Archigram revived

The Archigram Archival Project is up and running today! The website, run by an architectural research team at the University of Westminster, has collected almost 10,000 items that showcase the group's existence from 1961 to 1974. These items include drawings, collages, paintings, photographs, magazines, articles, and multi-media materials for more than 200 projects, as well as supporting and contextual materials such as letters, photos, texts, and even projects done by the members before they met.

Almost half a century has passed, and LSD is now illegal. Is Archigram still relevant? This is what I'll say: Hell yeah! Look at what you are holding and listening to every day. The only difference is that Steve didn't name it iTomato.

Electronic Tomato: speculative proposal for mobile sensory stimulation device.

To me, Archigram's biggest legacy is a broader sense of culture. Unlike the pretentious cultural "elites" who insisted that architecture was "high art," the members of Archigram took everyday social and cultural phenomena as their subjects of speculation. They embraced pop culture and communicated architecture through unconventional mediums such as comics and collages with magazine cut-outs. They fantasized the Space Age with walking machines and personalized Living Pods. And they reacted to the prevailing consumerism with modular/demountable building systems and instant ephemeral urbanism.

Here, architecture became an agency to reflect culture, and in return, to affect and define culture. It was a vessel of lifestyle, a tool to expression visions about future. This attitude influenced a whole generation, if not two, of architects. Rem said he tried to detach himself from the optimism of Archigram when he was at the AA. But his speculative writings, his inclusive design method at OMA and involvement in Prada, and eventually the establishment of AMO are all examples of marked enthusiasm for culture in general. He spoke publicly at a lecture about wanting to re-evaluate the legacy of Archigram. Yes, I guess it's about time.