About Archigram

DENNIS CROMPTON

Born in Blackpool in 1935. Conspiciously in charge of all the technical matters that form part of Archigram's output. The inventor of the "things that go bang in the night". An enthousiast on gadgets, machines, techniques and systmes. The most practical member of the group who has nevertheless been known go flip completely when confronted with the opportunity to make a bigger and better and more bang-in-the-night apparatus.

Had a strong involvement with the Architectural Association School since 1965 where, until 1996, he was responsible for communications and publishing. Now teaching the master courses at the Bartlett. Designs exhibitions and books whenever the opportunity arises and has guided the Archigram Exhibition around Europe and the United States since its opening in Vienna in 1994.

RON HERRON

Born in London in 1930. Draws like a dream... apparently effortlessly. Doesn't enjoy superflous chat but does enjoy cheerful situations. Always sees good in people and situations. An optimist who cannot see why everybody makes such a hassle over everything. Observes quietly... and then syntethisis it all through a project. Beyond this all, not as uncomplicatd as he may seem, on the odd occasions when he does really dig his heels in on an issue, he is the toughest and least transingent of the lot.

Tought at the Architectural Association from 1965 to 1993 and formed Herron Associates in 1981 along with his sons Andrew and Simon. Built the much acclaimed Immagination Headquarters in London. Became Professor and Head of the School of Architecture at the University of East London in 1993. Ron died in 1994.

MICHAEL WEBB

Born in Henley on Thames in 1937. Has for some considerable time been living in the United States of America, and so is in a sence a 'corresponding' member of the Group. Nevertheless, his arimail relationship (and occasional head-to-head sessions) with the London part of the group is a very necessary part of its thinking and the total effort.

Has lived for nearly 30 years in New York and teaches at Copper Union, Columbia Barnard and Princeton Universities and has had exhibitions at Architecture League and Storefront Gallery in New York and in Berlin and Frankfurt.

PETER COOK

Born in Southend on Sea in 1936 The most talkative and 'public' member of the group. Enjous inventing situations and very much enjoys forming analogies between the quirks and experiences of individual people and possibilities for the environment that are ambigous and unexpected. Preoccupied by the idea of 'Metamorphosis'. Enjoys drawing illustrations of these analogies and metamorphoses rather than writing about them.

Formed partnership with Christine Hawley (former student of Ron Herron) which continues and has been building housing in Berlin and smaller structures in Ossaka and Frankfurt. Is now Bartlett Professor at University College London and Professor at HbK Frankfurt.

DAVID GREEN

Born in Nottingham in 1937. The poet of the group. Sometimes contemplative, sometimes fatalist, he reacts to these moods in a positive way: writing or inventing something that often has references to the existing world, contrived in an organic way. Concerned with conceptual posibilities and a fascination with the words absence and erasure, in particular the earsure of architecture by digital technology. He tries to speculate on what a new architecture might be for the culture of the person that Marshal McLuhan calls 'the Electronic Man'. He has continued to be suspicious of the status of the drawing preferring the medium of the 'adjusted photographe'.

Currently he is writing bits and continuing his collaborations with Case Verde in addition to his teaching as Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster.

WARREN CHALK

Born in London in 1927. During his early years at Manchester Art College, he was torn between painting and architecture. The most abrasice and critical of the Archigram Group, he hid doubts and dissatisfaction with the obvious and the banal have many times been justified by subsequent events. Wrote frequently in Architectural Design on a variety of topics, often based upon a re-observation of the myths and curiosities of our culture, where this can give a clue to alternatives to the obvious and the banal.

Since the Archigram period Warren continued writing and teaching in the United States and England, principally at the Architectural Associrion. Warren died August 1987.

ARCHIGRAM are amongst the most seminal, iconoclastic and influential architectural groups of the modern age. They created some of the 20th century's most iconic images and projects, rethought the relationship of technology, society and architecture, predicted and envisioned the information revolution decades before it came to pass, and reinvented a whole mode of architectural education - and therefore produced a seam of architectural thought with truly global impact.

The name Archigram (Architecture+Telegram) was invented to describe a home-made magazine put together in 1961 by the young architects, Peter Cook and David Greene, joining first with Mike Webb. This free-form magazine was designed to explore new projects and new thinking which were overturning the strict modernist dictates of the 1960s.

