With over 40 years of experience, Catherine Croft and the Twentieth Century Society (C20) has spearheaded campaigns that turned the tide for brutalist, high-tech, and postmodern buildings—both iconic and overlooked. Their recent success in securing Grade II listing for London’s Brutalist South Bank Theatre Centre (1968, Architects’ Department of the London County Council, led by architect Norman Engleback) made global headlines. It took thirty-five years of campaning.
Catherine Croft will explore the following questions: How have public and professional attitudes toward post war architecture as heritage in Britain evolved over this period? Which aspects of 20th century heritage remain at risk, and which strategies have proven most effective in shifting public opinion?
Reflecting on the role of C20 Society, the national charity campaigning for the conservation of modern architecture, alongside the work of Historic England and government, Catherine Croft will look at threats to individual Brutalist, High-Tech and Postmodern buildings in conjunction with broader campaigns. What more needs to be done to secure Britain’s modernist heritage and ask: what parallels are there with Danish experience?
The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with Marie Kraul, journalist at Byrummonitor and Martin Søberg, architectural historian and chair of Docomomo DK. Moderated by Grethe Pontoppidan, arkitekturet.
We’ll end the afternoon with snacks and refreshments.
The event is organized by arkitekturet in collaboration with Docomomo DK and arkitekturbilleder.dk, with support from Arkitektforeningen.
Learn more about C20.
About Catherine Croft
Catherine Croft has been Director of C20 Society since 2002, and is Editor of the C20 magazine. She read Architecture at Cambridge University and then studied Architectural History in the USA and conservation at the Architectural Association, London. Prior to C20 Society she worked for English Heritage (now Historic England). She regular comments on architecture and conservation on UK radio and television, and has written for major architectural magazines as well as being the author of a book on Concrete Architecture, and a contributor to publications on numerousC20 building types and styles. She teaches a course on concrete for conservation professionals at West Dean College.
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