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James Stirling (architect)
Encyclopedia
Sir James Frazer Stirling FRIBA (22 April 1926 – 25 June 1992) was a British architect. He is considered to be among the most important and influential British architects of the second half of the 20th century. He is perhaps best known as one of a number of young architects who from the 1950s on questioned and subverted the compositional and theoretical precepts of the first Modern Movement. Stirling's development of an agitated, mannered reinterpretation of those precepts – much influenced by his friend and teacher, the important architectural theorist and urbanist Colin Rowe
– introduced an eclectic spirit that allowed him to plunder the whole sweep of architectural history as a source of compositional inspiration, from ancient Rome
and the Baroque
, to the many manifestations of the modern period, from Frank Lloyd Wright
to Alvar Aalto
. His success lay in his ability to incorporate these encyclopaedic references subtly, within a strong and muscular, very decisive architecture of strong, confident gestures that aimed to remake urban form.
After wartime service, Stirling studied architecture
from 1945 until 1950 at the University of Liverpool
, where Colin Rowe was his teacher. In 1956 he and James Gowan left their positions as assistants with the firm of Lyons, Israel, and Ellis to set up a practice as Stirling and Gowan. Their first built project - the 'Flats at Ham Common' (1955–58) - was regarded as a landmark in the development of 'brutalist' residential architecture, although this was a description both architects rejected. The best-known result of Stirling & Gowan's collaboration is the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester
(1959–63), noted for its technological and geometric character, marked by the use of three-dimensional drawings based on axonometric projection
seen either from above (in a bird's eye view) or below (in a worm's eye view).
In 1963 Stirling and Gowan separated; Stirling then set up on his own, taking with him the office assistant Michael Wilford (who provided invaluable administrative help and later became a partner). From that point on the design task, which had previously been shared between Stirling and Gowan, remained very much under the control of Stirling, assisted by hand-picked helpers. Stirling oversaw two projects which confirmed his credentials as a leading British architect - the History Faculty Library at the University of Cambridge
and the Florey Building accommodation block for The Queen's College, Oxford
. He also completed a training centre for Olivetti in Haslemere, Surrey and housing for the University of St Andrews
both of which made prominent use of re-fabricated elements, GRP for Olivetti and pre-cast concrete panels at St Andrews.
During the 1970s, Stirling's architectural language began to change as the scale of his projects moved from small and not very profitable to very large, as Stirling's architecture became more overtly neoclassical
, though it remained deeply imbued with his powerful revised modernism
. This produced a wave of dramatically spare, large-scale urban projects, most notably three important museum projects in Germany (for Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Stuttgart). These projects of the 1970s show him at the zenith of his mature style. Winning the design competition
for the Stuttgart project – the Neue Staatsgalerie
– he loaded its powerful basic concept with a large number of architectural amusements and decorative allusions, which led many to see it as an example of postmodernism
– a label which then stuck, but which he himself rejected. In 1981, he was awarded the renowned Pritzker Prize
. After the Staatsgalerie, Stirling received a series of important commissions in England – the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at the Tate Britain
, London (1980–87), the Tate Liverpool
(1984), and No 1 Poultry
in London (1986). This work revealed a particular interest in public space, and the meanings that façades and building masses can assume in a constrained urban context.
The last buildings to be completed while Stirling was still alive were a series comprising the B.Braun Headquarters in Melsungen Germany completed in 1992. This complex and other late projects were acknowledeged by critics as the possible beginning of a potentially important departure in Stirlings's work, cut short by his premature death. His sudden passing was considered a great tragedy for architecture; the Italian architect and critic Vittorio Gregotti wrote in "Casabella" magazine that "from now on, everything will be more difficult".
Just before his death he was given a knighthood (1992) which as a rebellious spirit, he only accepted with reluctance on the grounds that "it might be good for the office". In accordance with his wishes, his ashes are buried near to his memorial in the narthex at Christ Church Spitalfields
After the death of Stirling in 1992, Michael Wilford who had worked with him since 1960 and became a partner in 1971 continued the practice completing the work that remained in the pipeline and had been left by Stirling at various stages of development. Various buildings completed thereafter and often carelessly attributed to Stirling, such the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, 1993–1994, or No 1 Poultry in London, were in fact completed and built by Wilford and his assistants. Michael Wilford continues to practise with his partner Manuel Schupp in Stuttgart under the title Wilford Schupp Architekten. The complete Stirling/Wilford office archive was sold to the Canadian Centre for Architecture
in Montréal. The Stirling Prize
, a British annual prize for architecture since 1996, was named after him.
