In 1961, The Municipal Journal featured a two-page article on the University of Salford’s newly built Maxwell Building and Hall. They were built to house the recently formed Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford, and signified an emerging confidence across higher education and society at large.
The article, tailored for leading figures in local government and allied sectors, offered a straightforward and uncomplicated overview of one of Salford’s (and Manchester’s) contemporary buildings, designed and constructed in a modern architectural form and style. Located next to the River Irwell and Peel Park, the Maxwell Building was officially opened on 21 May 1961, by Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021). This latest addition to the Peel Park campus was a jointly funded by Lancashire County Council and Salford City Council and was estimated to cost more than £1.5 million.
The Royal College of Technology, Salford, was among the first eight colleges across the United Kingdom to be advanced, focusing solely on courses aligned with universities. New government guidelines required these newly appointed colleges to shed courses considered less advanced and non-technical. In 1958, when the institution split, the Peel Park Technical College formed and remained in the Peel Building. On the opposite side of the campus, the new Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford, embraced modernised facilities in the Maxwell Building, specialising in advancing science and engineering courses.
The Maxwell Building and Hall were constructed almost a decade earlier than several other campus buildings that are now perceived to be designed in the modernist architectural style and form. The building was designed in several stages by the Lancashire County Council Architect’s Department. The County Architects who oversaw the architectural design, planning and construction were Mr George Noel Hill and Mr Charles H. Simmons.
The Municipal Journal (1960) described the building as an ‘L’ shaped superstructure reaching upwards to nine storeys and containing specialist engineering labs, workshops, drawing offices, teaching spaces, lectures theatres, common rooms, conference facilities, a library and staff and student dining facilities. The adjacent Hall (joined to the main building by a bridge) contained a large lecture hall for 1,000 students, musical spaces, a gymnasium, games rooms, a projection room and cinema, sound equipment and a pipe organ for musical concerts.
In many ways the Maxwell Building resulted from a forward-thinking and optimistic mindset about the future when it was designed, and built from 1954-1961. One might argue that the design is reminiscent of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation de Marseille, completed a few years earlier in 1952. As one of the tallest buildings in the area at the time (and still holding its own against today’s ever-changing Salford skyline), the building’s steel-framed and precast floors meant they had to be supported on a series of stilts, or piloti columns, due to the clay banks on the River Irwell. The building drew inspiration from earlier European and international styles, representing a golden age in mid-century modernist architecture. This architectural trend, indicative of the confidence in the country’s prosperity, began to manifest across the country’s higher education sector.
The Maxwell Building quickly became an iconic landmark, combining multiple spaces for various uses, much like the Unité d’Habitation. Built along a similar line of ideas to Le Corbusier’s vertical city demonstrating visionary architecture, urbanism and landscaping, the building encouraged students and staff to come together through communal environments to learn, debate and socialise. The Architectural Review (1951, p. 293) reviewed the Unité d’ Habitation, featuring a collective from the Housing Division at London County Council Architect’s Department. They discussed and contrasted the Brutalist development with similar residential buildings in the capital. The article opened with the question of whether the building was likely to be developed by two architects, rather than one. The concept of a neighborhood for 1,600 people in two-story flats, with the immediate amenities of a neighborhood unit, could only be brought together by two people – in their words, “Corbusier the social philosopher and Corbusier the Modern romantic architect.”
At the time, academic and architectural planners were keen to encourage collegiate atmospheres. The Maxwell Building and Hall were part of a larger campus masterplan which included today’s Clifford Whitworth Library, the Cockcroft Building, Chapman Building, University House, and the Newton Building. The ideas around collegiate campuses were seen in the newly constructed universities, or Plateglass Universities, mainly with York, Warwick and Lancaster. Much of these ideas had progressed from the ancient institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge. Various elements are used to stimulate a collegiate atmosphere, for example, smaller colleges providing teaching and social spaces and a centrally controlled timetabling system. Campus design was often compacted and the architecture was seen to provide a sense of identity and consistency. Students technically never had to leave the campus.
Salford’s campus masterplans involved similar factors that brought other buildings in close proximity to the Maxwell Building. These interconnected structures were part of a larger architectural design, based on the demolition of the Peel Building and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery – an approach similar to wiping the slate clean to start anew. Today, considering the prominence of these two buildings, it’s challenging to envision how the campus might have appeared from the Crescent without them.
Thank you to The Fondation Le Corbusier for their support and images .
The 'White Heat' of Modernity 