"THE GREAT EXHIBITIONS" by John Allwood (1977) published by Studio Vista, London (Chapter 11)
The Resumption of a Great Tradition
"Britain had a very different set of problems for its proposed 1851 centennial celebration. By its very nature the Festival was concerned with one subject - Britain. At last it was feasible to think in terms of a more heterogeneus exhibition. Thanks to Herbert Morrison, the Festival possessed a central committee who had the weight of both government authority and, more important, government finance behind them. Further, it was more than lucky in the selection of people to plan the various exhibitions. Under the chairmanship of Gerald Barry a formidable panel of specialists was formed. Its assistant Chairman was Cecil Cooke, who had been Director of the Exhibition Division of the Central Office of Information since 1946, and was familiar with the techniques of exhibition and display, and the importance of creative thought and design in such events. With him were designers of the stature of James Gardner and James Holland, architects Misha Black and Ralph Tubbs as well as Hugh Casson, the Festival's Director of Architecture, G.A. Campbell the Festival's Director of Finance and Administration, A.D. Hippisley Coxe and M. Hartland Thomas representing the Council of Industrial Design, and Ian Cox the Festival's Director of Science and Technology. Even Peter Kneebone, their Secretary, was a graphic designer and illustrator. With such a committe it was possible to take major decisions with the minimum of delay - a decided advantage as there were only three years from the date the panel was set up to the opening of the Festival! From the beginning the theme, the construction and display work were all considered together, and the South Bank Exhibition and other Festival displays around Britain were all to mirror this unity.
The narrative approach, as it was then called, was chosen at an early stage. The actual compiler of the dislay theme was Ian Cox. His approach was to break the story into three main sections: the land of Britain, the people of Britain, and British discoveries and invention. These were divided again into a number of subsections, each dealing with a seperate chapter of the story. They were arranged on the South Bank site using the Hungerford railway bridge over the Thames as the natural dividing line between the two main themes, with the Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs, placed in the centre as a symbolic brain. Early on it was decided that the exterior treatments of the buildings should reflect the subjects displayed within. The use of different designs for the buildings, and of a small site - 27 and a half acres - to contain an exhibition of this scope, led to the development of what the Architectural Review was to christen Townscape. The planners were to control circulation around the exhibition, providing an interesting and varied juxtaposition of people to buildings. At last the crowd had become an important part of the architectural concept and not just a nuisance to be carefully left out of the official architectural record photographs.
The main difficulty was to ensure that the people were sent through the exhibition so that they saw the sections of the story in the correct sequence. The carefully organised routes, as well as the split-levels, had surface treatments of water, cobbles, grass or concrete designed to guide visitors unobtrusively in the correct direction. The routes were all sign-posted, as well as marked out in the Ofiicial Guide Book, Catalogue and Map, and most people seemed more than willing to be so directed. Nevertheless, the Guide Book pointed out that "This is a free country; and any visitors who, from habit or inclination, feel impelled to start with the last chapter of the whole narrative and then zig-zag their way backwards to the first chapter, will be as welcome as anyone else.
This basic control over the vIewing audience gave the exhibition designers major advantages in the organization of their displays.
The theme of the South Bank Exhibition was repeated on a smaller scale on board the Festival Ship Campania and other parts of the story were dealt with in smaller shows round the country. This idea of a whole series of events linked together to form a country-wide Festival was a another new departure and meant even the smallest village in the country could involve itself in the celebrations. Although the Festival of Britain was only national in scope it set the scene for the development of post-war international exhibitions."