Cecil Balmond

Updated on Oct 21, 2023

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Name Cecil Balmond Role Designer		Structures ArcelorMittal Orbit

Projects ArcelorMittal Orbit, Kunsthal Education University of Southampton, University of Colombo, Trinity College, Kandy, Imperial College London Books Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2, Element, Crossover, Anish Kapoor: Marsyas, Number 76 Similar People Anish Kapoor, Rem Koolhaas, Joshua Prince‑Ramus, Olafur Eliasson, James Stirling

Cecil balmond on designing marsyas for the tate modern

Cecil Balmond OBE is a Sri Lankan – British designer, artist, and writer. In 1968 Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000 he founded design and research group , the AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit).

He currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret Chair at PennDesign as Professor of Architecture where he is also the founding director of the Non Linear Systems Organization, a material and structural research unit. He has also been Kenzo Tange Visiting Design Critic at Harvard Graduate School of Architecture (2000), Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture (1997-2002) and visiting fellow at London School of Economics Urban Cities Programme (2002-2004).

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond ArcelorMittal

In 2010 Balmond set up his own practice, Balmond Studio, with offices in London and Colombo. The research led practice is involved with art, architecture, design and consulting. One current project is the Gretna Landmark, Star of Caledonia for which Cecil is the artist. It is an illuminated sculpture that marks the Scottish and English border crossing, and will be completed in 2018.

Cecil Balmond Repeat Writings on Architecture Cecil Balmond and the

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to architecture. In 2016 Balmond was also awarded the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture by the University of Virginia.

Cecil Balmond wwwbalmondstudiocomimagesaboutmainjpg

Cecil balmond on the 3 conceptual models of architecture

Education

Cecil Balmond World of Cecil Balmond designer Telegraph

He went to Trinity College, Kandy and later studied engineering at the University of Colombo. After living briefly in Nigeria he moved to Britain and continued his studies at the University of Southampton and at Imperial College, London.

Philosophy

Balmond sees his work as an open-ended visual application of theory, following the principle that "structure as conceptual rigour is architecture". His approach to structure is derived by theories of complexity, non-linear organisation and emergence. Through his research, Balmond investigates mathematical concepts and their influence on natural forms and structures, interrogating algorithms, fractals, rhythm and cellular structure.

Life and work

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond Archives Archpapercom Archpapercom

Ove Arup & Partners

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond April 2014 Features Reports Architecture in

Balmond was deputy chairman at Arup. The AGU at Arup brought together architects, mathematicians, programmers, artists, musicians and scientists. It investigated structural systems, delving to the roof of order and patterns and engaging with music, algorithms, and malignant cellular structure to create abstract concepts that inspired tectonic forms. Under Balmond's artistic direction at the AGU, Balmond worked on some of the world's most famous structures including the Centre Pompidou-Metz with Shigeru Ban and CCTV Headquarters with Rem Koolhaas.

Serpentine Gallery

Balmond has also been a creative force behind London's Serpentine Pavilion programme. The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion, 2002 was crafted in glass and white-painted aluminium and featured a scatter of lines, the product of an algorithm designed by Balmond. The pavilion is now located at a luxury hotel in South of France.[1] Balmond also designed pavilions with Daniel Libeskind (2001), Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura (2005) and Rem Koolhaas (2006).

Balmond Studio

Balmond set up his own studio and workshop in London 2010. Balmond's own designs are numerous and include Weave Bridge, a bridge for University of Pennsylvania (2010), the Pedro e Inês footbridge in Coimbra (2006) and a $400m mixed-use development in Asia.

The Orbit

The ArcelorMittal Orbit is designed by Balmond and Anish Kapoor. It is a 120m high sculpture designed for the 2012 Olympics in Stratford, London. Balmond also collaborated with Kapoor on Marsyas a sculpture which was displayed in Tate Modern Turbine Hall (2002), and also co-designed the Tees Valley Giants art installations with Kapoor. Other key works by Balmond include a radical masterplan for Battersea Power Station (2006) and the Victoria & Albert Museum extension with Daniel Libeskind (1996).

Art and Architecture

Star of Caledonia, iconic public sculpture, England/Scotland border (ongoing)

Public Artwork, Syracuse, New York, USA

Public Artwork for the Black Hawk Mini Park Art Project, Iowa City, USA

Public Artwork, CTA Wilson Station, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Shade structure for the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona, USA

Snow Words, light sculpture, Alaska (completed in 2012)

ArcelorMittal Orbit for the 2012 Summer Olympics, London

net_ Work, sculpture, Canada (completed in 2012)

$400m mixed use development, Asia

Tower complex in Asia

Exhibitions

2006, Informal, Arc en Reve, Bordeaux France

2007 H_edge, Artists Space, New York USA

2008 Frontiers of Architecture, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark

2009 Solid Void, Graham Foundation, Chicago USA

2009 Forum 64, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh USA

2010 Element, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo Japan

Architecture

1970–1973 Carlsberg Brewery, Northampton, UK. Architect, Knud Munk

1975 Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. Architect, Kamal Kafrawi

