About this talk

Running time: 25 minutes

The late Ron Herron was best known as one of the famous Archigram group of architects, of which he was a founder member in 1960, and with which he actively collaborated till the mid-1970s. He worked with practices in the UK and America, and taught through the years in colleges in both countries.

In 1977 he became a partner in Pentagram Design, London, but left in the early 1980s to work with Derek Walker (see Lessons Of Milton Keynes and New Directions), before setting up in his own practice.

Archigram - representing the swinging 1960s, youth culture, mobility, prefabrication and mass-media - has ceased to be influential. But its members, especially Peter Cook (see Layering & Change and Melting Architecture) and Herron, continued to produce visionary ideas and drawings. Herron's talk traces the course of his thinking, through the days of his 'Tuned suburb' and 'Sets fit for the Queen', to his 1992 project, a rehearsal space for the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith in London, where he was able at last to put into effect some of the ideas that always preoccupied him.

One of these ideas is the separation and identification of public and private spaces by the use of what he calls 'sets', which are changeable and thus under the user's control. Another is the use of today's available technology not only to 'tune' the building but also to make it moveable. He is fascinated by technology: not a technology that shouts at you, but one that is going on behind the scenes.

You may also be interested in Herron's talk with Cedric Price, Ten Californian Architects.

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