Archigram

Cook, Peter (Ed.)

ISBN 10: 1568981945 / ISBN 13: 9781568981949

Published by Princeton Architectural Press, 1999

About this Item

New from our store. In protective sleeve.

Seller Inventory # 003148

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Archigram
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1568981945
• ISBN 13: 9781568981949
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

"In late 1960, in various flats in Hampstead, a loose group of people started to meet: to criticize projects, to concoct letters to the press, to combine to make competition projects, and generally prop one another up against the boredom of working in a London architectural office. It became obvious that some publication would help. The main British magazines did not at that time publish student work, so that Archigram was reacting to this as well as the general sterility of the scene. The title came from a notion of a more urgent and simple item than a journal, like a 'telegram' or 'aerogramme,' hence 'archi(tecture)-gram.'...By this time Peter Cook, David Greene, and Mike Webb, in making a broadsheet, had started a new Group."
Thus begins Archigram, a chronicle of the work of a group of young British architects that became the most influential architecture movement of the 1960s, as told by the members themselves. It includes material published in early issues of their journal, as well as numerous texts, poems, comics, photocollages, drawings, and fantastical architecture projects. Work presented includes Instant City, pod living, the Features Monte Carlo entertainment center, Blow-out Village, and the Cushicle personalized enclosure. Archigram's influence continues unabated: direct descendants of the group's work include Lebbeus Woods, Neil Denari, Takasaki Masaharu, and Morphosis.
This title is a facsimile edition of a book originally published in 1972, with a new introduction by Michael Webb.

About the Author

Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, Ron Herron, David Greene and Michael Webb are the founder members of Archigram. Their theoretical work began in the 1960s as a cry against the foolishnes then going up in London. Although they never constructed a building together, their influence over a generation of architects continues to be felt today. The group was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2002. Reyner Banham was one of the leading architectural commentators in the decades when Archigram was active, and the author of Megastucture (1976), which featured their work. Martin Pawley documented the architectural scene in London from the 1970s onwards from the perspective of a restless insider. His writing about Archigram is incisive and colorful. Michael Sorkin is an architect and urbanist whose practice spans design, planning, criticism, and teaching. His books include Exquisite Corpse: Writing on Buildings (1991).