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Michael Hopkins Architects : Architecture

Buildings by Michael Hopkins & Partners, London, England, United Kingdom

post updated 20 June 2023

Sir Michael Hopkins CBE (1935-2023)

RIBA President, Simon Allford, pays tribute to acclaimed architect Sir Michael Hopkins CBE, who passed away in June 2023.

Sir Michael Hopkins:

photo © Elke Meitzel

RIBA President Simon Allford said:

“Michael was one of the great architects of our time. His honours and accolades – including the 1994 RIBA Royal Gold Medal presented to him and Patty Hopkins – are testament to his talent and the strength of their equal partnership in work and life.

Hopkins Architects as a practice was, and importantly still is, held in global esteem by architects and critics around the world, and across many generations. Michael himself was an inspiration to the many who followed Patty and him in their practice and beyond. He encouraged them to push the envelope in every sense, and to think differently about how architecture should engage with the world.

Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA design by Hopkins Architects + Payette Associates:

building photograph : Morley van Sternberg

Michael’s work referenced history whilst challenging conventions. He himself had a very clear take on his own work. He once confided in me that he had learned all he needed to know of architecture from working with Patty on the project to repurpose their Cruck Barn as a family home. I was struck then, as I am now, by how much this revealed of their practice of architecture. Whether they were working with the materials associated now with ‘High-Tech’ (the vernacular of the latter part of the twentieth century), or later, with the more ancient materials of brick, timber and concrete, Hopkins Architects were always, regardless of material palette, pursuing an architecture of clarity and legibility. An architecture of structure and infill – solid and void, light and heavy, and people and machinery. An architecture that was always generous and open to an unknown future.

2012 London Olympics VeloPark building design by Hopkins Architects with Expedition Engineering, BDSP and Grant Associates:

photo from Olympic Delivery Authority

Their early adoption of energy efficient design demonstrated a progressive outlook that was ahead of its time. Their many important projects still stand as both markers of a moment and pointers to the future. Their office was a place of extraordinary talent and creative energy, but this energy was always channelled towards a clear expression of both architectural idea and ideal.

The list of outstanding projects is long. My personal favourites include their own home, which I admired as a schoolboy. I visited the Schlumberger Cambridge Research Centre as a student forty years ago – to witness it in construction – and returned a few years ago with Michael and Patty. The Mound Stand at Lord’s references both, whilst moving things on, in a brilliant essay in reinvention and re-use. And Portcullis House in Westminster – built to last 120 years. Importantly, these projects span a creative journey of inquiry into architecture’s potential. Together, they represent a committed, pioneering and prescient story, signifying innovation through iteration.

London Olympics Velodrome:

photo from Olympic Delivery Authority

Michael was an engaging and inspirational figure to the many who followed him, both in his practice and outside. He encouraged them to think differently about how architecture can engage with place and people to help shape a better constructed world. His inventive spirit will long endure through the legacy of his and Patty’s buildings, their practice, their extended and connected family, and their wide circle of friends and colleagues.”

Hopkins Architects

post updated 12 May 2023

Hopkins Architects News

22 Mar 2017
George Green Library by Hopkins Architects Shortlisted for RIBA East Midlands Awards 2017

George Green Library is one of eight buildings have been shortlisted for RIBA East Midlands 2017 Awards; the winners will be announced at an Awards evening at The Roundhouse, Derby on Thursday 25 May.

RIBA East Midlands Awards Shortlist buildings:

– Artemis Barn, Castleton by Chiles Evans + Care Architects Ltd
– Beach Hut – Sandilands, Sutton on Sea by Jonathan Hendry Architects Ltd
– Blackwood, Humberston by ID Architecture
– George Green Library, University of Nottingham by Hopkins Architects
– Leicester Cathedral’s Richard III Project ‘With Dignity and Honour’ by van Heyningen and Haward Architects
– Meadow View Specialist Dementia Residential Care Centre, Darley Dale, Derbyshire by Glancy Nicholls Architects
– Number One Westhill, Leicester by Stephen George + Partners LLP
– The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry, Nottingham by Fairhursts Design Group

RIBA East Midlands Awards Shortlist

30 Jun 2012
Henrietta Barnett School, London NW11, England, UK
Design: Hopkins Architects

photo : Richard Brine
Henrietta Barnett School
RIBA Awards 2012 Citation Winner
The original school was designed Lutyens and is listed Grade II*. Any change of any kind was going to be controversial and 17 redevelopment schemes have previously been rejected. Following intensive consultation the practice drew up a masterplan for the whole campus stipulating much smaller buildings with external circulation along colonnades at two levels.

