# Bowellism
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{{Short description|Modern architectural style associated with Richard Rogers}}
thumb|Lloyd's building, London
'''Bowellism''' is a modern [architectural style](/source/architectural_style) heavily associated with [Richard Rogers](/source/Richard_Rogers). It is described as a transient architectural and flippant style that was influenced by [Le Corbusier](/source/Le_Corbusier) and [Antoni Gaudí](/source/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD).[{{Cite book|title=Choice: Publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a Division of the American Library Association|date=1977|publisher=American Library Association|pages=1028}}] The style consists of services for the building, such as ducts, sewage pipes, and [lifts](/source/Elevator), being located on the exterior to maximise space in the interior.
==Origin==
The style originated with [Michael Webb's](/source/Michael_Webb_(architect)) 1957 student project for a Furniture Manufacturers Association building in [High Wycombe](/source/High_Wycombe).[Geoffrey Howard Baker, ''The Architecture of James Stirling and His Partners James Gowan and Michael Wilford: A Study of Architectural Creativity in the Twentieth Century'', Farnham, Surrey / Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2011, {{ISBN|9781409409267}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksj0aZ0cMQsC&dq=Bowellism&pg=PA158 p. 158].][''Radical Post-Modernism'', ed. Charles Jencks, [FAT](/source/Fashion_Architecture_Taste), Architectural Design 81.5, ''Profile'' 213, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-470-66988-4}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tyvgZg78iK8C&dq=Bowellism&pg=PA107 p. 107].][Simon Sadler, ''Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=moiSwq_w-YgC&dq=Bowellism&pg=PA23 p. 23, 1.11, 1.12 caption], calling bowellism a "micromovement".] Webb coined the term in response to a comment on his design by [Sir Nikolaus Pevsner](/source/Nikolaus_Pevsner) in a 1961 lecture, in which he recalled hearing the words: "within the schools there are some disturbing trends; I saw the other day a design for a building that looked like a series of stomachs sitting on a plate. Or [bowels](/source/Gastrointestinal_tract), connected by bits of gristle".[Samantha Hardingham and David Greene, ''The disreputable projects of David Greene'', Architectural Association Publications 2007-10-01, {{OCLC|811429228}}, [http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/4830/1/Greene_4.pdf pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217065255/http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/4830/1/Greene_4.pdf|date=December 17, 2013}} p. 44.] Thus this inside-out style was termed 'Bowellism' because of how it recalled the way the human body works. One of Webb's proposed structures based on bowellism was the Sin Centre for [Leicester Square](/source/Leicester_Square). The concept was a geodesic structure that supports a glass skin.[{{Cite book|title=The Architecture of James Stirling and His Partners James Gowan and Michael Wilford: A Study of Architectural Creativity in the Twentieth Century|last=Baker|first=Geoffrey Howard|date=2011|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-0926-7|location=Surrey|pages=158}}]
Some scholars cite [Reyner Banham](/source/Reyner_Banham) as the first to use bowellism for the new architectural fascination with visible circulation, one that focuses on a building's skeletal services as well as its "bloodstream" or the moving cars and crowd, cascading down from the top to the main foyers—all visible through the structure's geodesic skin.[{{Cite book|title=Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture|url=https://archive.org/details/archigramarchite00sadl|url-access=limited|last=Sadler|first=Simon|date=2005|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-69322-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/archigramarchite00sadl/page/n37 27]}}] Banham is also credited for introducing the term "topological" to refer to an aspect of [brutalism](/source/Brutalist_architecture).[Jonathan Richards, ''Facadism'', London: Routledge, 1994, {{ISBN|9780415083164}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cBkFua6U0jcC&dq=Bowellism&pg=PA60 p. 60].] so the floor space of the interior could be maximised to fully appreciate the exhibitions.[[http://www.open2.net/modernity/4_8.htm Richard Rogers], Architects, From Here to Modernity, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040315090026/http://www.open2.net/modernity/4_8.htm archived] at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), 15 March 2004.]
==Examples==
thumb|Rotterdam Library, Rotterdam
* The [Pompidou Centre](/source/Pompidou_Centre) in Paris (1977) by [Richard Rogers](/source/Richard_Rogers) and [Renzo Piano](/source/Renzo_Piano).
* The [Central Library of Rotterdam](/source/Central_Library_of_Rotterdam) (1983) by [Jaap Bakema](/source/Jaap_Bakema).
* The [Uniklinikum Aachen](/source/Uniklinikum_Aachen) (1985) by Weber & Brand.
* The [Lloyd's building](/source/Lloyd's_building) in London (1986) by [Richard Rogers](/source/Richard_Rogers).
* The [Channel 4](/source/Channel_4) headquarters at [124 Horseferry Road](/source/124_Horseferry_Road), London (1994), by [Richard Rogers](/source/Richard_Rogers).
==See also==
{{Portal|Architecture}}
* [High-tech architecture](/source/High-tech_architecture)
** [British high-tech architecture](/source/British_high-tech_architecture)
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Modern architecture}}
Category:20th-century architectural styles
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bowellism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowellism?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.