In 1969, the Architectural Review magazine launched Manplan, a ground-breaking and often uncompromising assessment of Britain’s built environment at the end of the sixties. Photography lay at the heart of the series- through striking black and white reportage, Manplan revealed how architecture and urban planning shaped people’s daily lives, highlighting social issues that continue to be relevant today, such as inadequate housing, community, and loneliness.
Our touring exhibition Wide-Angle View brings this influential series to Liverpool, displaying over 80 original photographs capturing unique insights into society in the late 1960s. The exhibition features original work by renowned street photographers such as Ian Berry, Patrick Ward, and Tony Ray-Jones whose focus shifted to people and how they experience architecture rather than the buildings.
Bold in tone and innovative in style, Manplan reframed conversations on urban development and brought attention to socially conscious design within the built environment. Combining pioneering graphic and print techniques with powerful photojournalism, the attention grabbing magazine sought to question and critique architectural ideas at the time.
The Wide-Angle View exhibition reflects on its legacy and highlights the powerful role photography and design can still play in communicating and challenging over half a century on.
Wide-Angle View: Architecture as social space in the Manplan series 1969 to 1970
Friday 10 July to Sunday 4 October 2026
Gallery 1, RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool
Monday to Sunday, including bank holidays: 10am to 5.50pm
See RIBA North page and the Tate Liverpool website to plan your visit.
Image: Workers' housing in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with Dunston Power Station behind | Image: Tim Street-Porter | Credit: Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Collections
