Florian Beigel and Philip Christou: a dream of innocence

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Florian Beigel was born in 1941 in Konstanz, Germany.

After finishing his architectural studies he worked as a research assistant with Jürgen Jödicke, Gunter Behnisch, in conjunction with Frei Otto on the 1972 Munich Olympic structures. In 1969 he came to London and worked with ARUP Associates, and in 1970 began a private practice in London with Konrad Frey called Building Plan Resources. 

He received a Diplom Ingenieur (Architecture) at University of Stuttgart in 1968, and Master of Science at University College, London in 1969. He is an architect in private practice, Florian Beigel Architects, and Director of the Architecture Research Unit at the London Metropolitan University. He was awarded the Grosse Kunstpreis für Baukunst 2013 by the Akademie der Künste Berlin, and the Annie Spink Award 2014 for Excellence in Architectural Education from the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Beigel and Frey worked on thin shell patent applications and research into energy efficient, low cost and lightweight building systems as well as built projects such as the Fisher Fine Art Gallery in Central London.

Florian Beigel first became known internationally for the design of the Half Moon Theatre in London (1985), and the Bishopsfield Housing Modernisation project in Harlow, (1994). Large scale urban and landscape regeneration designs in Germany such as Stadtlandschaft Lichterfelde Süd in Berlin (1998), and Kunstlandschaft Cospuden (2001) led to further urban design and building commissions in South Korea: the urban and landscape concept design of Paju Book City near Seoul Korea (1999), and a series of 3 buildings for book publishers at Paju designed with Korean collaborators have all been completed since 2000. The large scale urban design land reclamation project, Saemangeum Island City, Korea (2008) was exhibited at the 2010 Venice Biennale and has been published widely. Most recently Beigel has designed the new CASS Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design in Aldgate, London for the London Metropolitan University (2013), and he continues to work on projects in Korea.

Florian Beigel was Professor of Architecture at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design from 1992–2017. He was a design tutor at LMU since the early 1970’s. He has lectured extensively at universities and associations of architecture during the past 30 years, and his design projects are widely published internationally.

Philip Christou has worked with Florian Beigel and they have been teaching architectural design together since 1985. He is Co-Director of the Architecture Research Unit. He is Professor Emeritus at the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University. Architectural design research, practice and teaching are given equal emphasis in this work. He has run workshops and regularly gives guest lectures internationally. He has co-authored with Beigel many essays in international journals, architectural exhibitions and several books.

Born in1956 in Lethbridge, Alberta, in Western Canada, he studied Art History at McGill University, Montreal, and Fine Art at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada. He received a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Art degrees. He worked as an assistant with the artists Krzysztof Wodiczko and Daniel Buren on gallery and public art installations following his fine art studies. He studied architecture at the Architectural Association, London. He has lived and worked in the UK since 1980.

Solo Exhibitions include: Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, (2013), TU Berlin, (2016); Gallery Lonchel, Seoul, (2009); London Metropolitan University, (2009), (2003), (1998), (1997); Ministerio de Fomento, Madrid, (2002); University of Cambridge, (1997); ETSAB, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, (1997); The Architecture Foundation, London, (1995).

Group Exhibitions include: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea, (2016); Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, (2013); Kunsthaus Graz, (2013), 2006); Gwangju Design Biennale, (2011); Venice Architecture Biennale (2010); Royal Academy of Arts, London, (2010); Design Museum London, (2010); Korean Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, (2008); Fábrica da Cerveja, Faro, Portugal, (2007); Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyvaskyla, (2006); Aedes West, Berlin, (2005); RAS, Barcelona, (2005); Adambrau, Innsbruck, (2006); Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, Barcelona, (2003); RIBA London, (2003); Stichting Stad & Architectuur, Leuven, (2003); Triennale di Milano, (2004), (1996); Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design, Oslo, (2005); Arkitekturmuseet, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, (2004); Lapidarium Betlemske Kaple, Prague, (2004); Architectur im Ringturm. Wiener Städtische, Vienna, (2004); The Atrium - The Office of Public Works, Dublin, (2004); Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt, (2004), (1999); AR/GE KUNST Galerie Museum, Bolzano, (2000); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, (1997).

