One of the pre-eminent architectural historians and critics of the 20thC, Kenneth Frampton was born in 1930, studying initially at Guildford School of Art, before enrolling at the Architectural Association in 1951. As part of his final year’s studies in 1954/55, he joined the first cohort of the newly formed AA Department of Tropical Architecture (DTA). Immediately after graduating he worked for the practice of Cassidy Farrington and Dennys, in London (c1955), moving on to the firm of Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon the following year. Between 1958-59 he was employed as an architectural assistant at the firm of Karmi, Melzer, Karmi, in Tel Aviv, (co-directed by Frampton’s DTA contemporary, Ram Karmi, with whom he had shared student digs). He is also recorded as working for Yitshak Yashar - Dan Eytan Architects, in Tel Aviv, before returning to the UK and joining the Middlesex County Council, London, UK. Subsequently he worked for Douglas Stephen and Partners, in London, between 1961-1967. It was whilst here, Frampton designed the Corringham Building, a residential block in Bayswater (1960-61), subsequently awarded Grade 2 heritage listing in 1998. Alongside practice, Frampton served as Technical Editor at the journal, Architectural Design, from 1962-1965 and tutored at the Architectural Association (1961-63) and Royal College of Art, London (1961-64). A move to the US in 1967 saw him appointed Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Princeton University. In 1974, he became the Ware Professor of Architecture, at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, where he was to teach for the next half decade, serving as Director of the Ph.D. Program in Architecture (History and Theory), from 1993-2006. He has lectured and published extensively - amongst his most celebrated works, his books Modern Architecture: A Critical History (1980) and Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995), and his essay "Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance" (1983), have all become standard texts within architectural education. He was awarded the Venice Architecture Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2018 and the CBE in 2021.
Sources:
- Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
- Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1924-1963, AA Archives
- Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives
- Historic England. National Heritage List For England, Corringham, Craven Hill Gardens, London, W2. Official list entry, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1031567?section=official-list-entry Accessed 7th November 2024