The cultural depth and richness of Stirling's work attracted the attention of all the major world critics and theoreticians, from Peter Eisenman
to Charles Jencks
, and the literature examining his architecture is vast. For those seriously interested, the best starting point for further study is the two published books of his complete works. These two books chronologically cover every project and emphasize the visual, with thousands of very carefully reproduced photographs, drawings, and models.
As part of the world-wide expansion of Stirling's practice beginning in the 1970s, he completed four significant buildings in the U.S., all university structures that exhibit inventive responses to their existing campus settings: an addition for the Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; the Arthur M. Sackler Museum
at Harvard University (an addition to the Fogg Museum) in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; and the Biological Sciences Library at the University of California, Irvine.
Colin Rowe
Colin Rowe , was a British-born, American-naturalised architectural historian, critic, theoretician, and teacher; acknowledged as a major intellectual influence on world architecture and urbanism in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond, particularly in the fields of city planning,...
– introduced an eclectic spirit that allowed him to plunder the whole sweep of architectural history as a source of compositional inspiration, from ancient Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
, to the many manifestations of the modern period, from Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
to Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
. His success lay in his ability to incorporate these encyclopaedic references subtly, within a strong and muscular, very decisive architecture of strong, confident gestures that aimed to remake urban form.
Life and work
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
from 1945 until 1950 at the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
, where Colin Rowe was his teacher. In 1956 he and James Gowan left their positions as assistants with the firm of Lyons, Israel, and Ellis to set up a practice as Stirling and Gowan. Their first built project - the 'Flats at Ham Common' (1955–58) - was regarded as a landmark in the development of 'brutalist' residential architecture, although this was a description both architects rejected. The best-known result of Stirling & Gowan's collaboration is the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
(1959–63), noted for its technological and geometric character, marked by the use of three-dimensional drawings based on axonometric projection
Axonometric projection
Axonometric projection is a type of parallel projection, more specifically a type of orthographic projection, used to create a pictorial drawing of an object, where the object is rotated along one or more of its axes relative to the plane of projection....
seen either from above (in a bird's eye view) or below (in a worm's eye view).
In 1963 Stirling and Gowan separated; Stirling then set up on his own, taking with him the office assistant Michael Wilford (who provided invaluable administrative help and later became a partner). From that point on the design task, which had previously been shared between Stirling and Gowan, remained very much under the control of Stirling, assisted by hand-picked helpers. Stirling oversaw two projects which confirmed his credentials as a leading British architect - the History Faculty Library at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and the Florey Building accommodation block for The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
. He also completed a training centre for Olivetti in Haslemere, Surrey and housing for the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
both of which made prominent use of re-fabricated elements, GRP for Olivetti and pre-cast concrete panels at St Andrews.
During the 1970s, Stirling's architectural language began to change as the scale of his projects moved from small and not very profitable to very large, as Stirling's architecture became more overtly neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
, though it remained deeply imbued with his powerful revised modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. This produced a wave of dramatically spare, large-scale urban projects, most notably three important museum projects in Germany (for Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Stuttgart). These projects of the 1970s show him at the zenith of his mature style. Winning the design competition
Architectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...
for the Stuttgart project – the Neue Staatsgalerie
Neue Staatsgalerie
The Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany was designed by the British firm James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates, although largely accredited solely to partner James Stirling. It was constructed in the 1970s and opened to the public in 1984....
– he loaded its powerful basic concept with a large number of architectural amusements and decorative allusions, which led many to see it as an example of postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
– a label which then stuck, but which he himself rejected. In 1981, he was awarded the renowned Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
. After the Staatsgalerie, Stirling received a series of important commissions in England – the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at the Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
, London (1980–87), the Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporation...
