Bruce Peter

Background

About Bruce Peter

I lecture undergraduate and postgraduate students on a wide range of subjects relating to design, architecture, art history and cultural studies. My research is focused on modern architecture and design for transport, pleasure and hospitality and I am also internationally known as a maritime historian, specialising in the design history of modern merchant ships. My first book, Glasgow’s Amazing Cinemas, was published in 1996 and my PhD, Form Follows Fun: Modernism and Modernity in British Pleasure Architecture 1925-1940, was published in 2007. My interest in ships then led to me co-author Cruise: Identity, Design and Culture, followed by Ship Style: Modernism and Modernity at Sea in the Twentieth Century, QE2: Britain’s Greatest Liner and The Ferry: A Drive-though History. In Denmark, I wrote a history of the naval architects Knud E Hansen and a work on Danish liner shipping, Dansk Linjefart, followed by an official book for the Danish Maritime Museum, Museet for Søfart. I then wrote company histories of P&O for its 175 anniversary and of DFDS for its 150th and also co-authored Innovation and Specialisation: The Story of Shipbuilding in Finland. In 2017-2018 I advised on the content of the V&A Ocean Liners: Speed and Style exhibition and wrote The Changing Face of British Railways, about the design culture of BR from nationalisation to privatisation. Next, I wrote Jet Age Hotels and the International Style about the politics and design of hotels of the 1950s and 60s. My research formed an Impact Case Study submitted for the Research Excellence Framework in 2021. I have appeared in documentaries on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky History. Since 2008, I have been a regular contributor to Shippax, a leading passenger shipping industry information publisher in Halmstad, Sweden. My newest book is Denmark in Britain: Architecture, Design and Lifestyle 1945-1970 for Peter Lang and my next will be Art Deco in Scotland for Historic Environment Scotland.