Cedric Price
Cedric Price FRIBA | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 September 1934 Stone, Staffordshire, England |
| Died | 10 August 2003 (aged 68) London, England |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge Architectural Association School of Architecture |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Partner | Eleanor Bron (?–2003; his death) |
Cedric Price FRIBA (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture.
Early life and education[edit]
The son of an architect (A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon),[1] Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire and studied architecture at Cambridge University (St John's College – graduating in 1955) and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, where he encountered, and was influenced by, the modernist architect and urban planner Arthur Korn.[2] From 1958 to 1964 he taught part-time at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and at the Council of Industrial Design. He later founded Polyark, an architectural schools network.
Career[edit]
After graduating, Price worked briefly for Erno Goldfinger, Denys Lasdun, the partnership of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, and applied unsuccessfully for a post at London County Council, working briefly as a professional illustrator before starting his own practice in 1960.[1] He worked with The Earl of Snowdon and Frank Newby on the design of the Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo (1961).[3] He later also worked with Buckminster Fuller on the Claverton Dome.
One of his more notable projects was the East London Fun Palace (1961),[4] developed in association with theatrical director Joan Littlewood and cybernetician Gordon Pask.[5] Although it was never built, its flexible space influenced other architects, notably Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano whose Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris extended many of Price's ideas – some of which Price used on a more modest scale in the Inter-Action Centre at Kentish Town, London (1971).[2]
Having conceived the idea of using architecture and education as a way to drive economic redevelopment – notably in the north Staffordshire Potteries area (the 'Thinkbelt' project) – he continued to contribute to planning debates. Think-Belt (1963–66) envisaged the reuse of an abandoned railway line as a roving "higher education facility", re-establishing the Potteries as a centre of science and technology. Mobile classroom, laboratory and residential modules could be moved grouped and assembled as required.[5]
In 1969, with planner Sir Peter Hall and the editor of New Society magazine Paul Barker, he published Non-plan, a work challenging planning orthodoxy.
In 1984 Price proposed the redevelopment of London's South Bank, and foresaw the London Eye by suggesting that a giant Ferris wheel should be constructed by the River Thames.
Personal life and death[edit]
Price was the partner of the actress Eleanor Bron. They had no children.[6]
Price died in London, aged 68, in 2003.[6]
References[edit]
Notes
- ^ a b "Cedric Price: Architect-thinker who built little but whose influence was talismanic". Independent. 13 August 2003. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ a b Melvin J. 2003. 'Obituary: Cedric Price, Hugely creative architect ahead of his time in promoting themes of lifelong learning and brownfield regeneration'. The Guardian, 15 August 2003.
- ^ "The Architecture and Engineering of The Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo" (PDF). University of Westminster, Department of Architecture. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ^ Mathews, S (11 January 2006). "The Fun Palace as Virtual Architecture: Cedric Price and the Practices of Indeterminacy". Journal of Architectural Education. 59: 39–48. doi:10.1111/j.1531-314X.2006.00032.x.
- ^ a b "Cedric Price". Daily Telegraph. 15 August 2003. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ a b Muschamp, Herbert (23 August 2003). "Cedric Price, Influential British Architect With Sense of Fun, Dies at 68". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
Further reading
- Hardingham, Samantha (2016) Cedric Price Works 1952–2003: A Forward-Minded Retrospective Archived 24 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine a two-volume anthology, co-published by the Architectural Association (AA) and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
- Bron, Eleanor and Hardingham, Samantha, eds. (2005) Annotations: v. 7: CP Retriever, Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA), London
- Hardingham, Samantha (2003) Cedric Price: Opera, London: John Wiley & Sons, London.
- Hardingham, Samantha and Rattenbury, Kester, eds. (2007) Cedric Price: Potteries Thinkbelt. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-43412-6
- Hughes, Jonathan and Sadler, Simon, eds. (2000) Non-Plan: Essays on Freedom, Participation and Change in Modern Architecture and Urbanism. Oxford: Architectural Press. ISBN 9780750640831
- Muschamp, Herbert (15 August 2003) "Cedric Price, Influential British Architect With Sense of Fun, Dies at 68" (obituary) The New York Times
- Price, Cedric (1984) Cedric Price: Works II, Architectural Association; republished in 2003 as Cedric Price: The Square Book. London: Wiley-Academy, London.
- Staff (ndg) "Cedric Price" Design Museum
- Staff (22 August 2003) "Cedric Price, A leading light of the 'megastructure' movement whose work was guided by amusing and inspirational ideas" (obituary). The Times
External links[edit]
- Finding aid for the Cedric Price fonds at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (digitized items)
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