Terry Farrell (architect)

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Sir Terry Farrell
CBE FRIBA FRSA FCSD
Born
Terence Farrell

(1938-05-12)12 May 1938
Sale, Cheshire, England
Died28 September 2025(2025-09-28) (aged 87)
Education
OccupationArchitect
Children5
PracticeFarrells
BuildingsKK100
The MI6 building
Charing Cross station
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
M+
Incheon International Airport
Beijing South railway station
The Home Office building
Peak Tower
WebsiteOfficial website
Charing Cross station in London, 1990
The MI6 Building in London, 1994
The Peak Tower in Hong Kong, 1995
Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Edinburgh, 1995
The Deep Aquarium in Hull, 2002
Beijing South railway station in Beijing, 2008
KK100 in Shenzhen, 2011

Sir Terence Farrell CBE FRIBA FRSA FCSD (12 May 1938 – 28 September 2025) was a British architect and urban designer.

In 1980, after working for 15 years in partnership with Nicholas Grimshaw, Farrell founded his own firm, Farrells. He established his reputation with three completed projects in London in the late 1980s: Embankment Place, 125 London Wall and the SIS Building.[1] He created contextual urban design schemes, as well as works of postmodernism such as the MI6 Building. In 1991, his practice opened an office in Hong Kong. In Asia his firm designed KK100 in Shenzhen and Guangzhou South railway station in Guangzhou.

Early life and education

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Terence Farrell was born on 12 May 1938 in Sale, Cheshire.[2] His maternal grandfather was born in Manchester to an Irish mother who had emigrated to England from Ireland to escape the Great Famine. He moved to Newcastle upon Tyne at a young age and attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School.[3] He graduated with a degree in architecture from the Newcastle University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (then part of Durham University) in 1965, which was followed by a Masters in Urban Planning at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.[3][4]

Career

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In 1965, Farrell moved to London to form a partnership with Nicholas Grimshaw. He collaborated with Charles Jencks on the Cosmic House in Holland Park.[3] In 1980, he founded his own company, Terry Farrell & Partners.[5] In addition, Farrell lectured at a number of different universities including Cambridge University, the University of London, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Sheffield.[citation needed]

In the early part of his career, Farrell gave emphasis to housing projects. Later, after the break with Grimshaw, he designed the TV-am headquarters in Camden Lock and redeveloped Comyn Ching Triangle in London's Covent Garden.[3] 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. Later work included 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.[6]

He was responsible for regeneration projects of Newcastle Quayside, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, Edinburgh Exchange District, Greenwich Peninsula and Paddington Basin.[7] He also designed his own buildings within these projects, including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre with the help of Duncan Whatmore, and The Point in Paddington Basin. In May 2010, he was appointed to regenerate the 72-acre (29 ha) area around the Earl's Court exhibition centre.[8] In 2012 his practice was appointed as masterplanners for Wood Wharf – the next phase of Canary Wharf's development.[9]

In East Asia, his projects included Incheon International Airport in Seoul and Beijing South railway station, the largest in Asia[citation needed]. When completed in December 2010 Guangzhou South railway station was for a time the largest railway station[citation needed] in the world. Subsequent to his setting up his practice in Hong Kong in 1990, he designed the Peak Tower, Kowloon Station development[10] and the British Consulate-General, Hong Kong. His KK100 tower in Shenzhen is the tallest building ever by a British architect.[11]

Farrell was on the Design Advisory Committee of the Mayor of London.[12] In 2008 he was appointed Design and Planning Leader for the Thames Gateway,[13] Europe's largest regeneration project.

