Clifton Catholic Cathedral

Planned in the 1960s at the height of brutalism architecture in the UK with construction taking place 1970-73. The  exterior cladding is pre-cast concrete panels of pink Aberdeen granite aggregate, with contrasting white concrete piers marking the angles and portals. Concentric stages of walling rise to a steep double pyramid roof. A cross in a tripartite spire of bevelled fins, rises to 167' . In plan the church is an irregular hexagon subdivided internally into varied polygons. The controlling module for all angles and dimensions is an eighteen inch equilateral triangle; a classical approach giving unity. The exposed white concrete interior was cast in-situ using Russian redwood formwork giving very crisp texture. The concrete was all mixed by one man. The plywood tetrahedra in the nave ceiling are part of the acoustic scheme.

UEA Monochrome

 This is the final post from our trip to University of East Anglia and is my favourite I think in showing the elegant lines of the Brutalist building. I was using the set to practise the new and very sophisticated masking facilities in Lightroom 11. Not quite mastered all the features but certainly being able to used multiple masks in combination is a very strong feature.

UEA Through a Pinhole

Yesterday I introduced Barry to the 'concrete city' that comprises the University of East Anglia. opened in 1970 it is one of the best examples of Brutalism Architecture in the UK (see blog from last visit). This time I decided to use a pinhole lens for some of the time, which worked well when the sun was shining but not so good in duller light. Here some of the better shots with shutterspeeds from 0.5 to 1/15th second.

UEA, A Brutalism Megastructure

The University of East Anglia campus was designed by Denys Lasdun and constructed in 1970.  The teaching block is a long, winding ribbon with copper hued windows. The horizontals are broken up by concrete housed vents and lift shafts jutting above the roofline. The library and students’ union building are an arrangements of boxes that continue the horizontal thread. The campus is completed by the student accommodation, the ziggurats seen through the sculpture in the infrared images. connected to the rest by long concrete walkways.