Cruickshank & Seward were once Manchester’s pre-eminent modernist practice. Some of their unbuilt projects in the 1970s placed them on the precipice of international success. They are most well known for their contribution to the planning and construction of the former UMIST campus, a suite of buildings in white concrete, generally regarded as the best twentieth century grouping in the city. In this talk, Professor Richard Brook will introduce a longer history of the practice, from their beginnings in the 1920s through to a series incredible unbuilt architectural proposals, wrapped up in post-colonial politics, including the statecraft of Gaddafi’s Libya! He will show their journey from the trenches of the First World War to the global economic collapse of the mid-1970s and illustrate their practice as entwined with the major events of the century.