Farrell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1978 Birthday Honours,[14] promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 New Year Honours for services to architecture,[15] and knighted in the 2001 Birthday Honours for services to architecture and urban design.[16]

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.[3] In 2018, he donated £1 million and his archive to the university.[17] The Farrell Centre at the university opened in 2023.[3]

Personal life and death

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Farrell married three times. He had five children.[18]

He died on 28 September 2025, at the age of 87. Grimshaw predeceased him earlier that month.[19][20][21]

Selected awards

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Selected publications

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  • The Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment (2014, Farrell Review)
  • The City As A Tangled Bank: Urban Design versus Urban Evolution (2013, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-1-118-48734-1)
  • Shaping London: The patterns and forms that make the metropolis (2009, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-69996-6)
  • Architectural Review, Manifesto For London (September 2007, OCLC 915683607)
  • Place: Terry Farrell's Life & Work: Early Years to 1981 (2004, Laurence King Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85669-332-5)
  • Buckingham Palace Redesigned: A Radical New Approach to London's Royal Parks (2003, Papadakis, ISBN 978-1-901092-40-0)
  • Terry Farrell in Scotland (2002, Tuckwell Press, ISBN 978-1-86232-275-2)
  • Ten Years: Ten Cities: The Work of Terry Farrell & Partners 1991–2001 (2002, Laurence King Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85669-275-5)
  • Sketchbook 12.05.98 (1998, Right Angle Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-0-95328-480-1) with Robert Maxwell
  • Designing a House (1986, Architectural Design, ISBN 978-0-31219-462-8) with Charles Jencks

References

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  1. ^ "Terry Farrell and Partners". Resource for Urban Design Information. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  2. ^ "Terry Farrell is the man with the master plan". The Standard. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Slessor, Catherine (29 September 2025). "Remembering Terry Farrell: 'Britain's most charismatic exponent of Postmodernism'". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Sir Terry Farrell's Vision" (PDF). Arches. No. 1. Newcastle University. 2002. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  5. ^ "Terry Farrell, architect who designed MI6 building, dies". BBC.
  6. ^ "Building up to a role in the city's future?". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  7. ^ "A critique of Masterplanning as a technique for introducing urban design quality into British Cities" (PDF). Paper. Dr Bob Giddings. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  8. ^ "Farrell picked to draw up Earls Court masterplan". Article. Regeneration and Renewal. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  9. ^ "Canary Wharf hires Terry Farrell for Wood Wharf masterplan". Article. CoStar UK. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  10. ^ 1998 Kowloon Transport Super City Terry Farrell & Partners/Steven Smith, Hong Kong
  11. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (31 January 2012). "The tower and the glory: Terry Farrell's KK100". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  12. ^ "The Mayor's Design Advisory Panel". Design for London. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  13. ^ "Thames Gateway". World Architecture News. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  14. ^ UK list:"No. 47549". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1978. p. 6238.
  15. ^ United Kingdom list: "No. 54255". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 30 December 1995. p. 8.
  16. ^ United Kingdom "No. 56237". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 16 June 2001. p. 1.
  17. ^ "Newcastle University building named in honour of architect". Press Office. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  18. ^ Jacob Riis Award."Worldwide Photography Gala Awards". The Gala Awards. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  19. ^ Crook, Lizzie (29 September 2025). ""Maverick and non-conformist" architect Terry Farrell dies aged 87". Dezeen. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  20. ^ Bakare, Lanre (29 September 2025). "'Nonconformist' architect of MI6 building Terry Farrell dies aged 87". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  21. ^ Lasky, Julie (21 October 2025). "Terry Farrell, Whose Buildings Embodied Late 20th-Century Extremes, Dies at 87". New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  22. ^ "Farrell and Grimshaw's Bath factory listed", Architects' Journal, 2 September 2013. Linked 21 February 2014
  23. ^ Waite, Richard (10 November 2016). "Farrell's 'masterful' PoMo Comyn Ching Triangle listed". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
  24. ^ Henley Royal Regatta: ‘’History of Henley Royal Regatta’‘ Archived 19 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine Linked 21 February 2014
  25. ^ Historic England. "Henley Royal Regatta Headquarters (1449077)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  26. ^ "British Council for Offices Awards". Article. British Council for Offices. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
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