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Gordon Cullen became well known as a writer and illustrator in the Architectural Review just after the end of the Second World War. During this time, Cullen promoted his idea of ‘Townscape’, a concept that was to continue as a way of thinking for architects and town planners throughout the Post-War period. Indeed, it is arguably still an important concept for designers today.

This drawing is one of a series made by Cullen for an article he wrote on the Economist Plaza. Designed by Peter and Alison Smithson, this open space between buildings was a perfect example of Cullen’s concept, receiving much praise. Here, Cullen’s pen explores the new perspectives opened up by the scheme, concentrating on the contrast between the Smithsons’ glazed blocks and the Palladian palazzo opposite. The Smithsons’ architecture is shown as uncluttered, and visionary, even light. This is emphasised by the economic pen work in the foreground: it is bare, daringly blank in parts. Its older neighbour is shown as much heavier, encumbered with ornament. Shading and hatching gives it weight and sobriety. However, Cullen does pick up on the shared rhythms of their verticals, and the movement offered by the blocks’ angular plans and the palazzo’s Classical pediment.

Imagined as a perfect public space, the plaza never really lived up to its expectations. The Smithsons’ referred to this space as a ‘charged void’. However, many writers at the time wondered how such a barren and isolated square at the bottom of office blocks was going to be used by the public. In this way, despite the energy channelled into charging this space with meaning through writing and illustration, the Economist Building failed to fulfil Cullen’s ideal.