College, Impington Village College (1939)*

Artist/Designer: Walter Gropius, Edwin Maxwell Fry

Project Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom

Figure 1: Impington Village College. Digital Image. Available from RIBA Library Photographs Collection,. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Style/Period(s):
Modern

Primary Material(s):
No Primary Material Assigned.

Function(s):
Classroom

Related Website(s):

Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1939

Additional Information:
Project Description:
Impignton Village College was established in 1939, by Gropius and Fry, as a "Village College" - an institution that served the needs not of just school children, but also of other members of the community interested in taking adult classes, or using the recreation facilities. This school is an example of Functionalism, as prevalent in pre-WWII modernist civic architecture. Impington Village College is designed to accommodate the trees and farmland surrounding it, with a great focus on bringing nature to the indoor learning environment. This photograph of a home-ec class at the school, showing children concentrating on the task before them, is clearly staged. The class, though located in an ultra-modern and architecturally progressive building, is as traditional as can be - the students are obediently doing exactly as they are told, one exactly as another, performing the role of the diligent children in a spotless classroom for the photographer.

Publications/Texts in Print:
Graves, Ben E. School Ways: The Planning and Design of America’s Schools. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993.

Grosvenor, Ian, and Catherine Burke. School. London: Reaktion Books, Ltd., 2008.

Hille, Thomas R. Modern Schools: A Century of Design for Education. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.


Building Address:
New Rd, Impington, Cambridge CB24 9LX, United Kingdom

Supporting Staff/Designers:
Walter Gropius and Edwin Maxwell Fry- Architects

Significant Dates:
1939 - Established.
2014 - Received grant from Heritage Lottery Fund for repair and restoration.

Tags:
Walter Gropius, Edwin Maxwell Fry, Bauhaus, modernism, modern architecture, functionalism

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