About this talk

Running time: 42 minutes

Julia Barfield and her husband/partner David Marks are the entrepreneurs who dreamed up the idea of a Millennium Wheel, and then created the company to develop, build and operate it - now known as the British Airways London Eye after its backers.

Barfield's talk tells the amazing story of the problems and the effort entailed over many years. The design was done in collaboration with Jane Wernick/Ove Arup & Partners (see In Tune With Architects). Barfield also describes other work, both before and after the Wheel.

Their latest entrepreneurial project is Skyhouse, a cluster of three structurally-connected skyscrapers, which is a residential mixed-use scheme. The partners met while studying at the AA School. In 1975 they worked in Peru designing self-build houses in a "barriada". Then, after a stint respectively for Norman Foster (see More With Less, Exploring The City and Chateau Margaux, France) and Richard Rogers (see Genesis Of The New Lloyd's Underwriting Room and People Places) they started their own practice in London in 1989.

Barfield returned in 2017 to discuss some of her later work in Rethinking The Classroom: University Of Cambridge Primary School.

Please note that a transcript of this talk is available - please contact us for further details.