Archigram

Archigram. Group of English designers formed by Peter Cook, Ron Herron, Warren Chalk (1927–88), and others in 1960, influenced by Cedric Price (especially his Fun Palace of 1961), and disbanded in 1975. Archigram provided the precedents for the so-called High Tech style, and promoted its architectural ideas through seductive futuristic graphics by means of exhibitions and the magazine Archigram: buildings designed by the group resembled machines or machine-parts, and structures exhibited their services and structural elements picked out in strong colours. The group's vision of disposable, flexible, easily extended constructions was influential, although very few of its projects were realized (the capsule at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan, was one). Richard Rogers's architecture derives from Archigram ideas, while Price's notions of expendability influenced Japanese Metabolism. Unrealized but influential projects include the Fulham Study (1963), Plug-in City (1964), Instant City (1968), the Inflatable Suit-Home (1968), and Urban Mark (1972). Herron's Imagination Building, London (1989), encapsulated something of Archigram's ethos.

Bibliography

Archigram (1961–70, 1994);
Anno Domini, xxxv/11 (Nov. 1965)), 534–5;
R. Banham (1994);
P. Cook et al. (eds.) (1999);
Crompton & and Johnston (1994);
Crompton (ed.) (1998);
Klotz (ed.) (1986);