(1984), and No 1 Poultry
No 1 Poultry
No 1 Poultry is an office and retail building in London. It was designed by James Stirling for a site then owned by developer Peter Palumbo, and first assembled by Palumbo's father Rudolph in the 1960's...
in London (1986). This work revealed a particular interest in public space, and the meanings that façades and building masses can assume in a constrained urban context.
The last buildings to be completed while Stirling was still alive were a series comprising the B.Braun Headquarters in Melsungen Germany completed in 1992. This complex and other late projects were acknowledeged by critics as the possible beginning of a potentially important departure in Stirlings's work, cut short by his premature death. His sudden passing was considered a great tragedy for architecture; the Italian architect and critic Vittorio Gregotti wrote in "Casabella" magazine that "from now on, everything will be more difficult".
Just before his death he was given a knighthood (1992) which as a rebellious spirit, he only accepted with reluctance on the grounds that "it might be good for the office". In accordance with his wishes, his ashes are buried near to his memorial in the narthex at Christ Church Spitalfields
Christ Church Spitalfields
Christ Church, Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Situated on Commercial Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on the eastern border and facing the City of London, it was one of the first of the so-called "Commissioners'...
After the death of Stirling in 1992, Michael Wilford who had worked with him since 1960 and became a partner in 1971 continued the practice completing the work that remained in the pipeline and had been left by Stirling at various stages of development. Various buildings completed thereafter and often carelessly attributed to Stirling, such the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, 1993–1994, or No 1 Poultry in London, were in fact completed and built by Wilford and his assistants. Michael Wilford continues to practise with his partner Manuel Schupp in Stuttgart under the title Wilford Schupp Architekten. The complete Stirling/Wilford office archive was sold to the Canadian Centre for Architecture
Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Phyllis Lambert is the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mirko Zardini is the Director and Chief Curator....
in Montréal. The Stirling Prize
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects...
, a British annual prize for architecture since 1996, was named after him.
The cultural depth and richness of Stirling's work attracted the attention of all the major world critics and theoreticians, from Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman is an American architect. Eisenman's professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late or high modernist, etc...
to Charles Jencks
Charles Jencks
Charles Alexander Jencks is an American architectural theorist, landscape architect and designer. His books on the history and criticism of Modernism and Postmodernism were widely read in architectural circles and beyond....
, and the literature examining his architecture is vast. For those seriously interested, the best starting point for further study is the two published books of his complete works. These two books chronologically cover every project and emphasize the visual, with thousands of very carefully reproduced photographs, drawings, and models.
As part of the world-wide expansion of Stirling's practice beginning in the 1970s, he completed four significant buildings in the U.S., all university structures that exhibit inventive responses to their existing campus settings: an addition for the Rice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; the Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Arthur M. Sackler Museum
The Arthur M. Sackler Museum joins the Fogg Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum as part of the Harvard Art Museums. Its postmodern building was designed by British architect James Stirling, generally regarded as the greatest British architect of the 20th century, and recipient of the Pritzker...
at Harvard University (an addition to the Fogg Museum) in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; and the Biological Sciences Library at the University of California, Irvine.
Selected projects
- 1958 London: Flats at Ham Common (with James Gowan)
- 1959 Leicester University: Faculty of Engineering (with James Gowan)
- 1961 London: Camberwell School Assembly Hall
- 1964 St Andrews University: Andrew Melville Hall of Residence
- 1968 Cambridge University: Faculty of History
- 1971 Oxford University: The Queen's College, Florey Building
- 1972 Haslemere, Surrey: Training Centre for Olivetti (extension)
- 1976 Runcorn: social housing (demolished)
- 1981 Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum (Social Science Research campus)
- 1984 Stuttgart: Staatsgalerie
- 1984 Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University, Fogg Museum Sackler Galleries (extension)
- 1987 London: Tate Britain, Clore Galleries (extension)
- 1989 Paris: Bibliothèque de France (unsuccessful competition entry)
- 1997 London: offices and retail at No 1 PoultryNo 1 PoultryNo 1 Poultry is an office and retail building in London. It was designed by James Stirling for a site then owned by developer Peter Palumbo, and first assembled by Palumbo's father Rudolph in the 1960's...
, London EC3 (completed posthumously)