AD: A great little mag!

• "AD demands concentration rather than inviting boredom. Like me, it is not ashamed to change its mind."
• Cedric Price, AD 9/70.

[edit] INTRODUCTION

In 'AD Magazine - 80 years in print', Stephen Parnell wrote:—

• "In May 1968, while students around Europe revolted, Architectural Design became simply AD. Advertising revenues had been declining in all magazines through the 1960s and in October 1970, AD shunned advertising completely and became a ‘little magazine’, financed solely by subscriptions."
• Stephen Parnell, 2010.

Thus the first issue of “little” AD was published in October 1970. However, the original magazine itself contained a pullout section, namely:—

• 'CEDRIC PRICE SUPPLEMENT'
• Cedric Price, AD 10/71, capitals in original.

This pullout section, given away free with AD, was edited by Peter Murray. For example, in the introduction to CP Supplement No.1, the editor wrote:—

• "To provide a complete picture of (Cedric Price's) work and ideas, we begin this month a series of supplements which will appear at intervals over the next year."
• Peter Murray, p.507, AD 10/70.

However, in October 1971, in the preamble to CP Supplement No.4, Cedric Price wrote:—

• "This supplement is the first part of a two part summary of this work (on housing) and as such is the first and last item in the Cedric Price Supplement Series, which covers work "in progress" and as such has to be an incomplete abstract of the total programme which will not be complete until December 1971."
• Cedric Price, p.619, AD 10/71.

A careful reading of these two quotes from the Cedric Price Supplement indicates:—

1. ... that AD (Architectural Design) published a series of three little magazines starting in October 1970;
2. ... that AD (Architectural Design) published a series of two little magazines ending in January 1972.

Thus this article is based on the premise :—

• ... that the Cedric Price Supplement represented a paradigm shift from an architectural magazine to a series of autonomous little magazines.

However, it also accepts, a priori, a working hypothesis, namely:—

• "Architecture is slow and therefore requires anticipatory design."
• Cedric Price, 'Anticipating the unexpected', p.27, AJ 5 September 1996.

Thus the purpose of this article is:—

• to anticipate a paradigm shift from AD (Architectural Design) to AD (Anticipatory Design).

[edit] AD: Architectural Design

This first section illustrates the paradigm shift of AD (Architectural Design) in the late 1960s and early 1970s from a 'professional' magazine to a 'little' magazine.

[edit] AD: Anticipatory Design

This second section illustrates the paradigm shift of AD (Anticipatory Design) in the late 2010s and early 2020s from a 'professional' magazine to a 'little' magazine.

[edit] CONCLUSION

If architecture is slow and therefore requires anticipatory design then it follows that AD (Architectural Design) (a 'professional' magazine) is also slow and therefore AD (Anticipatory Design) (a magazine dedicated to anticipatory design) is required.

[edit] • AD website

• Screenshot of AD website designed by Norman Fellows - click to visit.

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[edit] References

Parnell, S., (2010) 'AD Magazine – 80 years in print', Architects' Journal, 1 July.

Parnell, S. (2011) 'Architectural Design, 1954-1972', published in 2012 at White Rose eTheses Online.

Price, C. (1967) 'Kit of Parts', in Cannady, W. (1967) 'New Schools For New Towns', Rice University, EFL.

Price, C. (1996) 'Anticipating the unexpected', p.27, AJ 5 September.

[edit] Further Reading

Wikipedia (2023) 'Architectural Design'

--Archiblog 11:48, 01 Sep 2023 (BST)