A DEEPER RECESS 003: an interview with Peter Cook

We speak to Peter Cook, the architect central to the radical Archigram avant-garde architecture group.

17 February 2025

Welcome to the third edition of A Deeper Recess where we bring you an interview with Peter Cook, an architect who, despite only designed a handful of buildings around the world, has impacted the post-war period of architect more than most others. As a founding member of Archigram, the avant-garde architecture group which ran from 1960 until the mid 70s, he was involved with speculative ideas for the future of the built environment which went beyond the mundanity of everyday design and reached into playful, utopian futures where cities could walk, were networked across wide terrains, where buildings were adaptable frameworks, or cities were transformed in radical ways which spoke to a futurist ambition as a provocative reaction to the pre-war period.

Archigram existed as magazines not buildings, with publishing central to the way architectural exploration could exist at the drawing stage, with the drawing as the central and probable final mechanism to explore design ideas. Cook’s designs have moved beyond the drawing – his first project, designed with fellow Archigram member Colin Fournier, was the spaceship-like Kunsthaus Graz in Austria, and other commissions have followed, including a boutique Drawing Studio at the University of the Arts in Bournemouth, a return to where the architect started his architectural training in 1953. He has also been involved with designs related to the controversial NEOM projects in Saudi Arabia, including The Line, which are part of the state’s Saudi Vision 30 ambitions which ITV recently reported as having led to 21,000 deaths of workers since 2017 and which the Hindustan Times claim has led to 100,000 people “disappearing” during construction.

Kunsthaus Graz, the Drawing Studio, and The Line are brought up by Cook this discussion with recessed.space editor Will Jennings, though the focus centres on the role of drawing in architectural design. Circa Press have just released Archigram 10, a slick modern publication continuing the series – albeit with a gap of 51 years since Archigram 9½ – that was overseen by Cook. The discussion begins by asking about the role of drawing in design – though the architect often heads into other places, including towards the end sharing his thoughts on why buildings made of wood irritate him and how architectural education has declined because of feminism…

left: Portrait of Peter Cook, photo © Paul McLaughlin. centre: Courtesy Louisiana Museum, © Peter Cook. Right: the Drawing Studio at Arts University Bournemouth © Richard Bryant.