The Bartlett School of Architecture hailed its former professor’s ‘generosity, curiosity and belief that architecture was fundamentally a collaborative endeavour’. Elsewhere, his influence, vision and compassion was fondly remembered by the profession.
Ahrends was born in Berlin in April 1933 and fled Nazi Germany to South Africa with his family before the start of the Second World War.
Although he moved to London at the age of 18 to study at the Architectural Association (AA), he retained an interest in the plight of his childhood home.
Ahrends believed building design had a key role in addressing inequality in South African cities and eventually chaired UK Architects against Apartheid, which was active from 1987 to 1993.
He had not yet turned 30 when he founded what would become the influential, late Modernist practice Ahrends Burton and Koralek with AA peers Richard Burton and Paul Koralek.
In 1960 the trio won an international competition for Trinity College’s new Berkeley Library in Dublin, which Ahrends described as ‘a dream ticket’, saying it allowed ‘an energy-driven young group to try to make good buildings’.
The company went on to win numerous high-profile commissions, including the much-praised Keble College extension (1977) and the original, unbuilt design for the National Gallery extension, which Prince Charles famously labelled ‘a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend’.
The 1984 remark by the Prince of Wales at the 150th anniversary of the RIBA hit the practice’s business just when ABK was reaching widespread acclaim.
But the firm went on to design 12 Docklands Light Railway train stations between Poplar and Beckton, as well as the British Embassy in Moscow, which opened in 2000.
Trinity College’s Berkeley Library in Dublin by ABK
Source: G. & T. Crampton
In 2011 the practice’s 1971 Redcar Library was controversially flattened, despite calls from The Twentieth Century Society for it to be saved.
Other notable schemes included a 17,400m² low-energy hospital on the Isle of Wight and a John Lewis store in Kingston (1990), which also looks set to be largely demolished.
He wrote: ‘Having experienced displacement and prejudice in his own early life, he understood that buildings and cities are never neutral; they shape how we encounter one another and what kinds of societies we are able to become. For him, architecture was ultimately an act of optimism – a means of imagining and helping to build a more generous and just world.’
‘For him, architecture was ultimately an act of optimism’
Five of ABK’s pbuildings are now listed: Gillett House, Chichester Theological College (1966), West Sussex; Eastfield Primary School (1968), Leicester; the De Breyne and Hayward Buildings at Keble College (1973-1977), Oxford; College of Management Studies at Templeton College (first phase 1969, second phase 1974), Oxfordshire; and Maidenhead library (1973), Berkshire.
Catherine Croft, director of The Twentieth Century Society, told the AJ: ‘Peter’s death makes one reflect on how the world might have been different had the (then) Prince Charles not made his notorious “monstrous carbuncle” speech, which effectively derailed one of the most successful and thoughtful late Modernist practices in the UK.
‘Peter described the subsequent rise of Classical Revivalists as “a temporary aberration; a loss of nerve”, reflecting that “those who now take refuge in the past will come to find that this is a futile dead end rather than a useful and creative model for society now. By contrast the construction of a different future offers boundless hope in a spirit of optimism and strength”*.’
She added: ‘He remained a committed Modernist, stating that “modern consciousness of social purpose serves to inform the volumetric and geometric dispositions of buildings”.’
Meanwhile, Claire McDonald, former DSDHA director and co-founder of Battersea-based Creativemass, said on LinkedIn: ‘I had the pleasure of working with Peter when I served on the Newham Design Panel and he was chair. He was insightful, respectful and always guided the panel in a manner that allowed weight to everyone’s contribution while providing a world-wise overview and direction.’
Ahrends leaves two daughters, Jacqui and Jane, two grandsons and two great grandchildren, as well as his partner, Marlene Rolfe.
His funeral service will take place at 11am on Monday 29 June at Golders Green Crematorium (West Chapel).
Koralek died in 2020, while Burton passed three years earlier.
*1991 Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (Architectural Monographs) by Academy
The Grade II-listed RBWM Maidenhead Central Library Building (1973) in St Ives Road by ABK
Source: Shutterstock