Design Icons: The Smithsons

The first in our series of Design Icons and part of the inspiration behind our upcoming collection, we celebrate the Smithsons and their uncompromising approach to architecture. With an emphasis on materials, textures and construction, Alison and Peter Smithson first came to prominence with the Hunstanton School in Norfolk. Built in steel rather than reinforced concrete, Hunstanton School displays structures and services, exposing rough finishes and Brutalist forms. 

The couple's reputation stems from a small number of ordinary buildings and their extensive contribution to architectural culture, providing well-documented teaching, thinking and writing to the wider community. Their buildings may have seemed ordinary, but the couple themselves were far more outspoken. At Alice Made This, we admire the importance they placed on the flow of a structure and how they were willing to let honest materials speak for themselves. They represent the raw and industrial approach to design that we look to refine through our pieces.