Madame, Writing, as a wide-eyed, technocratically obsessed social engineer unable to see the political dilemmas of our society as curable by anything other than ever-loving) technical invention'... (hats off to Tom Edison, the wheel, streptomycin, the contraceptive pill hush puppies, hash, seam-free tights, false teeth Marshall Macluhan and Mum Rolette) ...Í must compliment you from the bottom of my arse on the joyful inaccuracy demonstrated in your re-reporting an already inaccurate Observer article of some weeks ago concerning the work of some of my First Year Students.
The monstrously ugly structure" illustrated in the Observer, and only later in the Black Dwarf, was not, is not and never will be intended by us as having anything to do with housing the homeless the rich, the short, tall, unclean, or even lady housing journalists. It was carried out as a project around which to discuss certain structural, production and financial concepts with First Year.
If the accuracy of your article typifies the method in which you approach your philosophical work my previous high 1969 catalogue available soon. Send for free copy Pamphlets from the works of Mao Tse-tung now available in most languages Recordings of Chinese music. Folk. Instrumental Traditional. Modern Revolutionary Music.
Our 'CHE' poster. 16"x 21". Only 3/- post free 20% discount on 20 or more posters. Cash with order. admiration for your pertinent and outspoken views has evaporated.
Yours sincerely, Tony Dugdale First Year Master London ural Association School of Architecture Janet Daley replies:
Much as it may annoy Mr Dugdale, the structural project to which he refers is certainly being publicly touted in the housing field. A number of his students - perhaps unbeknownst to him, but it seems doubtful are actively co-operating with Shelter to use the structure as one participant described it to me, publicity gimmick' in & housing campaign. (One wonders why, incidentally, if the degree of misrepresentation was as great as claimed, the Observer was never compelled to print retraction). It is certainly understandable that Mr Dugdale should wish to disassociate himself from such a naive and shoddy tactic, but it seems a shame that he did not feel up to discussing the more significant Issues of political action vs. technical innovation which my article attempted to raise.