Peter Cook (architect)

Professor Sir Peter Cook RA
Professor Sir Peter Cook in Kyoto, December 2010
Born	(1936-10-22) 22 October 1936 Southend-on-Sea, England
Occupation	Architect

Professor Sir Peter Cook RA (born 22 October 1936) is a notable English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a founder of Archigram,^[1] and was knighted in 2007 by the Queen for his services to architecture and teaching. He is also a Royal Academician and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. His achievements with Archigram were recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004, when the group was awarded the Royal Gold Medal.

Early life and education

Cook was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and studied architecture at Bournemouth College of Art from 1953–58. He then entered the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1960.^[2]

Career

Cook was a director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, and has been director of Art Net in London and curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He continues to curate, organise and exhibit around the world: in Seoul, LA and Cyprus, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and Design Museum, London as well as in castles, sheds and garages.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London. Cook's professorships include those of the Royal Academy, University College, London and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (Städelschule) in Frankfurt-Main, Germany. Construction of his arts building, the Kunsthaus Graz (aka 'The Friendly Alien') in Graz, Austria (with Colin Fournier) brought his work to a wider public. In 2013 he (along with his studio CRAB) completed the Vienna Business and Economics University's new law faculty) and Australia's newest school of architecture, the Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University on the Gold Coast.

Cook has also built in Osaka, Nagoya, Berlin and Madrid. His continuing work as a lecturer takes him to cultural institutions around the world, where many have heard him expound (among other subjects) upon his love affair with the slithering, the swarming and the spooky.

He practices with Gavin Robotham as CRAB studio (Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau),^[3] and is married to the Israeli architect, Yael Reisner.

Cook was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, for services to architecture.^[2]

Awards and honours

• 1960 – Henry Florence Student A.A. (Building Centre research Scholar)
• 1961 – Piccadilly Circus competition (Mention)
• 1962 – Gas Council House Design (First Prize)
• 1965 – Selected as one of "Young British Designers" Sunday Times exhibition
• 1996 – Jean Tschumi Medal, International Union of Architects
• 1969 – Grant awarded by Graham Foundation, Chicago, for Instant City
• 2000 – Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (with Colin Fournier)
• 2002 – Annie Spink Award, jointly awarded to David Greene (for contribution to architectural education) by the RIBA
• 2002 – Royal Gold Medal (with Archigram) by RIBA
• 2003 – Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the France Republic
• 2004 – Finalist for Stirling Prize for Kunsthaus Graz (with Colin Fournier)
• 2007 – Knighted in Queen's Honours' list (for services in architecture)
• 2008 – Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London
• 2010 – Mario Pani Award for Architecture, Mexico City
• 2010 – Honorary Doctorate of Technology, Lund University, Sweden

Success in architectural competitions

Kunsthaus Graz

• 1970 – Monte Carlo Entertainments Centre (with Archigram)
• 1990 – Solar Housing, Landstuhl, Germany (with Christine Hawley)
• 1992 – Museum of Antiquities, Austria (with Christine Hawley)
• 2000 – The Kunsthaus, Graz (with Colin Fournier)
• 2006 – New Theatre Verbania, Italy (with Gavin Robotham)
• 2009 – Faculty of Law, Vienna Business and Economics University (with Gavin Robotham)
• 2010 – 2nd prize in the Taiwan Tower international competition (with Gavin Robotham)
• 2011 – Soheil Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia (with Gavin Robotham and Brit Andresen)^[4]
• 2013 – Finalist in the National Stadium of Israel (CRAB + POPULOUS)
• 2013 – Finalist in the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct

Current appointments

• Professor Emeritus at University College London
• Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts
• Life Professor at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (Städelschule) Frankfurt-Main
• Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London
• Fellow of the Bournemouth Arts University
• Member of the Hessische Architektenkammer
• Member of the RIBA, Architects Registration Board (ARB)
• Fellow of University College London

Former appointments

• Chair of Architecture of the Bartlett School, University College London (1990–2006)
• Director, Institute of the Contemporary Arts, London (1970–1972)

Exhibitions

• Archigram exhibition – 1994 onwards: Vienna, Paris, New York, London, Pasadena, Chicago, Milan, Hamburg, Seoul, Mito, Taipei, Winnipeg, Zurich, Cracow, Zaragoza, Brussels, Rotterdam.
• Curator of Venice Biennale of Architecture British Pavilion 2004, Cyprus Pavilion 2006
• Personal exhibitions – various dates: Los Angeles, Tokyo, Oslo, Berlin, Osaka, Frankfurt.

Publications

• 1967 – Architecture: Action and Plan. London: Studio Vista.
• 1970 – Experimental Architecture. London/New York: Studio Vista/Universal Books.
• 1972 – Archigram. London: Studio Vista/Reinhold, Birkhauser
• 1975 – Melting Architecture. London: Peter Cook, (published to accompany Art Net exhibition).
• 1976 – Art Net The Rally: Forty London Architects . London: Art Net/Peter Cook, (published to accompany Art Net exhibition).
• 1976 – Arcadia: The Search for the Perfect Suburb. London: Art Net/Peter Cook.
• 1980 – (with Christine Hawley). Six Houses. London: AA Publications, (published to accompany exhibition at the Architectural Association).
• 1983 – (with Barbara Goldstein). Los Angeles Now. London: AA Publications, (published to accompany exhibition at the Architectural Association).
• 1985 – Peter Cook – 21 Years, 21 Ideas. London: AA Publications, (foreword by Banham, Reyner and narrative by Hawley, Christine; published to accompany exhibition at the Architectural Association).
• 1985 – (editor with Olive Brown). Lebbeus Woods. London: AA Publications, 1985, (published to accompany exhibition at the Architectural Association).
• 1987 – (with Christine Hawley). Cities. London: Fisher Fine Arts, (published to accompany exhibition at the Fischer Fine Arts).
• 1989 – Peter Cook 1961–89. A+U.
• 1991 – (with Rosie Llewellyn-Jones). New Spirit in Architecture. New York: Rizzoli.
• 1993 – Six Conversations. London: Academy Editions, (Architectural Monographs Special Issue, No. 28).
• 1996 – Primer. London: Academy Editions.
• 1999 – Archigram. London/New York: Princeton Architectural Press (also in Japanese, German, Chinese)
• 1999 – (with John Hedjuk and Helene Binet). The House of the Book: Building, Zvi Hecker. London: Black Dog.
• 1999 – (with Neil Spiller). The Power of Contemporary Architecture. London: Academy Editions.
• 2000 – Bartlett Book of Ideas. London: Bartlett School of Architecture.
• 2001 – (with others). The Paradox of Contemporary Architecture. Chichester: Wiley-Academy.
• 2003 – The City, Seen As A Garden Of Ideas. New York: Monacelli.
• 2008 – Drawing: The Motive Force of Architecture. Chichester: Wiley.
• 2014 – Drawing: The Motive Force of Architecture, Second Edition: Wiley

References

• Interview with Peter Cook on Archinect – Conversation with Peter Cook on the State of Things
• Simon Sadler, Archigram: Architecture without Architecture, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005
• Interview with Designboom
• Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau, London

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Cook.

• The Bartlett: Peter Cook
• Arcspace: Kunsthaus Graz
• Knighthood: Peter Cook (06/2007)
• Archinect interview (06/2008)
• Architectural Record interview (2007)
• RA interview (2005)
• Designboom interview (09/2002)
• Design Museum: Archigram
• CRAB Studio
• El País (spanish journal) interview (2011)