Lives in Architecture – serie

A compelling personal account of Terry Farrell’s life in architecture, as an influential Postmodern designer, architect-planner and principal of a leading global practice. What have the defining projects and watershed moments and encounters been in Farrell's career? How has did he secure significant building projects such as Charing Cross, The MI6 Building and Beijing South Station? What have the highs and lows been in realising such large-scale schemes? Providing the inside view of what it is like to be an architect at the top of his profession, this autobiography highlights what it takes to develop a successful international practice. Farrell, alongside his High-Tech contemporaries, was a game-changer in the way he ran his business, with a deep commitment to marketing and finance. Working with the private sector, he made a complete break from a previous post-war generation of firms that were almost solely reliant on publicly funded building programmes. Tracing the story of his early life growing up in Greater Manchester and then on the post-war Grange Estate in Newcastle, before attending Newcastle University and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and subsequently setting up in practice in London with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 1965, it highlights how Farrell, despite his working-class background, was able to seize the opportunities provided to him in the 1950s through free access to education. Featuring a richly illustrated full-colour section, including photos from his own private collection and images of Farrell’s most significant buildings, this book is a window into the life and career of one of Britain’s leading architects.

Peter Cook has been a pivotal figure within the architecture world forover half a century. He first came to international renown in the 1960s as afounder of the radical, experimental group Archigram, winners of the 2002 RIBA RoyalGold Medal. He is also former Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts(ICA), London, and Emeritus Professor and former Chair of the Bartlett Schoolof Architecture (University College London).Suffused with Peter’s infectious energy,enthusiasm and charm, this intriguing memoir explores major themes inarchitecture through the lens of his life and work. Taking the reader on ajourney through his colourful and wide-ranging career, it touches on his early yearsand architectural education, his relationships with key figures within thearchitecture community and his work teaching and lecturing internationally. Italso provides an inside account of his leadership of the Bartlett, for which heis frequently credited as a central figure in rescuing the reputation of aonce-ailing, now world-famous, school of architecture. Featuring full-colour images of his mostfamous drawings, including Archigram’s ‘Plug-in City’, and built works, such asthe Kunsthaus Graz in Austria and the Vienna Economics and Business University’sDepartment of Law and Central Administration Buildings, this book is a window into the life of one ofarchitecture’s most celebrated rebels.