Peter Cook (architect)

Sir Peter Cook (born 22 October 1936) is an English architect, lecturer and writer on architectural subjects.

Cook was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex and studied architecture at Bournemouth College of Art from 1953–58.

He then entered the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1960.

Cook was a director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (1970-1972) and chair of architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London (1990–2006), and has been director of Art Net in London and curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

He continues to curate, organise and exhibit around the world: in Seoul, LA, Cyprus, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Design Museum, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, as well as in castles, sheds and garages.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London.

Cook's professorships include those of the Royal Academy, University College, London and the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste (Städelschule) in Frankfurt-Main, Germany.

Cook has built in Osaka, Nagoya, Berlin and Madrid.

However it was construction of his arts building in 2003, the Kunsthaus Graz (aka 'The Friendly Alien') in Graz, Austria (with Colin Fournier), that brought his work to a wider public.

His achievements with Archigram were recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004, when the group was awarded the Royal Gold Medal.

He was a founder of Archigram, and was knighted in 2007 by the Queen for his services to architecture and teaching.

He is also a Royal Academician and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic.

He practiced from 2007 to 2019 with Gavin Robotham at CRAB (Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau Ltd).

Cook was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, for services to architecture.

In 2013 he completed the Vienna University of Economics and Business's new law faculty and Australia's newest school of architecture, the Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University on the Gold Coast.

His first building in the UK, a new drawing studio at the Arts University Bournemouth was opened by Zaha Hadid in March 2016.

He also built the innovation studio at the Arts University Bournemouth, which was opened by Odile Decq in 2021.

Cook currently practices with Erlend Blakstad Haffner and Branko Belaćević at CHAP (Cook Haffner Architecture Platform Ltd).

CHAP has offices in London, Belgrade and Oslo.