Jaqueline Tyrwhitt (1905-83) was a town planner, editor, and teacher. She was one of the most influential figures in architectural discourses during the modern movement, which constituted itself around CIAM (Congres International d’Architecture Moderne), MARS (Modern Architectural Research Group), and EKISTICS (studies of human settlement coined by Doxiadis). In 1941 she joined the British MARS group, and in 1947 she attended CIAM for the first time. That was probably where she met Giedion and immediately got involved in his life works as a translator, writer, and editor. In 1949 she became assistant director to Maxwell Fry, and from 1951-1964 she was acting secretary of CIAM. Tyrwhitt shaped the MARS group’s mixture of Patrick Geddes’ historical, contextual specific perspective with Bauhaus urbanism and was very involved in the efforts of the MARS group to organize the eighth congress of CIAM, “The heart of the city.” It had been agreed that the theme for the eighth congress would be the establishment of a “Charter of Habitat,” based on the CIAM grid. But the MARS group suggested an alternative: the theme of ‘the CORE’, or civic center. Before the June meeting, Tyrwhitt and Alberto Iriarte, of Sert’s staff, adapted the CIAM grid to analyze the CORE, using London as a model, thereby integrating the two themes (and resolving potential conflict within the organization). Until her death in 1983 she was teaching and giving lectures in universities and participating in committees around the world, e.g. in the USA, India, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Gambia, etc. She began her training in 1923 as a garden designer, were she first studied botany, zoology, and organic chemistry. After she graduated in horticulture, she went to the AA School to be trained as an architect, and from 1936-37 she studied Town Planning at the Technische Hochschule Berlin. Even though she never met Constantions A. Doxiadis before 1954, he studied at the Technische Hochschule at the same time. She worked at the School of Planning in London for seven years. During the last years before she left London in 1951, Tyrwhitt’s involvement in CIAM became far-reaching. After CIAM 8 she co-edited “The Heart of the City,” which was published in 1951. She spent several years in North America, later became the director of the first UN Seminar on housing and community planning held in New Delhi, India as well as the UN advisor to the government of India on an exhibition about low-cost housing. It was at the UN seminar that she met Doxiadis. One year later Doxiadis and Tyrwhitt founded ‘EKISTICS, a project on the study of human settlements,’ which became her main occupation until her death in 1983. (FA + MH)

Sources:
Ekistics the problems and science of Human Settlement (1985): "Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt in Memorian." Issue 52/314-315. 396-558.
Shoshkes, Ellen (2006): “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: a founding mother of modern urban design.” In: PlanningPerspectives, Issue 21/2. 179-197.
Shoshkes, Ellen. (2009): “Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and transnational discourse on modern urban planning and design, 1941–1951.” In: Urban History, Issue 36/2. 262-283.
Shoshkes, Ellen (2010): “Martin Meyerson and Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and the Global Exchange of Planning Ideas." IN: Journal of Planning History, Issue 9/2. 75-94.
Welter, Volker M. (2003): “Post-War CIAM, Team X, and the Influence of Patrick Geddes.” In: Camp, D’Laine/van den Heuvel, Dirk/de Waal, Gijs (Eds.): CIAM Team 10-the English Context. Delft: Technische Universiteit. 87-110.