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Archigram

The Book

Through­out the 1960s and ear­ly 1970s, Archi­gram envi­sioned the future of archi­tec­ture in ways that enthralled a gen­er­a­tion. In an era defined by the space race, they devel­oped a high-tech, light­weight, infra­struc­tur­al approach that stretched far beyond known tech­nolo­gies or con­tem­po­rary real­i­ties. They devised autonomous dwellings and focused on sur­vival tech­nol­o­gy; they exper­i­ment­ed with megas­truc­tures and mod­u­lar con­struc­tion sys­tems; they explored mobil­i­ty through the envi­ron­ment and the use of portable liv­ing cap­sules: all through the medi­um of an incred­i­ble series of draw­ings and mod­els. This book, now in a revised edi­tion, cat­a­logues Archigram’s entire oeu­vre over four­teen years, includ­ing Archi­gram mag­a­zine. Along with com­men­taries by the archi­tects, there are con­tri­bu­tions from crit­ics Reyn­er Ban­ham, Mar­tin Paw­ley, Michael Sorkin and oth­ers, writ­ing then and now. Designed and edit­ed by Archi­gram mem­ber Den­nis Cromp­ton, Archi­gram: The Book is a land­mark in archi­tec­tur­al publishing.

War­ren Chalk (192788), Peter Cook, Den­nis Cromp­ton, Ron Her­ron (193094), David Greene and Michael Webb are the founder mem­bers of Archi­gram. Their the­o­ret­i­cal work began in the 1960s as a cry against the crap then going up in Lon­don’. Although they nev­er built a build­ing togeth­er, their influ­ence over a gen­er­a­tion of archi­tects con­tin­ues to be felt today. The group was award­ed the RIBA Roy­al Gold Medal in 2002.

Archi­gram is easy to love: Its com­bi­na­tion of com­ic book graph­ics, tongue-in-cheek humor, and high-tech futur­ism is a potent mix. Now the group’s entire out­put has been com­pressed into a mighty 300-page tome that is, above all else, a visu­al feast.’
Metrop­o­lis Mag­a­zine Hol­i­day Gift Guide 2018

Archigram’s ghost, a very colour­ful ghost, is every­where.’
Jonathan Meades, Lon­don Review of Books, 21 May 2020

Archi­gram was to archi­tec­ture what the Bea­t­les were to rock and roll. No less.’
– Michael Sorkin 

Authors
Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, Ron Herron, David Greene and Michael Webb, with essays by Reyner Banham, Martin Pawley, Michael Sorkin and others
Designer
Dennis Crompton


Hardcover
23 × 29.5cm
9 × 10 ¾ in
300pp plus 4pp of inserts and 4 fold-outs
Approx. 50 line drawings and 500 colour illustrations
£75 | $95

ISBN 978-1-911422-49-5

Archigram
Shortlisted for the Richard Schlagman Art Book Awards 2019

Press