Inaugural address Janina Gosseye: Honeywood’s Hundredth: An Adventure in Building Ideologies
In 1929, The Honeywood File: An Adventure in Building was published. Written by H.B. Creswell, a practising architect, this witty novel documents, through a series of letters between architect, client, builder, and a motley crew of surveyors, plumbers and town planners, the imaginary commission, design and construction of a house for Lord and Lady Brash at Thaddington, near Marlford, on top of Honeywood Hill (UK).
In her inaugural address, Janina Gosseye will reflect on what The Honeywood File might look like if it were written today, nearly one hundred years after the original book appeared. Who might the architect be, and how would they engage in architectural practice? What might the commission be? A mansion for a wealthy couple, or perhaps rather a large shopping centre? In her address, Gosseye will also consider what architectural historians might learn from the way in which The Honeywood File, which is an epistolary novel, was written.
By unpacking The Honeywood File at its (almost) hundredth birthday, Gosseye will unveil the ambitions of the Building Ideologies Group (BIG) that she has recently established at the Department of Architecture. This group studies how during the latter half of the 20th century, the practices and projects of architecture changed in response to socio-political, cultural, and economic shifts, and carefully considers the perspectives that architectural historians adopt to examine these relationships.
More information
- Janina Gosseye will give her inaugural address ‘Honeywood’s Hundredth: An Adventure in Building Ideologies’ on Friday 12 April.
- View Janina’s professor's page here.
