Team 4

Creek Vean, Pill Lane, Feock

Team 4 was a British architectural firm, established in 1963 by architecture graduates Su Brumwell, Wendy Cheeseman, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. Team 4 was dissolved in 1967.[1]

The practice originally included Wendy Cheeseman's sister Georgie Wolton (née Cheeseman) who, as the only qualified architect of the group, allowed the practice to function. Georgie Cheeseman left after only a few months, leaving the remaining members to try and pass their professional exams while continuing to practice.[2]

Rogers, Foster and Brumwell had first met while studying at Yale University. Rogers and Brumwell later married one another, as did Foster and Wendy Cheeseman.[2]

Notable projects

One of the first projects for Team 4 was a commission from Su Brumwell’s parents, Marcus and Irene Brumwell, to build a new house in Feock, Cornwall, called Creek Vean. They sold a Piet Mondrian painting bought from the artist in the 1930s, to fund the new house.[1] Marcus Brumwell was the founder of the Design Research Unit.[3] Creek Vean took 3 years to construct and was completed in 1966.[4] It became the first ever house to win a R.I.B.A. Award.[2] Creek Vean is a listed building, having been listed Grade II in 1998, and subsequently upgraded to Grade II*.[4] It is listed as "Creekvean and Attached Entrance Bridge and Walls to Road, Feock".[3]

Team 4 designed Skybreak House in Radlett, Hertfordshire. It was built between 1965 and 1966,[5] and the interior of the house was used in the film A Clockwork Orange.[6] The final project for Team 4 was the Reliance Controls building in Swindon, which was completed in 1967, just before Team 4 dissolved. It was noteworthy as it removed the separation of management and workforce by creating a common entrance and canteen.[1]

Rogers claims a planning scheme of 120 houses for Water Homes, at Coulsdon, Surrey, to be "probably the most important project of our Team 4 period".[2]

Foster would later establish Foster and Partners and Rogers established Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Richard Rogers, Architect (1933-), From the House to the City". Design Museum. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Ian Lambot (Ed.), "Norman Foster: Buildings and Projects Volume 1 1964-1973", Watermark Publications (1991), ISBN 1-873200-01-3. Chapter 1 "Team 4" by Richard Rogers, pp. 14-15
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Creekvean and Attached Entrance Bridge and Walls to Road, Feock". BritishListedBuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Miller, Keith (2003-06-28). "Making the grade: Creek Vean". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  5. ↑ "Skybreak House". ArchINFORM. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  6. ↑ "Clockwork Orange filming locations". GeoCities. Archived from the original on 2009-10-19. Retrieved 2009-10-05.