Eric Lyons & Span

Edited by Barbara Simms

November 2006
Code: 58648
ISBN: 1 85946 256 1
978 1 85946 256 0
256 pp
Hardback
£27.50

Buy now at RIBA Bookshops

Lavishly illustrated and deeply researched, this book celebrates the work of the architect Eric Lyons OBE (1912–1980), whose famous post-War housing – that today would be marketed as ‘lifestyle housing’ - is as well loved today as it was vibrantly successful when first constructed. Built almost entirely for Span Developments, its mission was to provide an affordable environment ‘that gave people a lift’.

Influenced by Walter Gropius, Lyons brought a commitment to high density housing and the idea of fostering community into his Span work without compromising his intuitive sensitivity for landscape. His success brought the practice an impressive array of awards and led to a term as President of the RIBA. The enduring success of his design philosophy can be traced forward to 2005, when Span received a special Housing Design Award given to schemes that meet the current Sustainable Communities Plan. Indeed, the concept of Span mirrors current best practice thinking in housing design and continues to offer a fresh, relevant challenge to volume housebuilders in Britain today. This catalogue serves as a lively reminder of that fact.

Written by distinguished historians, practitioners and Span enthusiasts, the catalogue has been researched using the archive compiled by Ivor Cunningham, one of Lyons’ ex-partners. A series of newly commissioned photographs by Tim Crocker captures Lyons’ distinctive design aesthetic, while a detailed gazetteer contains scale plan drawings of many of Span’s housing templates.