A Guide to Archigram 1961 – 74 (Paperback)

In the decade of the Beatles and the moon landing, cybernetics and megacities, an ambitious group of young British architects burst on the scene with a bold manifesto for urban building. The Archigram group pioneered a playful brand of architecture that was visionary, utopian, and grounded in social need. Through a provocative series of publications and exhibitions, the avant-garde cooperative challenged an architectural establishment they felt had become reactionary and self-serving. They advocated a complete rethinking of the relationships between technology, society, and architecture, rightly predicting today’s information revolution decades before it came to pass. A Guide to Archigram 1961-74 is a compact history showcasing the group’s most interesting and influential schemes, from walking cities and plug-in universities to inflatable dwellings and free time nodes. This book, the most comprehensive guide to Archigram’s voluminous output, collects the critical responses of the period, in addition to hundreds of drawings and photographs.

About the Author

Dennis Crompton was a founding member of the Archigram Group and established the Archigram Archives in 1975 when Archigram ceased to practice. He was responsible, with Ron Herron, for the assembly and design of the major exhibition, Archigram: Experimental Architecture 1961–74. Crompton frequently lectures at schools of architecture, urbanism, and design in the United States and Europe.