James Stirling

Sir James Frazer Stirling (22 April 1924 – 25 June 1992) was a British architect.

Stirling worked in partnership with James Gowan from 1956 to 1963, then with Michael Wilford from 1971 until 1992.

Early life and education

Stirling was born in Glasgow. His year of birth is widely quoted as 1926 but his longstanding friend Sir Sandy Wilson later stated it was 1924. The family moved to Liverpool when James was an infant, where he attended Quarry Bank High School. During World War II, he joined the Black Watch before transferring to the Parachute Regiment. He was parachuted behind German enemy lines before D-Day and was wounded twice, before returning to Britain.

Stirling studied architecture from 1945 until 1950 at the University of Liverpool, where Colin Rowe was a tutor. He worked in a number of firms in London before establishing his own practice. From 1952 to 1956 he worked with Lyons, 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.

Career

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 apartments Langham House Close (1955–58) – was regarded as a landmark in the development of 'brutalist' residential architecture, although this was a description both architects rejected. Another result of Stirling & Gowan's collaboration is the Department of Engineering building at the University of Leicester (1959–63), noted for its technological and geometric character, marked by the use of three-dimensional drawings based on axonometric 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. Stirling received a series of important commissions in England – the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at the Tate Britain, London (1980–87); the Tate Liverpool (1984, but since then heavily altered and no longer recognisable as a Stirling project). The last building he completed during his life was the Venice 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.

Personal life In 1966 Stirling married the designer Mary Shand, the stepdaughter of the writer P. Morton Shand. They had one son and two daughters.

Death and legacy 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. After Stirling's death, Italian architect and critic Vittorio Gregotti wrote that "from now on, everything will be more difficult". Writing in The 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."

Notable projects

1958 London: Langham House Close –flats at Ham Common (with James Gowan) 1959 Leicester University: Faculty of Engineering (with James Gowan) 1961 London: Camberwell School Assembly Hall 1964 St Andrews University: Andrew Melville Hall of Residence 1968 Cambridge University: Faculty of History 1971 Oxford University: The Queen's College, Florey Building 1972 Haslemere, Surrey: Training Centre for Olivetti (extension) 1976 Runcorn: Southgate social housing (demolished) 1984 Stuttgart: Neue Staatsgalerie 1984 Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University, Fogg Museum Sackler Galleries (extension) 1987 Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum (Social Science Research campus) 1987 London: Tate Britain, Clore Galleries (extension) 1989 Paris: Bibliothèque de France (unsuccessful competition entry) 1991 Venice: Electa Bookshop for the Venice Biennale (with Tom Muirhead) 1997 London: offices and retail at No 1 Poultry, London EC3 (completed posthumously to his designs)