{"id":772938,"date":"2025-01-31T09:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T09:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=772938"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:50:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:50:58","slug":"tributes-paid-to-much-loved-archigram-member-dennis-crompton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/tributes-paid-to-much-loved-archigram-member-dennis-crompton","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to \u2018much loved\u2019 Archigram member Dennis Crompton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cook called Crompton a \u2018highly honourable man\u2019 who was passionate about his home town of Blackpool, adding that he had an \u2018enviable practicality,\u2019 yet was \u2018as much a dreamer as the rest of us\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018He was quick to rise to any occasion and go along with the absurdities of the Archigram world, right to the end, characteristically contributing cheerfully to the sudden rebirth \u2013 this year \u2013 of an Archigram 10<\/em> magazine,\u2019 Cook said.<\/p>\n

Crompton and Cook were part of the avant-garde 1960s architectural group alongside Warren Chalk, Ron Herron, David Greene and Michael Webb. The group was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 2002.<\/p>\n

In paying tribute to Crompton, Cook was joined by, among others, publisher David Jenkins, placemaking expert Jason Ambrose and architect Nicholas Boyarsky, whose father Alvin collaborated with Crompton at the AA School of Architecture.<\/p>\n

\u2018Although best known for his work with Archigram and latterly the Archigram Archive, Dennis Crompton was a consummate maker of books and other publications, a highly skilled exhibition designer and an excellent teacher of architecture,\u2019 Boyarsky said.<\/p>\n

Crompton taught at the AA for more than three decades. He later taught masters courses in Architecture and Urban Design at the Barlett and regularly delivered lectures in the USA and Europe.<\/p>\n

Crompton was born in Blackpool on 29 June 1935 and studied architecture at Manchester University. The records he kept of Archigram\u2019s opus led to the creation of the Archigram Archives, which he then curated.<\/p>\n

Six years ago, when the AJ reported that Archigram\u2019s archive was to be sold<\/a> to modern art and design museum M+ in Hong Kong for \u00a31.8 million, Crompton disclosed that the valuable works had been mostly stored in his house \u2018under various beds and in cupboards\u2019.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018We had a big exhibition in Vienna in 1994 and work was framed for that, so it then became bulky. For the best part of 20 years, I\u2019ve managed to keep it moving around the world, so someone else had the problem of where to keep it.<\/p>\n

\u2018Now it will be all together in a place which is young and enthusiastic and is the Far Eastern version of the Pompidou Centre or MOMA.\u2019<\/p>\n

Dennis Crompton, architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects, <\/strong>29 June 1935 \u2013 20 January 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Archigram

Archigram Members, David Greene, Peter Cook, Michael Webb and Dennis Crompton on the set of the Archigram Exhibition in Mito, Japan, 2005<\/p>\n\t

Source: \u00a9 Archigram 2005<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

TRIBUTES<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Peter Cook, CHAP Architects and Archigram member<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every creative group of people has its bedrock figure: not necessarily the one who is the most public or the most enigmatic, but honoured and respected in a quiet way. In the history of the Archigram connection, Dennis was the link between the earlier immediately and \u2018post-war\u2019 pair of Warren Chalk and Ron Herron and the younger \u2018kids out of school\u2019 \u2026 myself, David Greene and Mike Webb.<\/p>\n

A highly honourable man, a Lancashire Catholic, with Betty \u2013 his quiet but thoughtful wife and two lively kids \u2013 he was quick to rise to any occasion and go along with the absurdities of the Archigram world right to the end, characteristically contributing cheerfully to the sudden rebirth this year of an Archigram 10<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

For several years, sitting in Primrose Hill with three computer screens and electronic paraphernalia keeping the Archigram Archive operation going \u2013 even last week negotiating editions of classic Archigram drawings to act as award trophies in New York. Also the key figure in the creation of Circa Press\u2019s, recently republished Archigram Book<\/a> or, on another front, the republication of Archigram Magazine facsimiles.<\/p>\n

