Background
Ron Herron was born in London on 12 August 1930, to a leather-working family.
Ron Herron was born in London on 12 August 1930, to a leather-working family.
He studied draughtsmanship at the Brixton School of Building and architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London.
He was perhaps best known for his work with the seminal English experimental architecture collective, which was formed in London in the early 1960s. Herron is the creator of one of the group"s best known and celebrated projects, The Walking city. Taught at the Architectural Association in London from 1965 until 1993, when he was appointed as professor and Head of the School of Architecture at the University of East London.
The firm built the acclaimed Imagination Headquarters in London
Shortly after finishing his architectural studies, Herron went to work for the London County Council, alongside fellow future members Warren Chalk and Dennis Crompton.
They were joined by Peter Cook, Mike Webb, and David Greene, who had been meeting regularly as a group at a cafe called Swiss Cottage, and had already published a homemade pamphlet under the moniker "" (ARCHitecture + teleGRAM). After the publication of the second issue, Cook, Webb and Greene sought out Herron, Chalk and Crompton, whom they knew by reputation.
Those six formed the core of In 1963 the group was invited by Theo Crosby to do an exhibition on "The Living City" at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, which became a manifesto of sorts. Herron is remembered for his "Walking City", later described as "the international icon of radical architecture of the Sixties".
Herron"s proposal for was first published in 1965, in the fifth issue of the Pamphlet.
The idea was a series of insect like mobile cities, that could simply move around until their residents found a place that they wanted to settle and "plug in". The idea, articulated by Herron"s evocative renderings of the project became one of the identifying images of the groups work and ideas.