Introduction

3/19/2015

I became interested in Walter Segal while looking for somewhere to live in south London. Exploring the neighbourhood of Forest Hill I noticed a small enclave of unusual looking houses. The road was unlike anything I had seen in London before - quiet and filled with trees and birdsong. The houses were box-like and covered in panels of different shades of cream and beige. Shortly after I became the proud owner of one of these homes and set myself the mission of finding out how these unusual dwellings came about. This blog will document my learning about

2 Comments

Callum Sohal

8/7/2015 12:53:44 am

I'm glad I came across this website. It's a real shame about the little house as I'd hoped on visiting it this summer!

I'm currently writing a dissertation on Walter Segal and his self-build method. I've been reading through some excellent books:
Learning from Segal - John Mckean
The Self-build Book - John Broome and Brian Richardson.

It would be great if anyone knows any other texts that they could point me in the direction of, I'd read that Segal had written many essays and had publications which I'm really struggling to find on the web, I'm going to get down to the RIBA library when it reopens to see what I can find..

Alice Grahame link

8/16/2015 09:12:55 am

Dear Callum,

Apologies for the delay in relying - I was away.
Thank you so much for getting in touch. Your dissertation sounds really interesting. I would love to hear more about your project and what angle you are taking.

John McKean's book is excellent and, as I'm sure you have found out, it is the only biography of Segal.

I spent a day in the RIBA library and found articles on Segal, many from the 70s and 80s when the Lewisham self-build projects were taking place.

I recently bought from a second hand online seller a copy of Home and Environment by Segal. Written in 1948 it sets out his vision for house design and has the most beautiful drawings in it.

There is also a special Segal edition of the Architects Journal from May 1988. It was produced to tie in with a Segal exhibition in the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall.

Both John McKean and Jon Broome will be at the Celebrating Segal event on 19th Sept. There will be time for questions and also a chance to chat informally during the lunch break and afterwards. We are all very keen for Segal to be more widely known about so it is good to connect.

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Alice Grahame

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