Postmodern master Michael Wilford dies aged 84

Wilford is best known for his colourful, postmodern buildings, such as the UK's Berlin Embassy (2000) - and his 32-year working relationship with James Stirling.

His projects with Stirling include the 1980s conversion of a Grade I-listed 19th-century warehouse in Liverpool into a major gallery for the Tate, and the pink and yellow limestone-clad No 1 Poultry (1997) in the City of London, which was Grade II* listed in 2016.

He took his striking Postmodernism style around the globe, particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with projects such as The Lowry arts centre in Salford (2000). He also built up a significant portfolio of projects in Singapore and Germany, where he later had an office, including the seminal 1984 Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart designed with Stirling.

Wilford was born in Surbiton, Surrey, in 1938 and began his architectural training at the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture, London in 1955, joining Stirling’s practice as a technician in 1960.

He would go on to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic Planning School, London, in 1967. Wilford and Stirling set up their partnership in 1971.

During a career spanning more than half a century, Wilford worked under the practice names James Stirling Michael Wilford Architects (JSMA), Michael Wilford & Partners and later Michael Wilford Architects (MWA).

In 1997, he was awarded the Stirling Prize for Stuttgart's Music School, receiving the award named after his mentor and long-term collaborator, whose death in 1992 propelled Wilford to the top of JSMA.

By the time Wilford left the then-renamed Michael Wilford & Partners in 2000, he had overseen the delivery of No 1 Poultry – designed in 1985 but not completed until 1997, reportedly late and over budget.

‘The culture of drawing was very important’

It has been speculated this experience prompted Wilford to leave his practice in 2000. He went on to found the UK-based Michael Wilford Architects in 2001 and, in the same year, Wilford Schupp Architects (MSA) in Stuttgart, which still operates today.

Chris Dyson, who worked with Wilford between 1989 and 2000 before founding Chris Dyson Architects, has happy memories of the studio environment and recalls fondly the time spent drawing – before computers arrived on the scene.

‘[It] was great fun to be there in 8 Fitzroy Square,’ he said. ‘The culture of drawing was very important, the people were important with many becoming lifelong friends – a natural continuation of the university life as is possible in the real world of architecture.'

He added: ‘My memories are very fond of the whole office experience of JSMA and then Michael Wilford & Partners. It was always a small office under Jim and Michael’s direction. There were certainly no more than 15 at its peak when we were working on the largest project at the time: the Temasek polytechnic in Singapore.’

Dyson said that, following Stirling’s death in 1992, Wilford ‘went into overdrive contacting the clients of the live projects and reassuring them the architectural team was here to build out the designs they cherished so much’.

‘Michael was good at getting things done’

Describing the relationship between Wilford and Stirling, Dyson said: ‘Michael was a complementary partner to Jim [but] they were not alike. They clearly shared design values. That is what held them together for so long. In other words good old-fashioned mutual trust.

‘Michael was good at getting things done, a very good organiser and good on fee negotiations.’

But, besides his built work, Wilford narrowly missed out on a number of major competitions, including designs for the Scottish Parliament, Channel 4's London headquarters and the British Museum’s courtyard.

In 2001 he was made a CBE.

During his final years, Wilford worked with students at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture and helped with the judging process for its proposed extension – a contest won by O’Donnell + Tuomey in 2019.

The school commented : ‘Over the years of his association with the school; as a critic, as external examiner, and as visiting professor, he cemented a relationship that lasted until the end of a very active and intellectually engaged life.’

‘Michael was ever generous and respectful of the younger colleagues’

'Michael was ever generous and respectful of the younger colleagues and would always acknowledge divergent viewpoints and was always up for a constructive debate and had the great ability to bring together diverse ideas into delightful simplicity and clarity.’

Wilford’s daughter, Karenna, said he had created buildings full of colour, from the Berlin embassy’s baby blue and lilac frontage to The Lowry’s orange staircase.

Source:Shuttestock

‘He will be remembered for his use of colour,’ she said. ‘I like bright colours as well. His use of colour on The Lowry and the British Embassy in Berlin will probably be remembered most.

‘He also did quite a lot of work in Germany for Sto and their buildings are quite extraordinary.’

Karenna also described Wilford as a ‘fantastic’ father to her and her four siblings Carl, Paul, Jane and Anna – two of whom were adopted.

‘There were five of us,’ she said. ‘We're unusual insofar as my parents had myself and my brother and then my mother [Angela] nearly died in her third pregnancy and couldn't have more children. So they adopted and each of my other [adopted] siblings have black parents.

‘We've all been supported in the same way. They’ve been amazing parents.’

Wilford, who died on Friday (10 March) following a cancer diagnosis in January, is survived by his wife Angela and their five children.