View source for Glass Age Development Committee

The '''Glass Age Development Committee''' was established in 1937 by [[Pilkington]] to promote the use of [[glass]] as a building material in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite journal|date=April 1964|title=A Multi-Purpose Seven Storey Bridge Project for the Thames in London|journal=Indian Concrete Journal|volume=38|pages=136}}</ref> It commissioned designs for many large-scale schemes, none of which were ever built.
Initially its name was the Glass Age Town Planning Committee. The first committee consisted of the first-generation modern architects [[Maxwell Fry]], [[Robert Furneaux Jordan]], [[Raymond McGrath]], [[Howard Robertson (architect)|Howard Robertson]], [[George Grey Wornum]] and [[F. R. S. Yorke]]. Each was asked to "suggest solutions to certain problems of town planning in [[London]], [[Edinburgh]], [[Liverpool]] and [[Bournemouth]]", using "all the structural and decorative resources of the Glass Age, but [to] produce practical schemes that could actually be built. An imaginative use of modern materials, rather than mere romantic fantasy was desired". This being a marketing tool led by Pilkington, most of the problems were as unrealistic as the solutions. The designs followed early CIAM ideals in sweeping away historical areas such as the [[Strand, London|Strand]] and [[Bond Street]] in London, and [[Princes Street]] in Edinburgh, in favour of extrusions of stacked floorplates walled in glass similar to the Miesian skyscrapers of {{circa|1920}}.<ref>Steve Parnell (2014) "In praise of advertising", ''The Architectural Review''</ref>
During the 1950s the Committee was formed of [[Geoffrey Jellicoe]], Edward D. Mills and [[Ove Arup & Partners]], and it was joined by other architects for individual projects. The design briefs were for Britain in the year 2000, but realistic in that they were to make use of technology that was already available.<ref>''Architecture and Design for the Family in Britain, 1900–1970''; by David Jeremiah (2000)</ref> Notable schemes included a proposal in 1955 to demolish the entire area of [[Soho]] and rebuild it entirely in glass,<ref>{{cite book|last=Jenks|first=Chris|title=Urban Culture|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=London|year=2004|pages=226|isbn=0-415-30497-0}}</ref> a 1957 proposal for the replacement of [[St Giles Circus]] in London with a {{convert|150|ft|m|adj=on}} tall glass [[heliport]],<ref>{{cite journal|year=1957|title=Crystal Gazing|journal=Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology|volume=29|issue=4|pages=97|doi=10.1108/eb032812}}</ref> and the 1963 "Crystal Span" proposal for the replacement of London's [[Vauxhall Bridge]] with a seven-storey glass building straddling the [[River Thames]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Cookson|first=Brian|title=Crossing the River|publisher=Mainstream|location=Edinburgh|year=2006|isbn=1-84018-976-2|oclc=63400905|page=150}}</ref> which was to have contained a shopping mall, luxury hotel, residential development and a museum to house the [[modern art]] collection now housed at [[Tate Modern]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Jeremiah|first=David|title=Architecture and Design for the Family in Britain 1900–70|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester|year=2000|isbn=0-7190-5889-9|oclc=186445752|page=175}}</ref>
The Glass Age Development Committee is best known for its ambitious 1968 proposal for a glass and concrete [[Seasteading|offshore city]] housing 21,000 people,<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=City at Sea to House 30,000|last=|first=|date=29 February 1968|newspaper=Times|access-date=|work=|via=}}</ref><ref name="Sea City">{{cite web |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115965/english/info/future/sea.htm |work=Future City Types |title=Sea City |accessdate=2009-05-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408032505/http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115965/english/info/future/sea.htm |archivedate=2008-04-08 }}</ref> to be anchored off the coast near [[Great Yarmouth]] and accessed from the mainland by [[hovercraft]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~bat/sea-city.html|title=Sea City|publisher=Austin Tate|accessdate=2009-05-22}}</ref> The development was to have been called Sea City. The structure would have been {{convert|4700|ft|m}} long and {{convert|3300|ft|m}} wide, and would have rested on concrete islands supported by [[pier (architecture)|piers]].<ref name="Sea City" /> It was intended that the development would have been economically self-sufficient thanks to [[boatbuilding]] workshops, [[fish farming]], and the export of fresh water from an onboard [[desalination]] plant, while a lagoon in the centre of the development would support a tourist industry based on [[Scuba diving|skin diving]] and [[water skiing]].<ref name="Sea City" />
==References==
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[[Category:Glass architecture]]
[[Category:Glass industry]]