Archigram

Almost half a century ago they set out to change the world, and the new millennium has brought them the recognition of their peers. The group Archigram received on 3 December, the Gold Medal awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects; Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Green and Michael Webb, surviving members of the mythical group, remembered Ron Herron and Warren Chalk, already deceased, and their adventure. In 1961 London was an artistic breeding ground, and with the chromatism of pop and The Beatles’ music as background, six restless youngsters created Archigram, whose name (from architecture and telegram) was a declaration of principles about their vision of architecture as a means of communication; also materialized in a magazine of the same name, their collaboration lasted a little over a decade. The mechanical, friendly city of manifesto-projects such as The Walking City, The Plug-in City or Instant City has been a point of reference for generations of architects, and not just for its utopic freshness; Archigram’s graphic brilliance is still today an endless source of inspiration.