About this talk

Running time: 39 minutes

David Chipperfield, born in 1953, trained as an architect at Kingston Polytechnic and the A.A., before working for Richard Rogers (see Genesis Of The New Lloyd's Underwriting Room and People Places) and Norman Foster (see More With Less, Exploring The City and Chateau Margaux, France). In 1985 he started his own practice in London and in 1987 he opened an office in Tokyo.

In the catalogue of a recent exhibition of his work, Rik Nys wrote: "The search for essential qualities is a major characteristic in David Chipperfield's work... The density of light; the landscape and its visual integration; the dilution of the boundaries between in and outside; the expressive potential of materials; technical simplicity and craftsmanship".

Chipperfield himself affirms that a search for these basic qualities "is the cornerstone of his approach to architecture: qualities which transcend style, which demand that architecture does not get in the way".

He went on to win the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007; the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011; the 2011 RIBA Royal Gold Medal and the Japan Art Association's Praemium lmperiaie in 2013, in recognition of a lifetime's work.

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