Sir Terry Farrell

Sir Terry Farrell CBE FRIBA FRSA FCSD MRTPI is a British architect and urban designer. In 1980, after working 15 years in partnership with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Farrell founded his own firm, Farrells. He garnered a strong reputation for contextual urban design schemes, as well as exuberant works of postmodernism such as the MI6 Building. In 1991, his practice expanded internationally, opening an office in Hong Kong.
In Asia, his firm designed KK100 in Shenzhen, the tallest building ever designed by a British architect, as well as Guangzhou South railway station, once the largest railway station in Asia.
Born: Terence Farrell 12 May 1938 Sale, Cheshire, England
Nationality: British
Occupation: Architect
Practice: Farrells
Buildings:
KK100
The MI6 building Charing Cross station
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
M+
Incheon International Airport
Beijing South railway station
The Home Office building
Peak Tower
Early life and education:
Farrell was born in Sale, Cheshire.
His maternal grandfather was born in Manchester to an Irish mother who had emigrated to England from Ireland to escape Great Famine.
As a youth he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, where he attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School.
He graduated with a degree in architecture from Newcastle University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (then part of Durham University) in 1961.
He attained a Masters in urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
In 1965, Farrell moved to London to form a partnership with Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. In 1980, he founded his own company, Terry Farrell & Partners. I
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In the 1980s and 1990s his projects included Charing Cross Station, the MI6 headquarters building, The Deep Aquarium in Hull and The International Centre for Life in Newcastle. More recent work includes the new headquarters for the Home Office, the conversion of the Grade I-listed Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
He has been responsible for regeneration projects in the UK.
In May 2010, he was appointed to regenerate the 72-acre (29 ha) area around Earl's Court exhibition centre.
In 2012 his practice was appointed as master planners for Wood Wharf - the next phase of Canary Wharf's development.
Farrell is on the Design Advisory Committee of the Mayor of London.
In 2008 he was appointed Design and Planning Leader for the Thames Gateway, Europe's largest regeneration project.
Farrell was named CBE in 1996 and made a Knight Bachelor in 2001.
He was made a visiting professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University, and also an honorary freeman of Newcastle, in 2016.
In 2018, he donated £1 million and his archive to the university.
Design philosophy:
“My personal belief is that place is the real client and that urban design begins and ends with this assertion.” Urban Realm, 2008
“The process you adapt is as important as the product,” he says. “It's about planning and forethought rather than just the design of icons.”. South China Morning Post, 1991
“Conservation is a mind thing rather than a designation,”
The Guardian 1994
Make London a national Park City.
Densify the Core
Create new town centres around transport hubs
Connect East London with low level bridges
Selected awards:
The Herman Miller factory in Bath, UK (joint project with Nicholas Grimshaw), completed 1976: the Financial Times Industrial Award (1977), Civic Trust Award (1978), RIBA South West Award (1978), Grade II listing by English Heritage (2013)
Ching Court, London: Civic Trust Award (1985), Grade II listing by English Heritage (2016)
The Henley Regatta Headquarters, completed 1986: Civic Trust Award (1988), RIBA award (1988)
Charing Cross railway station/Embankment Place, completed 1990: Civic Trust Award (1991 & 1994), RIBA National Award (1991), British Council of Offices Award (1994)
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, completed 1995: (RIBA Award (1996), Civic Trust Award (1996)
Newcastle Quayside, completed 1998: Civic Trust Urban Design Award (1998)
Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne, completed 2000: Civic Trust Award (2002)
The Home Office building, completed 2005: (RIBA International Award (2005), LEAF Award for Best Public Building (2005), the MIPIM Award for Business Centres (2008)
The Green Building in Manchester, ongoing: Civic Trust Award for Sustainability (2006 & 2010), LEAF Award for Best Environmentally Sustainable Project (2006)
Beijing South railway station, completed in 2008: RIBA International Award (2009)
Great North Museum, completed in 2009: RIBA Award for North East England (2010)
The Earls Court Project, ongoing: MIPIM AR Future Projects Award for regeneration and planning (2011)
Quotes:
“Photographers and people do try to take advantage of you. You just have to stand your ground and prove you're not an easy target.”