Books

TRANSLATIONS, Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, edited by the Architecture Research Unit, London and the Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, (English and German language), Christoph Merian Verlag and Swiss Architecture Museum, 2014, ISBN: 9783856166397, ISSN: 1662260X.

Baukunst 01 - Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, The Idea of City, Ajand publishers, London, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-9927666-0-3.

Architecture as City, Saemangeum Island City, Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Springer Vienna, New York, 2010,ISBN: 978-3-7091-0367-8.

C3 Korea, Issue 279, Nov. 2007, 'Urban Figures, A Few Notes Towards the Idea of a More Figurative Architecture', guest edited and written by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, p.120-165, (English and Korean language), ISSN: 1227-611111.

Context 3 Korea, Issue 241, Sept. 2004, Special issue on the recent works of Florian Beigel and the Architecture Research Unit, London and Kim Jong Kyu and the Metropolitan Architecture Research Unit, Seoul, (English and Korean language), ISSN: 1227-611103, p.36-137.

 time architecture, a selected architectural works by florian beigel + architecture research unit, london metropolitan university, Second Revised Edition, Architecture Research Unit, London, April, 2003, (English and German language), ISBN 978-0-9544484-1-7.

 Recycled Landscapes: Florian Beigel + Architecture Research Unit, Exhibition catalogue, Ministerio de Fomento, Madrid, Spain, 2002, (English and Spanish language), ISBN 84-88496-58-3.

Outside In, London Architecture, Exhibition catalogue edited by Arno Ritter and Peter Alison, Architeckturforum Tirol, Innsbruck, Austria and AR/GE KUNST Galerie Museum, Bolzano, Italy, Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg, 2000, p. 22-35, (English and German language), ISBN 3-7025-0411-7.

Korean Architects, issue no. 141, May,1996, Special issue on Florian Beigel, (English and Korean language), ISSN: 1227-611105, p.116-193.

Books edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou

Cultivation and Culture, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Michael Dillon, James Decent, Ciaran Chapel-Canty, and Moa Rundlöf. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, 2011, ISBN: 978-0-9571808-0-2.

Baukunst, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Robert Grover, Joseph Little, Sara Oxley and David Valinsky. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, 2011, ISBN: 798-0-9544484-9-3.

Architecture as City, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Lucy Pritchard, Oliver Sheppard, Angela Tsang, David Valinsky. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, 2010, ISBN: 798-0-9544484-7-9.

City Structures, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Xenia Adjoubei, Alessandra Greggio, Mayuko Kanasugi, Lucy Pritchard, Alex Thomas. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, (1st edition) 2009, (2nd edition), 2010, ISBN: 798-0-9544484-6-2.

landscape as city, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Alexander Gore, Paul Rawson, Nicola Read, Matt Whittaker. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, (1st edition) 2008, (2nd edition), 2010, ISBN: 798-0-9544484-5-5.

Urban Figures, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Alexander Bank, Jamie Baxter, Sam Casswell, Gemma Drake and Tom Graham. Research work by Diploma Unit One students at London Metropolitan University, (originally published without ISBN by Architecture Research Unit, London in 2007), published by ARU, (1st edition) 2010, (2nd Edition) 2011, ISBN: 798-0-9544484-8-6.

Tenerife Island City, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, with texts by Virgilio Gutierrez Herreros, Juan Antonio Gonzalez Perez, and Arsenio Perez Amaral, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, April 2007, p.120-165, ISBN: 0-9544484-2-1.

caravanserai, making a place for transitional urban dwellings, Edited by Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, published by Architecture Research Unit, London, 2003, ISBN 0-9544484-0-5.