Peter Cook (architect)

Sir Peter Cook is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects. He was a founder of Archigram, and was knighted in 2007 by Elizabeth II for his services to architecture and teaching. He is also a Royal Academician and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. His achievements with Archigram were recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004, when the group was awarded the Royal Gold Medal.

Early life and education

Cook was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and studied architecture at Bournemouth College of Art from 1953–58. He then entered the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1960.

Career

Cook was a director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, chair of architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, and has been director of Art Net in London and curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He continues to curate, organise and exhibit around the world: in Seoul, LA, Cyprus, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Design Museum, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, as well as in castles, sheds and garages.
He is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London. Cook's professorships include those of the Royal Academy, University College London and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Frankfurt-Main, Germany.
Cook has built in Osaka, Nagoya, Berlin and Madrid. However it was construction of his arts building in 2003, the Kunsthaus Graz in Graz, Austria, with Colin Fournier that brought his work to a wider public.
Cook was awarded a knighthood in Elizabeth II's 2007 Birthday Honours List, for services to architecture.
In 2013 he completed the Vienna University of Economics and Business's new law faculty and Australia's newest school of architecture, the Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
His first building in the UK, a new drawing studio at the Arts University Bournemouth was opened by Zaha Hadid in March 2016. He also built the Innovation Studio at the Arts University Bournemouth, which was opened by Odile Decq in 2021.
In 2025 Cook built a Play Pavilion at the Serpentine London in collaboration with LEGO. It opened on World Play Day on the 11th June.

Awards and honours

1960 – Henry Florence Student A.A.
1961 – Piccadilly Circus competition
1962 – Gas Council House Design
1965 – Selected as one of "Young British Designers" Sunday Times exhibition
1996 – Jean Tschumi Medal, International Union of Architects
1969 – Grant awarded by Graham Foundation, Chicago, for Instant City
2002 – Annie Spink Award, jointly awarded to David Greene by the RIBA
2002 – Royal Gold Medal by RIBA
2003 – Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the France Republic
2004 – Finalist for Stirling Prize for Kunsthaus Graz
2007 – Knighted in Queen's Honours' list
2008 – Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London
2010 – Mario Pani Award for Architecture, Mexico City
2010 – Honorary Doctorate of Technology, Lund University, Sweden

Success in architectural competitions

1970 – Monte Carlo Entertainments Centre
1990 – Solar Housing, Landstuhl, Germany
1992 – Museum of Antiquities, Austria
2000 – Kunsthaus Graz
2006 – New Theatre Verbania, Italy
2009 – Faculty of Law and Central Administration, Vienna Business and Economics University
2010 – 2nd prize in the Taiwan Tower international competition
2011 – Soheil Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia
2013 – Finalist in the National Stadium of Israel
2013 – Finalist in the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct

Current appointments

Professor Emeritus at University College London
Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts
Life Professor at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste Frankfurt-Main
Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London
Honorary Fellow of the Arts University Bournemouth
Member of the Hessische Architektenkammer
Member of the RIBA, Architects Registration Board
Fellow of University College London

Exhibitions

Archigram exhibition – 1994 onwards: Vienna, Paris, New York, London, Pasadena, Chicago, Milan, Hamburg, Seoul, Mito, Taipei, Winnipeg, Zurich, Cracow, Zaragoza, Brussels, Rotterdam.
Curator of Venice Biennale of Architecture British Pavilion 2004, Cyprus Pavilion 2006
Personal exhibitions – various dates: Los Angeles, Tokyo, Oslo, Berlin, Osaka, Frankfurt,

Publications

1967 – Architecture: Action and Plan. London: Studio Vista.
1970 – Experimental Architecture. London/New York: Studio Vista/Universal Books.
1972 – Archigram. London: Studio Vista/Reinhold, Birkhauser
1975 – Melting Architecture. London: Peter Cook,.
1976 – Art Net The Rally: Forty London Architects. London: Art Net/Peter Cook,.
1976 – Arcadia: The Search for the Perfect Suburb. London: Art Net/Peter Cook.
1980 – Six Houses. London: AA Publications,.
1983 – Los Angeles Now. London: AA Publications,.
1985 – Peter Cook – 21 Years, 21 Ideas. Chrisine Hawley; foreword by Reyner Banham. Architectural Association exhibition catalogue. London: AA Publications.
1985 – Lebbeus Woods ; Architectural Association exhibition catalogue. London: AA Publications, 1985.
1987 – Cities ; exhibition catalogue. London: Fisher Fine Arts.
1989 – Peter Cook 1961–89. A+U.
1991 – New Spirit in Architecture. New York: Rizzoli.
1993 – Six Conversations. London: Academy Editions, Architectural Monographs ''Special Issue, No. 28.
1996 – Primer. London: Academy Editions.
1999 – Archigram. London/New York: Princeton Architectural Press
1999 – Zvi Hecker, House of the Book.. London: Black Dog.
1999 – The Power of Contemporary Architecture. London: Academy Editions.
2000 – Bartlett Book of Ideas. London: Bartlett School of Architecture.
2001 – The Paradox of Contemporary Architecture. Chichester: Wiley-Academy.
2003 – The City, Seen As A Garden Of Ideas. New York: Monacelli.
2008 – Drawing: The Motive Force of Architecture. Chichester: Wiley. 2nd edition published 2014.
2016 – Architecture Workbook: Design through Motive. Chichester: Wiley.
2021 – Lives in Architecture: Peter Cook''. London: RIBA Publishing.