Shadrach Woods architectural records and papers, 1923-2008 bulk 1948-1973
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Creator:
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Woods, Shadrach, 1923-1973,. |
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Phys. Desc:
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45 manuscript boxes; 6 print boxes; 3,650 photographic images; 2,289 drawings |
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Location:
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Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library |
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Biographical Note
Shadrach Woods was an American architect and urban planner. A student of Le Corbusier, he worked extensively throughout North
Africa, France, Germany and New York City on architectural projects ranging from low-cost housing developments to university
campuses. Also highly regarded as a critic and theorist, Woods taught at Harvard and Yale and lectured and published widely.
Born in Yonkers, New York, Woods was schooled in engineering at New York University and in literature and philosophy at Trinity
College, Dublin. Though never trained as an architect, he joined the Paris office of Le Corbusier in 1948. Assigned to the
Unité d'Habitation project then under construction in Marseille, Woods collaborated with the Greek architect George Candilis,
with whom he would later form a lasting partnership. With Candilis and the engineer Vladimir Bodiansky, Woods designed and
built housing throughout North Africa during his tenure as head of the Casablanca office of ATBAT-Afrique. Architectural solutions
developed during the course of this work led to their winning proposal for a low-cost housing competition in France in 1954.
Woods and Candilis joined with the Yugoslavian architect Alexis Josic to create the firm Candilis-Josic-Woods in 1956. Among
the firm's major built projects were the development of the quarter of Le Mirail in Toulouse in France and, with Manfred Schiedhelm,
the Free University in Berlin. Simultaneously, Woods participated in the proceedings of Team X, a group of architects that
emerged from the meetings of CIAM in the postwar years. He published numerous essays on urban themes, including explanations
of his concepts of "stem" and "web" and participated in the Milan Triennale at the invitation of Italian architect and fellow
Team X member Giancarlo de Carlo. After the breakup of his partnership with Candilis and Josic in 1969, Woods settled in New
York City. He taught and lectured at architecture schools throughout the United States. He also continued to work as an architect
and urban planner until his untimely death in 1973. His book, The Man in the Street: A Polemic on Urbanism, was published
posthumously by Penguin in 1975.
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