ESSAY: LUCKY JIM

摘要

For my generation arriving in London at the end of the 1950s, the two poles of influence were James Stirling on the one hand and Peter and Alison Smithson on the other. Practically the same age and all from the north of England, their differences begin as soon as we look further. Of Scottish blood, Stirling studied at Liverpool, famed in the years either side of World War Ⅱ as a brilliant "Beaux-Arts" school (at least in terms of presentation, despite Modernist leanings). The Smithsons, born and trained on the other - more Calvinist - side of the Pennines, attended the Newcastle school. Outside London, one had been far better informed about the latter couple because of their utterances, exhibits, installations, and a conspicuous series of alliances with international groups, such as CIAM and Team 10. It was only on one's arrival in London that the grapevine suggested that there was a naughty young man around town who was constantly being referred to by the cognoscenti. Handsome (and still not too large), he would appear at Hampstead parties, charming all the best girls -particularly those with their own creative talent.