Smithson, Alison Margaret

▪ 1994

      British architect (b. June 22, 1928, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England—d. Aug. 16, 1993, London, England), with her husband, Peter, was in the forefront of New Brutalism, an architectural movement that stressed spartan functionality and a stark presentation of structure and materials, including exposed concrete and visible service conduits. She was born Alison Gill and studied at the University of Durham, where she met fellow student Peter Smithson. They were married in 1949. In 1950 they began a joint practice and a seamless partnership in which they shared credit for everything they designed or wrote. Although the Smithsons built relatively few major projects, their revolutionary Secondary Modern School at Hunstanton, Norfolk (completed 1954), was generally recognized as the first example of New Brutalism. Other significant projects included the Economist Building Group, St. James's, London (1964), and Robin Hood Gardens (1972), a low-income housing scheme in London's East End. As key figures in the radical Independent Group and Team X, the Smithsons carried even more weight for their theoretical writings, notably Urban Structuring Studies (1967), Without Rhetoric: An Architectural Aesthetic (1973), and numerous articles in Architectural Design. She also wrote a novel, A Portrait of the Female Mind as a Young Girl (1966).

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