Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University.

If Frank Lloyd Wright was the most important architect of the first half of the twentieth century, Sir James Frazer Stirling (22 April 1926 in Glasgow – 25 June 1992 in London) was surely the most important and influential architect of the second half, admired by all the other architects of the time and now, in the XXI century, by a new generation. He is perhaps best known as one of a number of young architects in various countries 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 secret lay in his ability to incorporate these encyclopedaic references subtly, within a strong and muscular, very decisive architecture of strong, confident gestures that aimed to remake urban form. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1073 KB) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 1073 KB) Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1636,[2] Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning still operating in the United States. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867—April 9, 1959) was one of the most prominent and influential architects of his era. ... April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Glaswegian redirects here. ... June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Colin Rowe (born 1920 - died November 5, 1999, Arlington County, Virginia, USA) was a British architect, architectural critic and teacher. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5... Adoration, by Peter Paul Rubens. ... Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 — May 11, 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer, sometimes called the Father of Modernism in the Nordic countries. ...

Life

South east aspect of the History Faculty building for the University of Cambridge (1968)

Engineering building, University of Leicester (1959)

After wartime service, Stirling studied architecture from 1945 until 1950 at the University of Liverpool, where 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 in practice as Stirling and Gowan. One of the best-known results of this collaboration is the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Leicester (1959-63), noted for its technological and geometric character, marked by the use of thee-dimensional drawings based on isometric projection seen with either from above (in a bird's eye view) or below (in a worm's eye view). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1296x972, 307 KB) History Faculty building on the Sidgewick Site of the University of Cambridge. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1296x972, 307 KB) History Faculty building on the Sidgewick Site of the University of Cambridge. ... The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1984x1448, 3330 KB) Summary Taken by User:Andrew Norman, September 2003. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1984x1448, 3330 KB) Summary Taken by User:Andrew Norman, September 2003. ... University of Leicester seen from Victoria Park - Left to right: the Department of Engineering, the Attenborough tower, the Charles Wilson building. ... The University of Liverpool is a university in the city of Liverpool, England. ... An isometric drawing of a cube. ...

In 1963 Stirling and Gowan separated and in 1971 Michael Wilford, who had worked in the firm since 1960 and may have been instrumental in the break-up, persuaded Stirling to make him a partner and remained so until Stirling's death, though he concentrated on running the practice on the managerial side and had little or no influence on the design activity of the office; this remained very much under the control of Stirling, assisted by hand-picked helpers. During the 1970s, the architectural signature of Stirling began to change as the scale of his projects (perhaps under the efficient managerial influence of Wilford) 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 Duesseldorf, Cologne, and Stuttgart). These projects of the 1970s show him at the zenith of his mature style. Winning the 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 mistakenly 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. Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... For Modernism in an American context, see American modernism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Postmodernist architecture of the Stata Center by Frank Gehry Sydney Opera House The term Postmodernism (sometimes referred to as Pomo, Po-Mo, or PoMo [1], [2], [3]) was coined in the early 1960s to describe a dissatisfaction with modern architecture, founding the postmodern architecture. ... The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honor a living architect. ...

The last building completed while he was still alive was the bookshop in the gardens of the Venice Biennale (completed 1991). This was designed by Stirling and Thomas Muirhead, who pushed him towards a sparer, less overblown and more selfconsciously modernist approach. The Venice Bookshop was greeted by critic Kenneth Frampton and others as the beginning of a new, and potentially very important departure in Stirling's work - had he not sudddenly died, due to an unfortunate botched minor hospital operation. Just before this incident he was granted a knighthood (1992) which as a rebellious spirit, he accepted with some reluctance on the grounds that "it might be good for the office".

After the death of Stirling in 1992, Wilford took over and gradually wound the firm down whilst 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. The practice no longer exists, and the complete 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. No 1 Poultry viewed from Cornhill, London Interior view of No 1 Poultry Larger version No 1 Poultry is an office and retail building in London. ... 30 St Mary Axe (London, England). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

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, published in every country of the world, is vast. For those seriously interested, the best starting point for further study is the two published books of his complete works, which he oversaw himself, aided by trusted friends and collaborators. These two books chronologically cover every project and emphasise the visual, with thousands of very carefully reproduced photographs, drawings, and models. Installation art by Peter Eisenman in the courtyard of Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, Italy, Entitled: Il giardino dei passi perduti, (The garden of the lost steps) Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932 in Newark, New Jersey) is one of the foremost practitioners of deconstructivism in American architecture. ... Jencks Landform at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Charles Jencks (b. ...

Bibliography

1. James Stirling: Buildings and Projects 1950-1974 (1975) Verlag Gerd Hatje (edited and designed by Léon Krier)
2. James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates: Buildings and Projects 1975-1992 (1994) Verlag Gerd Hatje, Stuttgart/Thames and Hudson, London (edited and designed by Thomas Muirhead)

Selected projects

Main article: List of projects by James Stirling

• 1988 London: Canary Wharf residential development
• 1989 Paris: Bibliothèque de France
• 1989 Tokyo International Forum
• 1991 Kyoto Centre, Japan

List of projects by British architect James Stirling and associated architects Built projects: the first date is year of initial design and the second is year of completion. ...

External links

• Pritzker Prize website - James Stirling: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/stirling.htm