A new exhibition and accompanying digital documentary on Cedric Price, a British architect, writer and educator who had a formative influence on architects such as Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Bernard Tschumi, is open in The Netherlands. The exhibition, curated by members of Bureau Europa, introduces the work of Price by "presenting a cross-section of the elements of his inventive and singular practice" through sketches, project drawings, recorded talks, and first-hand accounts by staff, colleagues and friends. In addition, a series of selected projects present his "innovative models for industry, education, government, tourism, ecology and the house."
Price broke the conventional boundaries of architectural practice by continuously employing a broad pallet of potential design variables – engaging formal, infrastructural, organizational, operational and ethical factors into all of his design propositions. It is this level of complexity that both sets Price apart as an architect and obscures the great potential of his profound design ideas.
According to the curators, the selection of projects has been made on the basis of "their specific relevance to current spatial, economic and social issues of the Meuse-Rhine Euregion, a cross-border region that currently faces a number of challenges that are typical for post-industrial areas." This particular incarnation of the exhibition, including new content "to reflect research that has been undertaken during the intervening years" coincides with the first time the work of Cedric Price has been presented in The Netherlands.
Cedric Price: The Dynamics of Time is open until the 22nd March 2015 at Maastricht's Timmerfabriek (Boschstraat 9).
See Bureau Europa's interactive online documentary on Cedric Price (entitled the Memory Bank) here.
Information on images:
Image One: Cedric Price - Potteries Thinkbelt, North Staffordshire, England: Perspective (between 1963 and 1966). Black marker and crayon, white gouache and pen and ink on translucent paper affixed to a pasteboard with blue crayon, orange marker, graphite and black ink inscriptions (43.3 x 51.1cm). Courtesy of the Cedric Price fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
Image Two: Cedric Price - Potteries Thinkbelt, North Staffordshire, England: Perspective sketch of transfer area (1966). Gelatin silver print of photomontage (24.4 x 47.5cm). Courtesy of the Cedric Price fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
