Lives in Architecture: Terry Farrell

A compelling personal account of Terry Farrell’s life in architecture, as an influential Postmodern designer, architect-planner and principal of a leading global practice.

What have the defining projects and watershed moments and encounters been in Farrell's career? How has did he secure significant building projects such as Charing Cross, The MI6 Building and Beijing South Station? What have the highs and lows been in realising such large-scale schemes? Providing the inside view of what it is like to be an architect at the top of his profession, this autobiography highlights what it takes to develop a successful international practice.

Farrell, alongside his High-Tech contemporaries, was a game-changer in the way he ran his business, with a deep commitment to marketing and finance. Working with the private sector, he made a complete break from a previous post-war generation of firms that were almost solely reliant on publicly funded building programmes.

Tracing the story of his early life growing up in Greater Manchester and then on the post-war Grange Estate in Newcastle, before attending Newcastle University and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and subsequently setting up in practice in London with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 1965, it highlights how Farrell, despite his working-class background, was able to seize the opportunities provided to him in the 1950s through free access to education.

Featuring a richly illustrated full-colour section, including photos from his own private collection and images of Farrell’s most significant buildings, this book is a window into the life and career of one of Britain’s leading architects.

Sir Terry Farrell CBE is an award-winning international architect and town planner, and a pioneer of the postmodern style. He has taught at several universities, including a Visiting Professorship of Planning at The Bartlett, University College London, and is a prominent voice in British architecture and planning. In 2014, at invitation of Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Farrell and his firm commenced the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment, to offer expert guidance on the direction of British architecture.