Architect · United Kingdom · Born 1936
Peter Cook Biography, Buildings and Best Books
British architect, born in 1936, founder of Archigram, whose Plug-In City and Instant City shaped radical architecture, and co-designer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
Photo: CRAB, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Biography
Sir Peter Cook (born 1936) is a British architect, teacher and writer and a founder of Archigram, the group whose drawings of walking, plug-in and instant cities in the 1960s became icons of radical architecture. Decades later he built, with Colin Fournier, the Kunsthaus Graz, a blue biomorphic “friendly alien”, and as a teacher at the Architectural Association and the Bartlett he shaped generations of architects.
Southend and the AA
Cook was born in Southend-on-Sea in 1936 and studied at the Bournemouth College of Art and the Architectural Association in London, graduating in 1960.
Archigram
In 1961 he launched Archigram with Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron and Michael Webb. In the magazine and in projects such as Plug-In City (1964) and Instant City (1968), Cook imagined cities of interchangeable capsules, cranes and inflatable structures. The group received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2002.
Teaching and building
He taught for decades at the AA, directed the Institute of Contemporary Arts and was chair of the Bartlett School of Architecture from 1990 to 2006. With Colin Fournier he designed the Kunsthaus Graz (2003), and with Gavin Robotham he founded CRAB Studio, which built the Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University in Australia and the Law Faculty of the Vienna University of Economics. He was knighted in 2007.
Archigram: The Book
The definitive collection of Archigram’s projects and magazines, assembled by the group’s surviving members.
View on Amazon
Timeline
- 1936Born on 22 October in Southend-on-Sea.
- 1960Graduates from the Architectural Association.
- 1961Founds Archigram.
- 1964Plug-In City.
- 1968Instant City.
- 1990Becomes chair of the Bartlett School of Architecture.
- 2002Archigram receives the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.
- 2003Kunsthaus Graz opens with Colin Fournier.
- 2007Knighted.
Best Books on Peter Cook
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Peter Cook?
Sir Peter Cook is a British architect and teacher, a founder of Archigram and co-designer of the Kunsthaus Graz.
What was Archigram?
A group of six British architects formed in 1961 whose magazine and visionary projects, such as Plug-In City and Instant City, imagined a mobile, technological architecture.
What is the Kunsthaus Graz?
An art museum in Graz, Austria, opened in 2003, designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier as a blue biomorphic form nicknamed the friendly alien.
What is the best book on Peter Cook and Archigram?
Archigram: The Book (Circa Press) collects the group’s work, edited by its members.
