The little-known story of Welsh modernism

'Cabin Crew', a new book published this spring by The Modernist, brings the spotlight to Cardiff-based practice Hird & Brooks

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images from cabin crew, a new book on welsh modernist cabins showing small, low timber structures in the woods
(Image credit: Cabin Crew - Ian Brooks Collection)

Cabin Crew showcases the work of Cardiff-based practice Hird & Brooks who, from the 1950s-1980s, built sleek villas in the Vale of Glamorgan and holiday parks and cabins in the Welsh woodlands. As the UK continues to nurture ties with Scandinavia, this new book reveals Danish-inspired cabin culture in Wales and is published next month by The Modernist.

Two of the book's authors, Peter Halliday and Bethan Dalton, own Hird & Brooks cabins - Halliday at Bierwood, a complex of 17-holiday homes built in the 1970s in Pembrokeshire - and Dalton at the Penlan Holiday Park. Together, they set about documenting this little-known story of British modernism.

images from cabin crew, a new book on welsh modernist cabins showing small, low timber structures in the woods

(Image credit: Cabin Crew - Vince Jones)

Flicking through 'Cabin Crew'

Graham Brooks graduated from the Welsh School of Architecture and in 1956 came to work for John Hird who was running a practice in Cardiff. Despite being seemingly polar opposites – Hird was affable, golf-playing, business-minded, Brooks reflective, dogmatic, and design-obsessed – they made a formidable team.

Before long, they were creating residential schemes infused with Brooks’ passion for Danish design, among them Cardiff’s Capel House (1966) and The Mount in Dinas Powys just outside the city. Here, four private developments comprising 53 homes as well as several individual homes make for a salubrious suburb that is still sought after today.

images from cabin crew, a new book on welsh modernist cabins showing small, low timber structures in the woods

(Image credit: Cabin Crew - Ian Brooks Collection)

When, in the 1970s, the Forestry Commission approached them to build a nationwide network of tasteful, high-quality cabins, tucked away in the UK’s most scenic woodlands, Hird & Brooks set to work.

Employing their love of craftsmanship, materials and structure, the pair obsessed over every detail, from the woodland settings to colour schemes and fitted furniture to the custom-designed wood burners. They built more than 230 holiday cabins in Wales, Cornwall and Scotland.

images from cabin crew, a new book on welsh modernist cabins showing small, low timber structures in the woods

(Image credit: Cabin Crew - Ian Brooks Collection)

By the time Hird passed away in 2009 (Brooks followed in 2020), the firm had won 17 awards and built an impressive archive in the Library of Aberystwyth. In 2002, Brookes received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Society of Architects in Wales.

images from cabin crew, a new book on welsh modernist cabins showing small, low timber structures in the woods

(Image credit: Cabin Crew - Vince Jones)

Yet despite their success, Hird & Brooks’ Scandinavian summerhouse idyll never really took off in the way they had envisioned. Of the many sites planned, only five were actually built, and two of those are now gone. But it is still possible to rent a Hird & Brooks cabin in Wales - at the Penlan Holiday Park and the old Forestry Commission site at Lochaweside. Neither is in pristine condition, but they offer faded slice of homegrown hygge from a pair of unsung visionaries.

the-modernist.org

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Emma O'Kelly

Emma O'Kelly is a freelance journalist and author based in London. Her books include Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat and she is currently working on a UK guide to wild saunas, due to be published in 2025.