Quite simply, Dennis was a motivated believer without any hugging of the spotlight \u2013 but always impressive when called upon to lecture or speak about Archigram. Living in London for most of his life, he nonetheless would delight in extolling the virtues of Blackpool, his hometown and convincing unbelievers of the cultural virtues of the Tower and the Tower ballroom. Several of the Archigram manifestations: the exhibitions, gadgets, quasi-robotics and so-on actually stemmed from his practical abilities with things that you weld, wire-up, download or things that you mark-up, paste-up, print, overlay, saw, glue or try any combination therein. Yet, beneath this enviable practicality, I believe that he was as much a dreamer as the rest of us.<\/p>\n

He was much loved and respected by us all.<\/p>\n

David Jenkins, founder and publisher, Circa Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

I admired Dennis long before I met him. As director of the print studio at the AA, he and Alvin Boyarsky produced some of the world\u2019s best architectural publications. I still have my copy of their monograph on Sigurd Lewerentz, with its carborundum paper jacket. It has to be kept away from all the other books because of its abrasive nature.<\/p>\n

Dennis also had a reputation for being abrasive, so on first meeting I was a little wary. I need not have worried. Once he trusted you, he was warm and friendly: a delightful companion, full of stories, and with a virtually encyclopaedic memory. I will miss him.<\/p>\n

We produced two books together. The first \u2013 Archigram: The Book<\/em> \u2013 was a labour of love, literally 40 years in the making. I didn\u2019t dare direct Dennis. It was absolutely his project. I simply told him he couldn\u2019t go beyond 300 pages. The result is a timeless classic.<\/p>\n

The second book \u2013 on Peter Salter\u2019s houses at Walmer Yard \u2013 was more of a collaboration. But it harks back to the work Dennis did at the AA, and is elegant and beautifully crafted \u2013 as was everything Dennis produced.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Boyarsky, Boyarsky Murphy Architects<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although best known for his work with Archigram and latterly the Archigram Archive, Dennis Crompton was a consummate maker of books and other publications, a highly skilled exhibition designer and an excellent teacher of architecture.<\/p>\n

Dennis taught at the AA School of Architecture for several decades where, under the aegis of my father Alvin Boyarsky, he set up and ran the innovative Communications Unit gathering video artists, life drawing, etchers and artists such as Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp to broaden students\u2019 graphic and visual skills and ambitions. Working closely with Alvin, Dennis was responsible for the production of AA publications in the 1970s and 80s.<\/p>\n

Always technically challenging and highly innovative, Dennis and his Print Studio team pushed architectural bookmaking to the extreme, printing drawings on acrylic, wrapping books in printed sandpaper and embossing drawings amongst a myriad of new techniques. They created, amongst others, the AA Folios series of travelling portfolios of drawings by the most interesting architects of the time that are the subject of a current exhibition at New York\u2019s Cooper Union School of Architecture. Each folio was an individual work of art that is highly prized today. Dennis, sitting in front of rows of Mac screens, scanners and drives, was always kindly, supportive and very generous with his time and help.<\/p>\n

Jason Ambrose, director at San Francisco-based Neatline Creative and former principal at RTKL in London<\/strong><\/p>\n

I joined what was I recall was the second year of the MSC Urban Design course being taught at the Barlett. Of the three course professors, Dennis Crompton, Colin Fournier, and Jonathan Kendall, I assumed Dennis\u2019s role would be as something of the historian.<\/p>\n

The reality couldn’t have been more different. Dennis has no patience for anyone fawningly recreating Archigram’s work. The lesson I learned from Dennis, the lesson of Archigram, was not to produce variations on walking cities, but to always, always, challenge preconceptions of what is possible.<\/p>\n

\"Front

Front cover of Archigram Magazine Issue 4, 1964<\/p>\n\t

Source:Archigram Archival Project<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cook called Crompton a \u2018highly honourable man\u2019 who was passionate about his home town of Blackpool, adding that he had an \u2018enviable practicality,\u2019 yet was \u2018as much a dreamer as the rest of us\u2019. \u2018He was quick to rise to any occasion and go along with the absurdities of the Archigram world, right to the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":772951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[3647,5064,1795,2173],"yoast_head":"\nTributes paid to \u2018much loved\u2019 Archigram member Dennis Crompton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Cook has led tributes to his fellow Archigram member, Dennis Crompton, who died last week at the age of 89\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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