Sir

Michael Hopkins

CBE RA
Born
Michael John Hopkins

(1935-05-07)7 May 1935
Poole, Dorset, England
Died17 June 2023(2023-06-17) (aged 88)
EducationSherborne School, Dorset, and Architectural Association
OccupationArchitect
Spouse
​
(m. 1962)​
Children3
AwardsKnight Bachelor (1995)

Sir Michael John Hopkins CBE RA (7 May 1935 – 17 June 2023) was an English architect.[1]

The RIBA Royal Gold Medal-winning architect founded Hopkins Architects with his wife Patty and was widely regarded as among the greatest of contemporary British architectural figures.[2] Michael, alongside Patty, was part of a select group of leading British architects who were regarded as the founders of the "High-Tech" architectural movement (the other four included Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw and Terry Farrell).

Life and career

Hopkins was born in 1935 in Poole.[3] His father, Gerald, was a builder and his mother, Barbara, decided at a young age that Hopkins would become an architect.[3][4] Hopkins attended a public school in Sherborne.[4] He studied architecture at the Bournemouth School of Art and worked with Basil Spence and Frederick Gibberd before, aged 23, enrolling at the Architectural Association in London.[4]

While studying at the Architectural Institute, Hopkins met Patty Wainwright (later Hopkins), who would go on to be his life long collaborator. The couple married in 1962.[4]

Hopkins partnered with Norman Foster, where he was the project architect of the Willis Faber headquarters in Ipswich. With Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Terry Farrell and Nicholas Grimshaw, both Hopkins and his wife were leading figures in the introduction of high-tech architecture into Britain.[5]

In 1976 Hopkins set up what became Hopkins Architects in partnership with his wife, who had run her own practice. One of their first buildings was their own house in Hampstead, a lightweight steel structure with glass façades.[6] Early Hopkins Architects' buildings, such as the Greene King brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Schlumberger laboratories near Cambridge, used new materials and construction techniques. The firm challenged conventional architectural wisdom by demonstrating that lightweight steel-and-glass structures could be energy efficient and pioneered the use in Britain of permanent lightweight fabric structures, of which the Mound Stand at Lord's Cricket Ground is a notable example.

From the mid-1980s the practice began to explore what they called the "updating of the traditional materials",[7] adding to the expressive potential of traditional crafts like masonry and carpentry by combining them with contemporary engineering. The practice became recognised for its combination of ultra-modern techniques with traditional architecture, broadening their palette of materials and forms.[5][6]

Together, the Hopkins received the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal, awarded in 1994. The citation describes the Hopkins' work as "not only a matter of exploiting technology to build beautifully, nor simply of accommodating difficult and changing tasks in the most elegant way, but above all of capturing in stone and transmitting in bronze the finest aspirations of our age",[6] praising their contribution to the debate about the "delicate relationship between modernity and tradition" and adding: "For Hopkins, progress is no longer a break with the past but rather an act of continuity where he deftly and intelligently integrates traditional elements such as stone and wood, with advanced and environmentally responsible technology."[7]

Personal life

Patty and Michael's three children, Sarah, Abigail and Joel, grew up in the Hopkins’ open-plan house in Hampstead, though the children later demanded that their bedrooms were given walls.[8] All three children followed their parents into creative/design-based professions: Sarah is project director for the refurbishment of the National Gallery; Abigail became an architect and has a joint practice with her husband; and Joel is a BAFTA-winning film writer/ director. Hopkins had 11 grandchildren.[9]

Hopkins died from vascular dementia on 17 June 2023, aged 88.[10][11]

Honours and awards

Hopkins’ contribution to architecture was recognised both with a CBE in 1989 and a knighthood in 1995 for Services to Architecture. In 2011 he was awarded the AJ100 Contribution to the Profession award. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1992[5] and two years later he was jointly awarded the RIBA Gold Medal for Architecture with Patty Hopkins.[6]

Notable buildings

Hopkins House, Hampstead (1976)
The London 2012 Olympic Velodrome. Stratford, London
Portcullis House, Westminster, London
Mound Stand at Lords Cricket Ground (left)

References

  1. ↑ "Sir Michael Hopkins R.A. | Works of Art | RA Collection". Royal Academy of Arts. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "Sir Michael Hopkins | The Brits Who Built the Modern World | Architects' Journal". www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/in-conversation-the-brits-who-built-the-modern-world. 13 March 2014.
  3. 1 2 Booth, Robert (19 June 2023). "Sir Michael Hopkins, Portcullis House and Mound Stand architect, dies aged 88". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 MacCarthy, Fiona (19 June 2023). "Sir Michael Hopkins obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Michael Hopkins RA, Royal Academy, 15 July 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Glancy, Jonathan. Architects honour husband and wife team, The Independent, 17 February 2004. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  7. 1 2 Royal Gold Medal: 1994 Michael and Patricia Hopkins Archived 23 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
  8. ↑ "Hopkins House is a high-tech home for two of the pioneers of the movement". London Build 2023.
  9. ↑ MacCarthy, Fiona (19 June 2023). "Sir Michael Hopkins obituary". The Guardian.
  10. ↑ "High-Tech pioneer Michael Hopkins dies aged 88". Architects' Journal. 19 June 2023.
  11. ↑ Flatman2023-06-19T11:06:00+01:00, Ben. "Sir Michael Hopkins dies aged 88". Building Design.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Ruscoe, Sybil (22 July 2002). "Rose Bowl leaves Lord's in shade". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Music School, King's College School Wimbledon – Education – Hopkins Architects". www.hopkins.co.uk.
  14. ↑ "Harvard University: Smith Campus Center – Education – Hopkins Architects". www.hopkins.co.uk.
  15. ↑ Takahashi, Mana (23 March 2018). "Cavernous Tokyo Midtown Hibiya complex to open March 29". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  16. ↑ "St Thomas' Hospital East Wing revamp completed". London SE1.
  17. ↑ "Building the Living Planet Centre". WWF UK. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "IPL 2015 Venues: Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium". Indiatoday.
  19. ↑ "University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre opens". Macmillan Cancer Support. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Five Fascinating Lee Valley Velopark Velodrome Facts". British Cycling.
  21. ↑ "Rice University: South Colleges Expansion". Architectural Engineers Collaborative. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  22. ↑ "Duncan and McMurtry Colleges". ArchDaily. 9 November 2011.
  23. ↑ "Elements of new Frick lab join to create 'best infrastructure' for chemistry". Princeton University.
  24. ↑ "Kroon Hall". Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  25. ↑ "Architectural triumph of DIFC's open-gate policy". The National.
  26. ↑ "National Winner / Joint Regional Winner : The LTA's National Tennis Centre". British Council for Offices.
  27. ↑ "Wellcome Collection announces 300 000 visits in first year". Wellcome Collection. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  28. ↑ "Wellcome Trust: Gibbs Building". Wellcome Trust.
  29. ↑ "The Architectural design of Portcullis House". Parliament.uk.
  30. ↑ "Station Architecture". Transport for London.
  31. ↑ "Queen's Building". Emmanuel College. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  32. ↑ "The Research and Conservation of Art Centre". Victoria and Albert Museum Conservation Journal. 11 January 2011.
  33. ↑ "New opera house". Glyndebourne.
  34. ↑ "Landmarks: The Mound Stand, Lord's". The Independent. 24 June 1994.
  35. ↑ "The Brits who Built the Modern World: Hopkins House". RIBA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
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