MANCHESTER MODERN (2017)

In Manchester Modern we present 111 buildings of the twentieth and early twenty first century lovingly photographed and researched by Richard Brook. It is conceived as a field guide, small enough to fit in your pocket, but weighty enough to know its merit. The book's designer Vaseem Bhatti is an artist of pedigree defining the distinctive visual identity of Warp Records’ Lex Records, and Manchester’s Skam Records.

Manchester Modern is a labour of love. Richard Brook began the project in 1996 with a Samsung compact camera, bought from the Argos catalogue – it had the most features and the most extensive zoom range for the cheapest price. He is honest when he states ‘I had no idea what I was doing’; fortunately, he continued. He knew that his fascination with things others found ugly would be worthwhile one day.

This publication has been promised and considered for a long time and has regularly stalled due to lack of funds and an unwillingness on his part, and that of Vaseem Bhatti (the designer), to compromise over the design and manufacture of this guidebook. It is conceived as a field guide, small enough to fit in your pocket, but weighty enough to know its merit. Times have caught up with Richard and what he once considered obscure and rare groove is now (as you know) populist and media friendly. Regardless, the honesty and integrity of this project as a printed and published object is retained and this single opportunity to buy into 20 years of work by one of the leading thinkers and researchers of mainstream modern architecture is presented here.

Steadily, Richard has built a reputation in academic circles and amongst aficionados as a passionate and informed expert in the architecture of the region and of the provinces. That isn’t to say he doesn’t like London, but there’s an established and ready focus upon the architectural narratives of the capital and a distinct sense that the provinces have long been understudied and underexposed. In Manchester Modern we present 111 buildings of the twentieth and early twenty first century, lovingly photographed and researched over, as stated, the last twenty years.

Vaseem is an artist of pedigree and defined the distinctive visual identity of Warp Records’ hip-hop off shoot, Lex Records, as well as being instrumental in the definition of Manchester’s Skam Records and their aesthetic presence in virtual and printed media. He founded EHQuestionmark and has worked with Richard in one form or another for the best part of fifteen years. This coming together of academic and artist has been made possible by the Modernist Society and we are proud to be able to aid Richard and Vaseem in finally delivering this publication, that is long overdue.

The buildings contained in this catalogue have each been visited at least three times by Richard to attain the correct light conditions for his photography. The retrieval of contemporary journal articles in relation to each has meant numerous trips to the RIBA Library in London to access material no longer held in Manchester. The working hours attached to the delivery of the content, let alone the post-editing and design, run into the thousands and in honesty Richard is unable to quantify just what proportion of his life this has consumed.

Three editions were published with a carboard, PVC and concrete covers.

Published by The Modernist Society with the support of 261 crowd fund backers, Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios, Johnny Marr and the Heritage Lottery Fund.