Irénée Scalbert shows how the House of the Future, designed by Alison and Peter Smithson in 1956 for the Ideal Home Exhibition, was among the most important manifestations of the formless in architecture. For the first time, the full weight of anti-formalist views were brought to bear upon habitable space. The House of the Future has long been remembered as an icon of Pop architecture; following a detailed description of the project based on the architects' files, Scalbert attempts to show that it was shaped by very different concerns. Discussions with the Independent Group had a determined influence on the design. The House of the Future was the outcome of a radical sensibility within the group which sought to oppose any reference to the ideas of form and beauty. It could not have been conceived without an interest in the mathematics of topology and the concept of connectivity.In the second lecture (from 12/03/1998), Scalbert expands upon his earlier argument that through studying the sources of New Brutalism it becomes possible to theorize how the architecture located under that label has been fundamentally misinterpreted. NB: Second part cuts out during Q & A.