects across the region. Future scholarship must surely begin to investigate these flows and multiagency tactics more carefully, and this will undoubtedly lead to a 'decentring' of the architect in the story of the built environment, with greater emphasis placed on the role of contractors, developers, clients and political agencies. This will not lessen the need for more careful research into 'local' architectural firms (some of whom are beginning to commission publications such as Pan-Arab Modernism 1968-2018 8 , or are receiving new attention such as DAR here by Alkanderi), but it will require careful questioning of current 'archive' and 'source' material. The archival material available is clearly recording a particular and narrow set of data produced by a distinct, powerful minority. This repository of material, whilst useful and relevant, must be questioned and treated with scepticism. 9 It needs to be supplemented by more data from a much broader set of voices. This will require new repositories to be formed and platforms where discussion can take place, including in journals like this one. We have made an attempt here to attract new voices, we have given precedent to early career researchers (5 out of 8 papers are from early career researchers), and agreed to include papers that might not be readily sanctioned in the upper 7 Email excerpt from Murray Fraser to Roberto and Iain, 19 th August 2020.
Planning Perspectives, 2018
Between 1954 and 1956, the architect, educator and planner, Max Lock (1909-1988), produced a tril... more Between 1954 and 1956, the architect, educator and planner, Max Lock (1909-1988), produced a trilogy of plans to modernise the historical city of Basra and create new areas at Margil and Um Qasr in the south of Iraq. The New Basrah Plan was heavily inspired by the works of Patrick Geddes and aligned with contemporaries such as Lewis Mumford, Lock’s planning was progressive in scope and looked to differ from the planning of post-war principles in Britain through his notions of ‘civic surgery’. Contrary to this, his plans for Um Qasr and Margil focussed on infrastructure and the creation of more industrial areas not prioritising people and place as highly as he did in the New Basrah Plan. Lock’s ‘Civic Surgery’ offered an alternative to mainstream thought by attempting to create usable, humanistic spaces, which hampered by politics and legislation, resulted in the plan’s shelving and were contradicted by his other works’ philosophies. New retrospective analysis of his under appreciated career reveals the complexities of his planning which this article demonstrates through the ‘failure’ of the New Basrah Plan and his plans at Um Qasr and Margil.
This paper was given at the conference 'From Building to Continent: How Architecture Makes Territ... more This paper was given at the conference 'From Building to Continent: How Architecture Makes Territories' at the University of Kent on 29th June 2018.