1978 -1984 Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Architect, James Stirling

1983 Royal London House, Finsbury, London. Architect, Sheppard Robson

1985 1 Poultry, London UK Architect, James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates

1988–1992 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Spain. Architect, Rafael Moneo

1989 Congrexpo, Lille France. Architect, OMA

1992 -1999 Abando Passenger Interchange, Bilbao, Spain. Architect, James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates

1994 Kunsthal, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Architect, OMA

1995–1998 Pavilion of Portugal in Expo'98, Lisbon. Architect, Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura

1996 Victoria & Albert Museum, Spiral, London. Architect, Daniel Libeskind in collaboration with Cecil Balmond

1997 Centraal station, Arnhem, Netherlands. Architect, UNStudio

1997–2001 Imperial War Museum North, Salford, UK. Architect, Daniel Libeskind

1998 Portuguese National Pavilion Expo 1998, Lisbon, Portugal. Architect: Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura

1998 Maison a Bordeaux, France. Architect, OMA

1999 University of Graz Music School, Austria. Architect, UNStudio

1999–2004 Seattle Central Library, USA. Architect, OMA/LMN Architects

1999 Casa da Musica, Porto, Portugal. Architect OMA (2005)

2000 Portuguese Pavilion Expo 2000, Hannover, Germany. Architect Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura

2000 Prada, Los Angeles, CA USA. Architect, OMA (2004)

2001 Serpentine Pavilion, London UK. Architect Daniel Libeskind with Arup

2002 St Francois d'Assise. Olivier Messiaen stage design and costumes. Daniel Libeskind with Thore Garbers. Artistic consulting, Cecil Balmond

2002 Serpentine Pavilion, London. Architect Toyo Ito with Balmond

2002 Marsyas, Tate Modern, London. Sculptor Anish Kapoor

2003 Battersea Power Station Masterplan, London.

2003 Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Cairo. Architect, Heneghan Peng Architects

2002–2008 China Central Television Headquarters, Beijing (CCTV). Architect, OMA

2002 Installation of Louis Vuitton, Tokyo, Japan. Architect, Farjadi Architects

2002 British Pavilion, Venice Art Biennale. Design Chris Ofili with AGU and Adjaye/Associates

2004–2009 Centre Pompidou-Metz, France. Architect Shigeru Ban, Jean de Gastines and Philip Gumuchdjian

2004 St Louis Forest Park, MO USA. Architect Shigeru Ban with Cecil Balmond

2004–2006 Pedro e Inês bridge, Mondego River. Coimbra, Portugal. Design Cecil Balmond/AGU with Antonio Adao da Fonseca/AFA

2005 Serpentine Pavilion, London. Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond

2006 Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, Taichung, Taiwan. Architect Toyo Ito and Associates

2006 Serpentine Pavilion, London. Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond

2007 Tees Valley Giants, UK. Cable Net Sculpture, Middlehaven. Artist Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond

2007 Hotel Le Beauvallon masterplan, Saint-Tropez, France. Architect Cecil Balmond and AGU

2008 Institute of the Pen, Medina, Saudi Arabia. Design Cecil Balmond/AGU

2009 Weave Bridge, University of Penn. Architect, Cecil Balmond/AGU

2012 $400m mixed use development, Asia

2012 Tower complex, Asia

Publications

(1995) Natur und abstraction: lehrstuhl Jose Luis Mateo

(1996) Unfolding architecture: The Boilerhouse extension

(1997) New Structure and the Informal

(Prestel 1998) No 9, The Search for the Sigma Code

(Prestel 2002) informal

(2002) Anish Kapoor : Marsyas

(2002) Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

(2004) Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond

(2004) Concrete Poetry Concrete Architecture in Australia

(2005) Serpentine Pavilion 2005

(2006) Serpentine Pavilion 2006

(2007) Frontiers of Architecture

(Prestel 2007) Element

(2008) A+U Cecil Balmond, Special Edition

(Prestel 2013) Crossover

Awards

2002 Gengo Matsui prize, Japan, engineering

2003, RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice.

2005, Sir Banister Fletcher Prize

2011, IED Gerald Frewer Memorial Trophy

2011, Prince Philip Designers Prize shortlist

2013, Snow Words – 50 best US public artworks of 2013, Public Art Network

2015, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Services to Architecture

2016, Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture

Professional Associations

1970, Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers

1992, Honorary Architectural Association Diploma

1998, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects

2009, Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Designers

Teaching

2000, Visiting Kenzo Tange critic, Harvard Graduate School of Architecture

2002–2004, Professor LSE – LSE Cities Programme

1997–2002, Visiting Saarinen Professor, Yale University School of Architecture

2004, Paul Phillipe,Cret Professor of Architecture, Penn Design

2005 to current day, Director, NSO, Penn Design

References

Cecil Balmond Wikipedia

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