Making the grade?

The concrete jungles of 1960s architecture are not only back in vogue - they are being listed by English Heritage. But are they hell to work in? Kate Worsley reports

These days it is positively old-fashioned to moan about the monstrosities to which 1960s architecture gave birth. Throughout the last decade, scathing comments about stained concrete and windy walkways were de rigueur. Now, in the late 1990s, inhabitants of London's infamous council high-rise, Trellick Tower, gesture proudly at the view from the 31st floor. All the mud that was slung has washed away from the best buildings of the period.

Admittedly, even the good-looking ones are cursed with "solar gain", making them unbearably hot in summer months. Tile claddings have flaked off, flat roofs have inflicted their own torture. But now that the 1960s radical, clean and purposeful vision is back in fashion, there is a growing appreciation of some of the architectural experiments of that era.

Universities are the best place to look for impressive architecture of the post-war period, because they could afford it. As symbol and crucible of the nation's economic future, universities were the recipients of state subsidies amounting to Pounds 100 million a year in the mid-1960s. Sid Urry, a historian involved in planning the campus of Brunel University, recalls a golden age. "We thought education, especially technical education, was the making of the nation. Architects were so busy they could pick and choose." Campuses were meant to embody their function in their form, to express and contain the principles of education.

To my suburban seven-year-old eyes, Lancaster University in 1973 looked like a space ship that had landed amid the sheep. Up close, the grassy slopes, quiet corners, and blinding white angles were thrilling - the Barbara Hepworth sculptures fun to wriggle through too. And a quarter of a century on, Shepheard Epstein and Hunter's 1963 campus, designed to be traversed in the ten-minute break between lectures, still rewards its visitors.

The architectural merits of campuses like Lancaster are now under consideration for listing by English Heritage (the first wave, pre-1962, was listed in 1994). Although the ecological impact of the materials used leaves much to be desired, the architects' aesthetic is coming into its own. The social engineering that failed so dramatically in housing and town planning unexpectedly succeeded on the best college campuses.

"This 1960s university architecture has been rather tucked away,'' explains Elaine Harwood, who carried out the English Heritage survey. "People in their twenties are now reacting against post-modernism, which took Bridesheadism to a silly extreme. This architecture has something clean and fresh. It is also architecture with a social conscience, using public money to make sure people got a good education."

Interestingly, the three campuses that have survived the best - Lancaster, York and the University of East Anglia - all received awards in the 1960s from The Civic Trust (which recognises buildings that improve the quality of life). There is also concrete monolithic Brunel (1964-1970), by the "architect without theories", Richard Sheppard. Once the set for A Clockwork Orange, it is now enveloped in a decade's judicious planting by landscape gardener Glenn Charrington.

Viewed from today's perspective, the optimism of the period is beguiling, especially when today's equivalent is the out-of-town shopping centre - just as monolithic, but dedicated to a very different god.

UNDER CONSIDERATION

University of East Anglia. 1963. by Denys Lasdun

LISTED STATUS

"An interesting campus with a history of daring architecture. We are looking at all Lasdun's early buildings on the campus."

Elaine Harwood, English Heritage.

Perhaps the most distinctive UK campus with a continuing tradition of radical architecture. Denys Lasdun's ziggurats have endured years of carping: there have been reports of "freezing concentration camp cells'', the university has a high student suicide rate and there are concerns about safety (so far three drunken people have fallen off the ledges).

Under consideration are Lasdun's original buildings, including student residences Norfolk and Suffolk Terrace The fan's view:

"Arguably the best Brutalist architecture of its time."

Christopher Stocks, Wallpaper.

What's it like to work in?

"When the ziggurats catch the light they look fantastic. The rooms are quite large and the windows much larger than anything built in the past 20 years. We don't have problems keeping it warm - the heating is on a university-wide circuit. It's a good design: the 12 rooms in both arms of the V face the lake and get the sunshine in the afternoon."

Chris Bennett, accommodation assistant, lived in UEA's Norfolk Terrace as a student five years ago.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HISTORY FACULTY. 1963-68. by James Stirling

LISTED STATUS

"It would be a controversial listing: you either love it or hate it."

Elaine Harwood, English Heritage.