For the second Archigram magazine in 1962, Cook, Greene and Webb invited Ron Herron, Dennis Crompton and Warren Chalk, all working at the London County Council's architects department, to contribute. As the magazine grew and its circulation spread, the six began working together on specific projects, such as the 'Living City' exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1963, and the Archigram name soon stuck to them as a group.

The astounding projects which they created drew on the technologies of the 'Space Race', the dawn of the digital information revolution, and the US-led consumer boom, to develop new visions of what life and society might be like in the immediate future. The projects included the famous Walking City, Plug-in City and Instant City, which variously proposed the use of pods, capsules, megastructures, inflatable or temporary components, cars, furniture, clothes and gadgets to replace conventional building forms - in other words, the inventive use of new technologies to rethink society and its forms of habitation.

Besides these powerful joint themes, the differences between the various members of the group gave their work a special charge and an ongoing capacity for challenge. At the RIBA's award of the Royal Gold Medal in 2002 they described themselves as 'a dysfunctional male family'. Typically, Peter Cook is seen as the dynamic can-do optimist and spokesman; Dennis Crompton as the back-room fixer dealing with technology and looking after the archives; David Greene as the poet, pessimist, elusive dreamer and devastating critic; Mike Webb as the hermit-like artist and design genius; while, of the members who are sadly departed, Ron Herron was the positive, hands-on designer, and Warren Chalk the catalyst of ideas.

The challenges between the group can be seen in its range which includes both practical, built and would-be built projects and pure abstract speculations which - specially in the case of David Greene and Mike Webb - increasingly sought to fundamentally negate any idea of conventional architectural practice or built form.

All six members of the group taught, throughout their lives, at a number of leading schools of architecture around the world. They also produced a substantial body of exhibition design, and for a while even ran their own gallery (Adhocs). For a while during the early-1970s, they appeared to be forming a conventional architectural office, Archigram Architects, after winning the contract to design the multi-million pound entertainment facility in Monaco (Monte-Carlo) in 1969, when Cook, Herron and Crompton formed a business partnership. But this project fell through in 1973, leading to the closure of the Archigram office in 1974, and marking what is usually seen as the end of the Archigram era.

The members of Archigram, however, all went on to develop major and varied careers. Peter Cook became one of the world best-known educators, notably at the Architectural Association and then the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture, while also forming design partnerships first with Christine Hawley and then Colin Fourier (with whom he designed the 'friendly alien' Kunsthaus in Graz). Then, on his 'retirement' from the Bartlett, he began working with HOK, including the project for London's 2012 Olympic Stadium, and jointly setting up CRAB Studio with Gavin Robotham. He earned himself a knighthood as one of British architecture's great figures.

Dennis Crompton went on to run the publications unit at the AA during an astonishing period in which it produced its most exquisite, and diverse publications. He also established the Archigram Archives collection (to which this current project is deeply indebted) and is the driving force behind the Archigram exhibition which has been touring the world since 1994. He also continued to teach at places such as Cooper Union in New York.

David Greene also continues to teach around the world and, in his continual efforts to challenge conventional architectural thought, he has formed left-field collaborations like Casa Verde and the Institute of Electronic Anthropology. Later, he worked with Samantha Hardingham at EXP to produce the projects for L.A.W.u.N. #19 and #20, as well as a book and an exhibition pursuing ideas about the spatial dispersal and dissolution of architecture with a new generation of collaborators.

Mike Webb moved to Upstate New York, while regularly teaching at Cooper Union and working continually on his elusive and beautiful art works. His seminal designs for projects such as Sin City and Temple Island continue to be worked on to this day.

After the ending of Archigram Architects, Ron Herron worked with Pentagram and then set up a partnership with his sons, Andrew and Simon, which he later fused with the firm Imagination - designing the latter's spectacular tensile-roofed office-gallery in central London. He also taught at the AA and elsewhere, becoming professor and head of architecture at the University of East London. He died in 1994.

Warren Chalk taught in America and Canada, and then worked in occasional partnership with Ron Herron. He too was a regular tutor and stimulating presence at the AA. He died in 1987. The extent of Archigram's influence can scarcely be reckoned. The award of the RIBA Gold Medal – usually reserved for those producing a substantial quantity of built work – goes some way to show just how far the influence of this largely unbuilt group extends. Archigram can be said to have redesigned the scope of experimental thought and teaching - and hence architectural practice throughout the world, overturning established ideas and calling into question the idea of what architecture actually is.