A Galaxy of Starchitects - Clyde Binfield

Santiago Calatrava,Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel, I.M.Pei, Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers: all these are starchitects. Starchitects are stratospheric. Their buildings straddle the world, if not as yet the universe. Their practices are vast and vastly cosmopolitan. Their creations are hailed as iconic and cutting-edge. Cities have been energised by them. Design has been stamped by them. Perhaps….but what about the quality? And whence came they? Who was the first starchitect? Le Corbusier? Frank Lloyd Wright? And are we about to see the last of them as personality implodes into team anonymity and explodes into a mass of initials? Who knows? Here, as lecture or study day, I offer an opportunity for due reflection on a Galaxy of Starchitects.