100 years of innovation

The Building Centre celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion a major new exhibition Materials of Invention: 100 Years of Construction Innovation, will take place from the 26 May to 1 July at 26 Store Street, London, WC1. This landmark show is both a retrospective of the key moments, inventions and architectural innovations from the 1930s to the present and a forecast of future 21st century technology.

Drawing on the Building Centre's unique architectural perspective, Materials of Invention will chart the major innovations in modern architecture since 1931 when the Centre was founded.

From the Penguin Pool at London Zoo to the smart geometry of new London towers, from prototype workers cottages built for £500 to a prototype home for £60,000, from the Festival of Britain to the Millennium Dome, the exhibition will provide a potted architectural history punctuated by significant inventions that have had an impact on the shape of the built world around us.

Future trends

Materials of Invention will also focus on the themes set to transform modern living over the next 25 years. Buildings today are increasingly responsive to both demands for high performance and the need for lower environmental impact. By teasing out these trends, speculation can be made on the materials of the future: concrete so light it can float on water, welded timber, self-cleaning coatings, and recycled and biorenewable materials. The impact of computer technology will also be explored, for example, shading structures which respond to daylight, brick walls built by robots and invisible technologies for acoustics.

The Building Centre was founded in the 1930s to provide information on the technology necessary for the modern architecture emerging from Europe and America. Since then, it has expanded as a place for all sectors of the industry and the public to meet and share ideas about how the built environment is created, through product showcases and launches, lectures and exhibitions.

Photography

An accompanying exhibition of the photography of Frank Yerbury, taking place in the Cafe Gallery over the same period as Materials of Invention, will celebrate the Building Centre's 75th anniversary in honour of its founder. Frank Yerbury (1885-1970), Secretary of the Architectural Association and architectural photographer, travelled widely recording images of 1900-1930s buildings and structures across Europe and America. His photographs were highly influential in introducing Britain to architectural developments abroad, with notable examples from France, Holland and Scandinavia.