CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne or the International Congresses for Modern Architecture) was founded in 1928 when a group of architects met at the Chateau de la Sarraz in Switzerland to discuss problems facing the new architecture. The group held several congresses over the following thirty years to exchange ideas on what was termed ‘the architectural problem’, to present the idea of contemporary architecture and how it addressed human needs, and ensure it was instilled with technical, economic and social thought.
One of the contributors to CIAM was the educator and town planner Jaqueline Tyrwhitt (1905-1983). She edited the CIAM publication, The heart of the city: towards the humanisation of urban life, with J.L. Sert and E.N. Rogers (London: Lund Humphries, 1952), which included examples of the work by several CIAM groups and statements prepared by the CIAM 8 congress held in Hoddesdon in 1951. Besides this publication, the AA Library holds several CIAM reports. One of them, the Report of CIAM 10: Dubrovnik, August 1956, was presented to the AA Library by Jaqueline Tyrwhitt in October 1958.
Tyrwhitt studied at the AA from 1924-25. Whilst at the AA she performed in some AA student pantomimes; her name appears in the show programmes now held in the AA Archives. Later in life she edited the journal Ekistics published by her friend, Constantine Doxiadis. The AA Library has a run of Ekistics from 1965-80.
The AA is holding a conference on the work of Tyrwhitt and others, Plan the Planet – Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and the Formation of International and Global Architecture, AA Think Tank conference, on 20 March 2015, see http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/VIDEO/lecture.php?ID=2755