Keith Barry Critchlow (16 March 1933 – 8 April 2020) was a British artist, lecturer, author,
Sacred Geometer, professor of architecture, and a co-founder of the
Temenos Academy
The Temenos Academy, or Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, is an educational charity in London which aims to offer education in philosophy and the arts in what it calls "the light of the sacred traditions of East and West".
The academy's bac ...
in the UK.
Biography
Critchlow was educated at the
Summerhill School,
St Martins School of Art, and the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
.
He performed
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
from 1951 to 1953.
[Cf. ''Debrett's People of Today'' entry for Prof. Critchlow] In the Air Force he met artist
Frank Bowling
Sir Richard Sheridan Patrick Michael Aloysius Franklin Bowling (born 26 February 1934, Bartica, British Guiana), known as Frank Bowling, is a Guyana-born British artist. His paintings relate to Abstract expressionism, Color Field painting, and ...
.
Having been originally trained as a classical painter, Critchlow went on to study sacred geometry and authored many books on geometry, including ''Order in Space''; ''Islamic Patterns: An Analytical and Cosmological Approach;'' ''Time Stands Still'' and ''the Hidden Geometry of Flowers.'' He also contributed forewords to English editions of works by
Titus Burckhardt
Titus Burckhardt (24 October 1908 – 15 January 1984) was a Swiss writer and a leading member of the Perennialist or Traditionalist School. He was the author of numerous works on metaphysics, cosmology, anthropology, esoterism, alchemy, Sufism ...
,
Frithjof Schuon
Frithjof Schuon (, , ; 18 June 1907 – 5 May 1998) was a Swiss metaphysician of German descent, belonging to the Perennialist or Traditionalist School of thought. He was the author of more than twenty works in French on metaphysics, spiritual ...
, and others.
Critchlow was a lecturer at the
Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London for twelve years. Whilst at the AA, he was invited to teach at
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is a public University of Ghana that focuses on science and technology. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is the public university established in the country, as well a ...
in Ghana by
R. Buckminster Fuller, the American engineer, architect and futurist.
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...
wrote of Critchlow:
"Keith Critchlow has one of the century’s rare conceptual minds. He is continually inspired by the conceptioning of both earliest and latest record. He lauds the work of others while himself pouring forth, in great modesty, whole vista-filling new realizations of nature’s mathematical structuring.… He is one of the most inspiring scholar-teachers I have had the privilege to know".
Whilst in Ghana, Critchlow and his colleague Michael Ben-Eli studied Fuller geometry and experimented in the construction of
geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic do ...
s using local building materials, such as palm, bamboo and aluminium. One of their aims was to help reduce use of concrete and minimise the negative impact of construction on the environment.
In 1969, Critchlow formed Polyhe al Developments (a private company) in partnership with architectural designer Hayward Hill; together they pioneered the use of polyhe al domes as emergency shelters for families who had lost their homes to disaster. Critchlow and colleagues experimented in the use of lightweight materials for the construction of domes, including Tri-Wall Pak corrugated board, to aid in transport and assembly by unskilled labour in disaster areas.
Critchlow was professor of Islamic Art at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
in London from 1975 for many years.
[Male, Lydia Sharman]
"In the Mind of the Beholder"
'' Saudi Aramco World'', May/June 1990 He also delivered lectures on the application of sacred geometry in architecture at the
Lindisfarne Association
The Lindisfarne Association (1972–2012) was a nonprofit foundation and diverse group of intellectuals organized by cultural historian William Irwin Thompson for the "study and realization of a new planetary culture".
It was inspired by the ph ...
in New York City and then Crestone, Colorado, in the United States from 1978. In Crestone, he contributed to a number of summer schools for Lindisfarne and taught alongside innovative thinkers from both the arts and sciences, including social philosopher and cultural critic,
William Irwin Thompson
William Irwin Thompson (16 July 1938—8 November 2020) was an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He described his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz ...
(founder of the Lindisfarne Association), mythographer and symbolist
Robert Lawlor, poet and environmental activist
Wendell Berry
Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of ...
, biologist
John Todd, and environmentalist
James Lovelock
James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sys ...
.
Critchlow founded the Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts (VITA) department in 1984,
which moved from the Royal College of Art to The Prince's Institute of Architecture in 1992–3, where he was director of research. The institute later evolved into
The Prince's Foundation
The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...
, within which
Prince's School of Traditional Arts (PSTA) is housed. He was professor emeritus at PSTA and served as director of research. He also taught at
The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment
The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...
.
In 1983, Critchlow was asked by Indian philosopher and author
Jiddu Krishnamurti to design the
Krishnamurti
is a South Indian name. It has several spelling variants.
Variants
The following is a non-exhaustive list. Some spellings separate the name elements , e.g. .
Etymology and usage
Derived from the Hindu deity Krishna and the Sanskrit term mur ...
Study Centre in Hampshire, UK, which was completed in 1986. His other architectural works include, the Lindisfarne Chapel in
Crestone, Colorado, in the United States with a special design for the vaulting of the dome, and a hospital, the
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in
Puttaparthi, India.
Isaac Tigrett
Isaac Burton Tigrett (born November 28, 1948, Jackson, Tennessee) is an American businessman, best known as the co-founder of Hard Rock Café and House of Blues.
Early life
Isaac Tigrett belonged to a well-to-do business family and was raised i ...
, who had founded the
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and rol ...
enterprise, secured Critchlow's expertise to design the hospital in Puttuparthi. His use of sacred geometry played a major role in these architectural designs and projects.
![Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Sri_Sathya_Sai_Super_Speciality_Hospital_panorama.jpg)
Critchlow made an important contribution to the re-construction of the
Minbar of Saladin
The Minbar of the al-Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Minbar of Saladin, was a notable historic ''minbar'' (pulpit in a mosque) inside the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It was originally commissioned by Nur al-Din in 1168-69 CE in Aleppo, Syria and w ...
in the
al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque (, ), also known as Jami' Al-Aqsa () or as the Qibli Mosque ( ar, المصلى القبلي, translit=al-Muṣallā al-Qiblī, label=none), and also is a congregational mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is situate ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. The minbar was destroyed by fire in 1969 following an arson attack by an evangelical Christian. King Hussein of Jordan launched a 30-year search, including international competitions, to find a sufficiently qualified person to re-design the intricate patterns of the minbar. The competition was finally won by Minwer Al-Meheid who was inspired to make his submission after spending a year studying Critchlow's work:
"Seemingly, the ancient knowledge of how to map the structure geometrically had been lost. Until, that is, Minwer al-Meheid, an engineer from Jordan, walked into a bookshop in Damascus and fell upon a work that contained the answers. It was ''Islamic Patterns'', a pioneering and seminal study of the geometry underpinning Islamic art, by Keith Critchlow." Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine, 2015.
The story of the re-construction of the Minbar of Saladin is told in a documentary film ''Stairway to Heaven''.
Critchlow was president of the
Temenos Academy
The Temenos Academy, or Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, is an educational charity in London which aims to offer education in philosophy and the arts in what it calls "the light of the sacred traditions of East and West".
The academy's bac ...
,
Temenos Academy
– key individuals: Patron: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, President: Professor Keith Critchlow, Chairman: Sir Nicholas Pearson, Bt. a co-founder of Research into Lost Knowledge RILKO and founder of Kairos
an educational charity which investigates, studies, and promotes traditional values in art and science. He served there as director of studies.
Family
Critchlow was married to Gail Susan Critchlow for 62 years. He had four children.
Selected works
Books
* ''Order in Space A Design Source Book'', Thames & Hudson, 1969
* ''Into the Hidden Environment: The Oceans'', illustrations by David Nockels, 1973 ( Viking Press, Viking Studio)
*Chartres Labyrinth, A Model of the Universe and the Journey of the Soul, 1975, reprinted 2002
* ''Islamic Patterns'', Thames & Hudson, 1976
* ''Earth Mysteries: A Study in Patterns'', 1978
* ''Time Stands Still: New Light on Megalithic Science'', 1979
* ''Soul As Sphere and An ogyne'', 1980
* ''Research: Principles, Policy and Practice'', London : Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, 1993
* ''The Whole Question of Health: Enquiry into Architectural First Principles in the Designing of Health Care Buildings'', Keith Critchlow and Jon Allen, London: The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture
* ''Islamic Art and Architecture: System of Geometric Design'', Issam El-Said (author), Tarek El-Bouri (editor), Keith Critchlow (editor), Garnet Publishing Ltd, 1999
* ''The Hidden Geometry of Flowers: Living Rhythms Form and Number'', Floris Books, 2011
* ''The Golden Meaning: An Introduction'', London: Kairos Publications, 2014
* ''The Knap of Howar and The Origins of Geometry'', A collaboration between Nicholas Cope
www.ncope.co.uk
and Keith Critchlow, London: Kairos Publications, 2016
Chapters
* "The Platonic Tradition on the Nature of Proportion", in Bamford, Christopher, ''Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science'', 1994.
* "What is Sacred Architecture?", in Bamford, Christopher, ''Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science'', 1994.
* "Twelve Criteria for Sacred Architecture", in Bamford, Christopher, ''Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science'', 1994.
Film
* Reflection. A film by Keith Critchlow and Lawrence Moore. Music by Mike Oldfield
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...
& Alan Hacker
Alan Ray Hacker (30 September 1938 – 16 April 2012) was an English clarinettist, conductor, and music professor.
Biography
He was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1938, the son of Kenneth and Sybil Hacker.''Who’s Who 1975'', page 1302, (A&C Bl ...
. A Vortex Production. Arts Council of Great Britain 1977. (References taken from the credits appearing at the end of the film).
Contributions
* Allen, Jon; (Foreword by Keith Critchlow)
''Drawing Geometry: A Primer of Basic Forms for Artists, Designers and Architects''
Floris Books (30 October 2007).
* Bass, Steve; (Foreword by Keith Critchlow)
'Beauty Memory Unity', Lindisfarne Books, 2019. paperback; ebook 978-1-58420-968-3.
See also
* Islamic geometric patterns
Islamic geometric patterns are one of the major forms of Islamic ornament, which tends to avoid using figurative images, as it is forbidden to create a representation of an important Islamic figure according to many holy scriptures.
The ge ...
* Temenos Academy Review
__NOTOC__
The ''Temenos Academy Review'' is a journal published in London by the Temenos Academy since 1998. As per the academy, "The Review comprises a mixture of papers given at the Academy and new work, including poetry, art, and reviews." I ...
References
Further reading
* Horning, Amanda
"Obituary: Keith Critchlow"
''The Guardian'' (UK), 21 May 2020. Written by Critchlow's daughter.
* Male, Lydia Sharman
'' Saudi Aramco World'', March 1990. An article about VITA, Critchlow, and his students.
External links
* – Workshop courses taught by . Critchlow
"Profile of . Keith Critchlow"
– World Wisdom Press
Profile: Keith Critchlow
– Steiner Books, Anthroposophic Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Critchlow, Keith
1933 births
2020 deaths
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
British architects
Mythographers
New Classical architects
People educated at Summerhill School
Place of birth missing
Sacred geometry
Symbologists
Traditionalist School