Sam Nightingale is a recognised authority on the history of modernist architecture in seaside towns, here he gives his account of the unrealised ‘utopian dream’ of some architects working between the Wars with new ideas about homes, hotels and public buildings. Sam is available for photographic commissions and can be contacted here.

Forgotten Futures: modernist architecture of the british seaside town is an on-going body of work concerned with producing a typology of modernist (circa 1930’s) architecture found in British seaside towns.

Many of the buildings, included in Forgotten Futures, were built as part of a social and political utopian dream. The dream of a certain type of future that was hoped for was largely unrealised and in many cases these buildings have been left to deteriorate or at best have become forgotten.

Like the typologies produced in the 1930’s by the German photographer August Sanders, Sam Nightingale, in a way, is also producing portraits – portraits of buildings. Each subject’s character implicit in its façade, bearing testimony to a complex history embedded within.

Oyster Bungalow, Pevensey Bay, Martin & Saunders

‘OYSTER’ BUNGALOW

location:
pevensey bay
original purpose:
holiday home
designer / architect:
martin & saunders ltd
built:
1937 – 1939

Sam Nightingale is a professional photographer who works with a variety of commercial clients in different sites and situations to produce high quality images for publication and documentation purposes.

Commissions undertaken by Sam Nightingale include providing photography for; educational establishments, research reports, workshops, business plans and book launches.

image credit: Sam Nightingale

Sam Nightingale: Forgotten Futures: modernist architecture in british seaside towns