Sir James Stirling | |
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 Stirling in 1991 | |
| Born | (1926-04-22)22 April 1926 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 25 June 1992(1992-06-25) (aged 66) London, England |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards |
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| Buildings |
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Sir James Frazer StirlingRA (22 April 1926 – 25 June 1992) was a British architect.
Stirling worked in partnership withJames Gowan from 1956 to 1963, then withMichael Wilford from 1971 until 1992.
Stirling was born inGlasgow. His year of birth is widely quoted as 1926[1] but his longstanding friendSir Sandy Wilson later stated it was 1924.[2] The family moved toLiverpool when James was an infant, where he attendedQuarry Bank High School.[1][3] After leaving school, he studied at theSchool of Art in Liverpool between 1940-41, while working in an architect's office.[4]DuringWorld War II, he joined theBlack Watch before transferring to theParachute Regiment. He was parachuted behind German enemy lines beforeD-Day and was wounded twice, before returning to Britain.[5]
Stirling studied architecture from 1945 until 1950 at theUniversity of Liverpool, whereColin Rowe was a tutor.He worked in a number of firms in London before establishing his own practice. From 1952 to 1956 he worked withLyons, Israel, Ellis in London where he met his first partner James Gowan. Lyons, Israel, Ellis was considered one of the most influential post war practices at that time, focusing on buildings for the Welfare State with architects such as Alan Colquhoun and John Miller, Neave Brown, Sue Martin, Richard MacCormac all of whom went on to architectural prominence. Stirling worked on a number of school buildings including Peckham Girl's Comprehensive School. When he and James Gowan started their own practice Lyons Israel Ellis gave them part of their Preston housing project, helping to establish their reputation for innovative design.[citation needed]
In 1956 he and James Gowan left their positions as assistants with the firm of Lyons, Israel, and Ellis to set up a practice as Stirling and Gowan. Their first built project – a small development of private apartmentsLangham House Close (1955–58) – was regarded as a landmark in the development of'brutalist' residential architecture, although this was a description both architects rejected.[7] Another result of Stirling & Gowan's collaboration is theDepartment of Engineering building at theUniversity of Leicester (1959–63),[8] noted for its technological and geometric character, marked by the use of three-dimensional drawings based onaxonometric projection seen either from above (in a bird's eye view) or below (in a worm's eye view). The project brought Stirling to a global audience.[7]
In 1963, Stirling and Gowan separated; Stirling then set up on his own,[8] taking with him the office assistantMichael Wilford (who later became a partner). Stirling then oversaw two projects: the History Faculty Library at theUniversity of Cambridge and the Florey Building accommodation block forThe Queen's College, Oxford. He also completed a training centre for Olivetti in Haslemere, Surrey and housing for theUniversity of St Andrews both of which made prominent use of pre-fabricated elements, GRP for Olivetti and pre-cast concrete panels at St Andrews.
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During the 1970s, Stirling's architectural language began to change as the scale of his projects moved from small (and not very profitable) to very large. His architecture became more overtlyneoclassical, though it remained deeply imbued withmodernism. This produced a wave of large-scale urban projects, most notably three museum projects forDüsseldorf,Cologne, andStuttgart. He won thedesign competition for theNeue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart with a design that played off of Berlin's neoclassicalAltes Museum, but without that building's neoclassical facade.[8] The building came to be seen as an example ofpostmodernism, a label which stuck but which he himself rejected, and was considered by many to be his most important work.[3]
As part of the worldwide expansion of Stirling and Wilford's practice beginning in the 1970s, the firm completed four significant buildings in the U.S., all university structures: an addition for theRice University School of Architecture in Houston, Texas; theArthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; and the Biological Sciences Library at the University of California, Irvine. Among unrealized projects in the US are designs for Columbia University and a competition proposal for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
In 1981, Stirling was awarded thePritzker Prize.[9] Stirling received a series of important commissions in England – theClore Gallery for the Turner Collection at theTate Britain, London (1980–87); theTate Liverpool (1984, but since then heavily altered and no longer recognisable as a Stirling project). The last building he completed during his life was theVenice Biennale Bookshop (1989–91, with Thomas Muirhead).No 1 Poultry in London (1988–98), one of Stirling's final designs, was posthumously completed by Wilford.[8]
In June 1992, Stirling was awarded a knighthood. After consulting with Michael Wilford, he accepted the award on the grounds that it might help their practice.[10]
In 1966 Stirling married the designer Mary Shand, the stepdaughter of the writerP. Morton Shand. They had one son and two daughters.[3]
Three days after the announcement of his knighthood, Stirling was hospitalised in London with a painful hernia. He died on 25 June 1992 following surgical complications.[5] In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were buried near to his memorial atChrist Church, Spitalfields. After Stirling's death,Michael Wilford (who had become a partner in 1971) continued the practice.
TheStirling Prize, a British annual prize for architecture since 1996, was named after him.
Many architects admire Stirling's work, but opinion has been divided.[11] After Stirling's death, Italian architect and criticVittorio Gregotti wrote that "from now on, everything will be more difficult".[12] Writing inThe Guardian, Andrew Saint called Stirling "A fearless experimentalist, a memorable innovator in form and a pungent character," but declared that, "he lacked the inner maturity, the breadth of reflection and the depth of discipline required for the highest level of architectural achievement."[11] Rather more cuttingly,Jonathan Meades says that "His buildings, like their bombastic maker, looked tough but were perpetual invalids, basket cases."[13]
James Stirling was born in 1924 – a time when architecture plunged into the most profound revaluation in 500 years. It was epitomised by two events: in 1925 Le Corbusier built the Pavilion de l'Esprit Nouveau and in 1927 Bijvoet & Duiker completed the Zonnestraal Sanatorium in Hilversum.
Media related toJames Stirling at Wikimedia Commons
