Cedric Price

FRIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and influential teacher and writer on architecture. The son of an architect (A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon), Price was born in

Stone, Staffordshire Stone is a canal town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, north of Stafford, south of Stoke-on-Trent and north of Rugeley. It was an urban district council and a rural district council before becoming part of the Borough of Staffor ...

and studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

( St John's College – graduating in 1955) and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he encountered, and was influenced by, the modernist architect and urban planner Arthur Korn.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. From 1958 to 1964 he taught part-time at the AAwww.aaschool.ac.uk
/ref> and at the Council of Industrial Design. He later founded ''Polyark'', an architectural schools network. After graduating, Price worked briefly for Erno Goldfinger,

Denys Lasdun Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE, RA (8 September 1914, Kensington, London – 11 January 2001, Fulham, London) was an eminent English architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun (1879–1920) and Julie (''née'' Abrahams; 1884–1963). Probably his b ...

, the partnership of Maxwell Fry and

Jane Drew Dame Jane Drew , (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern ...

, and applied unsuccessfully for a post at

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

, working briefly as a professional illustrator before starting his own practice in 1960. He worked with The Earl of Snowdon and Frank Newby on the design of the Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo (1961). He later also worked with Buckminster Fuller on the ''Claverton Dome''. One of his more notable projects was the East London Fun Palace (1961), developed in association with theatrical director

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

and cybernetician

Gordon Pask Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (28 June 1928 – 29 March 1996) was an English author, inventor, educational theorist, cybernetician and psychologist who made contributions to cybernetics, instructional psychology, experimental epistemology and ed ...

. Although it was never built, its flexible space influenced other architects, notably Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano whose Centre Georges Pompidou in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

extended many of Price's ideas – some of which Price used on a more modest scale in the Inter-Action Centre at

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

(1971). 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. In 1969, with planner

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

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 A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

should be constructed by the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. Price, who was the partner of the actress Eleanor Bron, died in London, aged 68, in 2003.

References

Notes Further reading * Hardingham, Samantha (2016)
Cedric Price Works 1952–2003: A Forward-Minded Retrospective
'' a two-volume anthology, co-published by the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

(AA) and the

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street ...

(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. * Hughes, Jonathan and Sadler, Simon, eds. (2000) ''Non-Plan: Essays on Freedom, Participation and Change in Modern Architecture and Urbanism''. Oxford: Architectural Press. * Muschamp, Herbert (15 August 2003
"Cedric Price, Influential British Architect With Sense of Fun, Dies at 68" (obituary)
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' * Price, Cedric (1984) ''Cedric Price: Works II'',

; 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 ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

External links

* Finding aid for th
Cedric Price fonds
at the

br>(digitized items)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Cedric People from Stone, Staffordshire 1934 births 2003 deaths 20th-century English architects Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Architects from Staffordshire