Publisher's Synopsis
Ends Middles Beginnings is an exceptional monograph on Edward Cullinan Architect's that analyses the entirety of the firm's practice. Influential, pioneering, and active as ever, Edward Cullinan Architects continue to hold the pivotal place within British architectural practice that they established in the 1960s. Providing a unique, privileged insight into their working process, this exclusive and timely monograph showcases the firm's sensitivity to the built environment that has shaped all of their work, from Ted Cullinan's first commissions to the present.
Ends Middles Beginnings takes a view from the present, looking from Cullinans' recent work to the future; situating this work within the contemporary scene, the book also provides an overview of how they reached the highly regarded position they hold today. Seminal buildings such as the Horder House and the RMC International Headquarters are explored alongside the practice's recent work.
Held in international regard for their innovative work in Japan and Jordan, their masterplans for the University of North Carolina and the Singapore Management University, and a wide range of other projects, Cullinans' work has been consistently informed by a tactile aesthetic. Avoiding grand, sweeping and alienating statements, their buildings are characterised by a feeling for both internal and external space. Whether urban or rural, there is a sense of continuity with the surrounding environment, while within are to be found spaces of circulation and exchange which recognise the interactions of human use. This book illustrates the careful thought process behind each project, and the consistency and commitment of the practice's approach.
Paul Finch, editor of Architectural Review, provides a purposeful introduction to the text. Jonathan Hale provides a commentary on Cullinans' portfolio, analysing key ideas rather than taking a chronological approach, and thus situating the recent work within the context of both Ted Cullinan's career and broader historical influences. This wide-reaching and accessible survey is supplemented by over 300 illustrations; shown here for the first time are new drawings by Ted Cullinan, and a series of specially commissioned photographs by Richard Learoyd. Eschewing the impersonal, decontextualised perspective of conventional architecture photography, Learoyd's work complements the practice's approach by showing the buildings in the broader spaces they inhabit, as the architects themselves conceive of them and as they are experienced by the user.
