44 - Ron Herron

Ron Herron (London 1930–1994 Woodford Green), “Berlin Sets” (Berlin Locations), 1980, felt-pen drawing colored with colored pencils on chamois-colored vélin, titled and dated “Sept. 1980" and monogrammed, 20 x 27.8 cm, mounted on backing board and framed under glass with a mat in a white anodized aluminum frame, overall size: 44 x 44 cm. Limited edition of 675 Exhibition: “In memoriam Kongresshalle Berlin,” official opening exhibition of Galerie Aedes, Berlin, November 1980 through January 1981. In 1963, the avant-garde architectural group Archigram was founded in London; Ron Herron was a member. The members of Archigram rejected the rigid, functional concrete architecture of the postwar era and instead embraced technology, mobility, and Pop Art, envisioning buildings that, like consumer goods, would be interchangeable and flexible. In addition to the “Walking City,” the utopian vision of a mobile city, the group designed the “Plug-In City,” a megastructure into which modular living capsules could be plugged in as needed, and the “Instant City,” a city transported by zeppelin and temporarily landing in various locations. Although they were considered purely “paper architects,” Archigram received the prestigious Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for their enormous influence on subsequent generations—as evidenced, for example, in the design of the “Centre Pompidou” in Paris.