Brian Anson - Architect, Story Teller, Poet, Revolutionary

Inspiration (1934-2009)

Brian Anson passed away over the weekend after being inflicted with a sudden illness.

For anyone who was in Letterfrack at EASA 2008, they will surely remember Brian for his contribution to the event. He was a tireless campaigner for communities that found themselves struggeling against the forces of the free market. The struggle for the preservation of Covent Garden in the early 1970s stands today as one of the first examples of urban regeneration, marking the beginning of the end of the wanton destruction wrecked on the historic core of English cities in the 1960s. Brian Anson published a book in 1981 titled "I'll fight You For It", outlining the events which occured during the struggle. During the late 1970s, he spent some time with the community of Gweedore in County Donegal on the North-West coast of Ireland, where he sought to find solutions to the crisis of mass emmigration and unemployment. His findings were sent to the Donegal planning office but were rejected, being deemed too revolutionary. All his work was done in collaboration with the local community and as recently as 2004, the Gweedore people asked for Brian Anson's findings to be reviewed and implemented.

Brian sought to create a greater awareness of the plights of disadvantaged communities in the architectural education curriculum. One of the results of this was the foundation of the Architectural Revolutionary Council (ARC), which was founded in response to a module at the Architectural Association where he lectured in 1974.(www.aaschool.ac.uk)

In 1979, Brian Anson was one of the academics responsible for the foundation of the winter schools where one gathering saw 800 students descend on the University of Sheffield. These were a form of alternative education, where the students would take their education into their own hands and minds, independent of the existing academic system which they deemed to be too conservative and corrupt. The title of the Student Assembly was "Who's Education is it Anyway?". For three days, students held workshops on the top stories of the university. This would provide the framework from which the summer schools would be formed, ultimately leading to a gathering in 1981, formed in response to the continuing dereliction of Liverpool. This gathering, under the auspices of Richard Murphy was the first of the European Architecture Student Assemblies.

His other campaigns include the campaign for the demolition of the Divis Street Flats in Belfast, a story which was recorded during the EASA of 2008 in Letterfrack. (www.indymedia.ie)

Brian had been living in exile in the French village of Milhac since 1994, where he had been writing and painting. Brian Anson continued to be active with architectural education however, and organised a Module on an annual basis in Birmingham.

It was a pleasure for EASA Ireland to host Brian in 2008 and he will be sorely missed. We would like to extend our commiserations to his family and friends, especially to his wife Mary and son Finn.

To a friend and comrade.

May he rest in peace

Méala mór a bhás is suaimhneas sioraí go raibh aige.