"Here is anti-architecture,'' boomed the appalled architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. Object of much derision in the 1980s when architectural historian Gavin Stamp and other young fogeys had to endure it.

The fan's view:

"It has, internally at least, the inexplicable obviousness of a great work of art."

Cambridge New Architecture.

What's it like to work in?

"It's uplifting rather than oppressive. It's got a spacious and well laid-out feel. There have been practical problems with heating, and the glass roof. We are rewiring and adding Ethernet points, and hope to replace the glass ceiling in a couple of years. Staff are very conscious of working somewhere that has a certain degree of fame as well as notoriety. The radiating shelves give you a clear view of everything that's going on - but you still get students tearing pages out out of books. If they feel watched, there are lots of alcoves too. The massive amount of shelf space means we have room for expansion."

Linda Washington, librarian.

York University 1963-67. by Andrew Derbyshire of Robert Matthews Johnson-Marshall

LISTED STATUS

"It's very suburban, not at all monumental.It could get on the garden register."

Elaine Harwood, English Heritage.

Regarded as the most successful use of the CLASP prefab system, originally developed for schools. The central lake has caused wildlife problems.

What's it like to work in?

"Wentworth C block had a particularly bad reputation - breeze blocks, thin walls - but I enjoyed living there. It still had its original vivid orange and green curtains, big windows, and it was very functional and sociable. But they're planning on knocking down A & B block in Wentworth and one wing of Vanburgh block - to make way for a shopping centre and ensuite facilities for conference use. I think they should preserve the whole architectural concept."

Helen Graham, student union deputy welfare president, lived in Wentworth C block, York University.

ON THE LIST

St CATHERINE'S COLLEGE. Oxford University 1961-66. by Arne Jacobsen. Listed status: Grade 1

Arne Jacobsen was a controversial choice to design the first new Oxford college buildings. As his only British work, "Catz" attracts coachloads of Danish architecture students every summer. Jacobsen designed everything, down to the cutlery, but his costly cooling techniques were not implemented in the study bedrooms (although they later proved themselves elsewhere in the building). The college plans to replace the sashes with double glazing. Despite "painfully small" undergraduate rooms and an "alarming" junior common room, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner thought it "a perfect piece of architecture".

The fan's view:

"It stands alone as a strongly landscaped entity on a little platform - not the collegiate form that you get in the other schemes of the period."

Andrew Mead, Architects' Journal.

What's it like to work in?

"Of course it deserves its status - you're talking to the man who has to maintain it! A typical problem is the flat roofs - one is being redone at the moment. It does look like a 1960s film set. It is good to work in though - well thought-out. Jacobsen was into straight lines, so my office occupies an exact three metre cube. Most people are overwhelmed by the size and the straight lines, but it grows on you."

Martin Jackson, bursar, St Catherine's

FALMER HOUSE Sussex University 1960-61

by Basil Spence

LISTED STATUS: Grade 1

The architectural mess that is the university of Keele prompted the use of a famous architect (Sir Basil Spence had just completed Coventry Cathedral) to design Sussex University, built later in the decade. The aim was to embody the idea of education within the university buildings. The design strongly influenced the universities of Essex and East Anglia. Falmer House was the first of the campus buildings and Spence used up his entire budget on it.

The fan's view:

"It's a campus that tells you something about the county of Sussex. The rationalists wouldn't like it. It was built to be no higher than the tree canopy. The concrete struts echo the tree trunks - a sort of tectonic architecture."

Brian Edwards, professor of architecture at Huddersfield and Spence biographer.

What's it like to work in?

"Not a lot of people are fond of it, to be honest. If you don't have to work in it you can appreciate it much more. It's terrible for access and it's a bit too concrete for my taste. It looks quite dated really. It has scaffolding around it as we speak. We got a Pounds 1.25 million grant to renovate it last year. The roof gullies have suffered badly from erosion. They're doing the heating and the electrics too. My office is like a greenhouse in the summer, the other side of the building doesn't get any sun at all. It's built on a square (Fulton Court) with gaps between the offices. Spence's original idea was to fill them in as the building grew, but English Heritage won't let us. It's not something I would list, but then they list blocks of flats, don't they?" Irene Browning, general manager of the student union, which has been based in Falmer House since the 1970s.