archigram - architects or great publicists?

[Paul Clerkin]

Amazing Archigram: how a bunch of English architectural fantasists conquered the world.

(© Hugh Pearman. First published in The Sunday Times, March 28, 2004, as "Aliens carrying a friendly message".)

When a group of young English architects with slightly dull day jobs named themselves Archigram and started spending their evenings drawing up fantastical, science-fiction buildings at the start of the 1960s, two things did not seem likely. Firstly that they would get to build very little during their careers. And secondly that they would become globally famous. When the Archigram exhibition opens at London's Design Museum this Saturday (April 2), it is the final gig of an extraordinary ten-year international tour. These ageing architects - or those that have survived the whole long, weird trip - are treated as rock stars from Tokyo to New York.

http://www.hughpearman.com/articles5/archigram.html



Forty years on, the future has arrived
(Filed: 29/03/2004)



The radical 1960s architectural collective Archigram is finally achieving recognition for its extraordinary visions. Why did it take so long? Giles Worsley reports There was a bit of a flap late in 2002 when Archigram, the 1960s architectural collective best known for its fantastic visual images such as the Walking City, was given the RIBA's Royal Gold Medal

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/03/29/barch27.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/03/29/ixtop.html

[alan d]

.....would'nt architecture be great if you did'nt have clients, eh?

What's the verdict on the giant haggis in Kunsthus Graz, then?

[FIN]

i like the haggis alan. something completely different. and it fits in quite well. a lesson for conservationalists everywhere that new architecture doesn't mean the demise of the older stuff. how he managed to convince the clients that this is what they wanted i will never know.

no clients..just their money!

[alan d]

.........interesting one for me, FIN. Inventive, beautifully crafted
( looks like ) radical, challenging but incredibly ugly.

[FIN]

it has it's charms though....

[alan d]

Well I guess................ if you're a transplant surgeon or liver specialist or work at the meat counter in Tesco it'll be heaven on earth.

[L1]

As far as the Kunsthaus goes there are a few bits that make me wince, the big nozzles over the restaurant bar for example seem a little dated. However when you see the blob with the onion domes you can see that this building has something in common with these very buildingy things....I'm a fan