Building for Education: The School Designs of Sir Basil Spence.

Sir Basil Urwin Spence O.M., R.A., began his architectural career in Edinburgh in 1931 and was still designing at his untimely death in 1976. Throughout his life he maintained a strong link with Scotland and remained true to the ethos of his training at Edinburgh College of Art, namely that the practice of architecture was essentially an art and a craft. Never easily pigeon-holed, Spence's oeuvre was eclectic. In turns traditional and innovative, theatrical and intimate, his works always displayed his concerns for artistry, materials, craftsmanship, texture and colour. Best known for prestige projects such as Coventry Cathedral, the Rome Embassy and Sussex University, Spence's school designs, which formed a small, but significant, part of his output during the 1950s, are largely overlooked. This paper explores his particular architectural approach through the wide ranging styles of the eight schools designed in his Edinburgh and London offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]