The disreputable projects of David Greene

Abstract

This compendium of design work, assembled by Greene and Hardingham, pulls together the spectrum of Greene’s output up to the present day. As such, it offers the first ever overview of his crucial international contribution to contemporary architecture, as reflected in the essay specially written by Robin Middleton for this study. Widely seen as the most original thinker in Archigram, plus the group’s most poetic and rebellious spirit, it is near impossible to exaggerate the impact Greene has had as a theorist, educator and provocateur. He was the first to appreciate fully the impact that digitalization, miniaturization, wireless technology, etc. were to have on architecture – not leading to a heroic new kind of architecture, but to a questioning of (and indeed a retreat away from) architectural form itself. While such ideas are commonplace today, Greene was the first to articulate this condition clearly and to speculate about its consequences. Many of these projects are ongoing, adopting new directions, and so this collected oeuvre – to be the subject of an exhibition and book by the Architectural Association in mid-2008 – constitutes the main career contribution by Greene, one of the most seminal thinkers in current architectural discourse and a widely revered figure across the world. In workload terms, Greene was responsible for 60% of the research and presentation, and Hardingham for the other 40% involved. Again, the work is widely disseminated in exhibitions such as: the FRAC Museum in Orleans, France (June-October 2003); Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan (December 2004-March 2005); Barbican Art Centre in London (June-September 2006); Museum of Modern Art in Luxembourg (May-September 2007); etc. Greene’s projects are scheduled for inclusion in the ‘Cold War Modern’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (September-December 2008) and in the ‘Home Delivery’ exhibition at MOMA, New York (July-October 2008).