Peter Cook: Art of Architecture distils a 60-year architectural drawing practice into 18 projects — 16 drawings, one building, and the Serpentine Play Pavilion — that Cook himself considers essential to understanding how his imagination works.
About This Book
Sir Peter Cook has never treated drawing as a means to an end. Where most architects reach for the pencil to resolve a brief, Cook uses it to construct worlds that sit at the edge of the buildable — communities, cities, and structures that are, in his own words, “possible or maybe nearly possible, but importantly, not consciously impossible.” This volume, published to accompany his major solo exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, brings together the work Cook considers most central to his creative process. Contextual texts for each project trace historical, cultural, and personal threads, while a candid conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine’s Artistic Director, moves from Cook’s childhood through to his present practice, mapping the belief systems beneath the imagery. Essential reading for anyone serious about architectural drawing, visionary design, and the Archigram legacy.
Key Features
- 144 pages of full-colour architectural drawings and contextual texts
- Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine
- 18 key projects including the Serpentine Play Pavilion and 16 drawings selected by Cook
- Published by HENI Publishing, 2022
What You'll Discover
- How Cook’s colourful, densely detailed drawings operate as autonomous works rather than design documents, resonating well beyond the architectural discipline
- The continuity and evolution of Cook’s imaginative practice from his Archigram work in the 1960s through to the present day
- Cook’s own framework for what constitutes a “possible” architecture — a philosophy that has shaped his approach to buildings, communities, and cities alike
- The personal history, formative influences, and belief systems that underpin six decades of unorthodox architectural thinking, as revealed in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist
About the Author
Sir Peter Cook is a visionary British architect whose career spans more than six decades. A founding member of Archigram, he has pursued a practice defined by imaginative drawing and speculative design that consistently pushes against the norms of construction and built form. In 2022, his work was the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 144
- Dimensions: 30 x 30 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781911736325
- Publisher: HENI Publishing
- Publication Date: 2022
Perfect For: Architects, architectural historians, and drawing enthusiasts with an interest in speculative design, the Archigram legacy, and the intersection of architectural imagination with fine art practice.