Sir Terry Farrell obituary

"Terry Farrell, who has died aged 87, was arguably the most influential and prolific of the architects associated with the British postmodern movement. At the start of his private practice in 1965 he worked in partnership with Nicholas Grimshaw, and a few years later he seemed destined to join Richard Rogers and Norman Foster as a high-tech pioneer, the first movement in British architecture to achieve worldwide recognition since the arts and crafts designers of the late 19th century."

"After separating from Grimshaw in 1980, Farrell created eye-catching commercial city buildings, including the drum-shaped Edinburgh International Conference Centre (1995); by the mid-1990s he would claim that he had designed more buildings in London than Christopher Wren."

Terry Farrell began private practice in 1965 with Nicholas Grimshaw and initially moved toward high-tech architecture, exemplified by a streamlined 1970 St John’s Wood residential tower. His 1979 ornamental Doric temple for Clifton Nurseries is regarded as Britain’s first genuinely postmodern building. After separating from Grimshaw in 1980, Farrell produced prominent commercial city buildings, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (1995). He treated major projects as urban-design exercises, favouring routes and axes in three dimensions. Notable projects include Alban Gate and the SIS Building at Vauxhall Cross, conceived as a miniature city rather than mere decoration.

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