19 May 2011
Apex, Arc, Bury St Edmunds
2010

photo © Morley von Sternberg
Apex, Arc – RIBA Award

19 May 2011
Newton and Arkwright Building, Nottingham Trent University
Date of renewal: 2010

photo : Martine Hamilton Knight
Newton and Arkwright Building – RIBA Award

19 May 2011
AJ100 Building of the Year Awards – Olympic Velodrome wins
AJ100 Building of the Year Awards winner
Sir Michael Hopkins, one of the founding partners of the practice, received the prestigious peer award Contribution to the Profession, voted for by architects entered into the AJ100, while the practice’s London 2012 Olympic Velodrome scooped the Building of the Year award from among a shortlist of eight very impressive projects. This is the second year in a row that Hopkins has claimed the Building of the Year prize.

Frick Chemistry Laboratory, Princeton, USA
Date built: 2011
Design: Hopkins Architects with Payette Associates

photo : Morley van Sternberg
Frick Chemistry Laboratory

South Hampstead High School campus, London, England, UK
Date: 2011-

image courtesy of Hopkins Architects
South Hampstead High School campus

London Olympic Velodrome, Stratford, east London, England, UK
Date built: 2011

photograph from ODA
London Olympics Velodrome

Michael Hopkins, Architect – Key Projects

Buildings by Michael Hopkins Architects, alphabetical:

Emmanuel College – The Queen’s Building, Cambridge, England, UK
1996

photo © Adrian Welch
Emmanuel College Cambridge building

Rice University Dormitories – North College redevelopment, Houston, Texas, USA
Date built: 2009
Design: Hopkins Architects

photo © Robert Benson
North College Rice University

Shin-Marunouchi Building, Tokyo, Japan
–

photograph : Miyagawa Inc
Shin-Marunouchi Building

VeloPark, Olympic Park, Stratford, east London, England, UK
Dates built: 2007-11

image from Olympic Delivery Authority
London Olympics Buildings : 2012 Velodrome

Buildings by Michael Hopkins & Partners

Alnwick Gardens Visitor Centre, Northumbria, north east England, UK
Date built: 2006

photo © AJW
Alnwick Visitor Centre

Birmingham Library, central England, UK
2008-
Michael Hopkins included in shortlist of 7 practices
Birmingham Library Competition

Bracken House building redevelopment, 1 Friday St, City of London, UK
Date built: 1991
Bracken House

Cultural Centre, Nicosia, Cyprus
2007-
Cypriot Architecture : Cypriot building design competition win

David Mellor Building, 22 Shad Thames, Bermondsey, southeast London, UK
1990-93
Sedate, beautiful building – Hopkins best in my book
RIBA Awards 1993 Regional Award : London
Orig. for David Mellor, latterly Conran offices

Evelina Children’s Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, Lambeth, south London
2006

photo © Nick Weall
for Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust
Evelina Childrens Hospital – Stirling Prize 2006 Nominee

Our Dynamic Earth Building, Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
1999

image © Adrian Welch
Dynamic Earth Edinburgh building

Key Early Buildings by the Practice:

Hopkins House, Hampstead, north London, UK
1975-76

Schlumberger Research Centre, Madingley Road, Cambridge, England
1983-85
This was the precursor to all the white tent-type buildings and when I saw Eva Jiricna describing it on a TV architecture awards programme on its completion it looked radical and sophisticated

Schlumberger Cambridge Research Centre Phase 2, Cambridgeshire, England
1993
RIBA Awards 1993 Regional Award : Eastern
£3.6m

More projects by Michael Hopkins Architects online soon

Location: 27 Broadley Terrace, London NW1 6LG, England, UK