Dennis Crompton, born in Blackpool, England, in 1935, was a founding member of the Archigram group of architects (Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, and Mike Webb), which remained together until 1975.
Passionate about all mechanisms, machines or gadgets, and the technologies and systems that facilitated their application in architecture, Crompton was considered the most practical member of the group, which functioned as an experimental "think-tank", producing its well-known magazine, numerous proposals, projects, models and exhibitions where they placed special emphasis on the transformation of the processes and visions that define the processes of architectural creation.
As a member of Archigram, Crompton kept all of the group’s records from its earliest days and established the Archigram Archives in 1975, when they decided to disband as a group. He was responsible, with Ron Herron, for the assembly and design of the major exhibition “Archigram: Experimental Architecture 1961-74,” which opened in Vienna in 1994, and he remained closely involved in keeping track of all references to the group’s books and exhibitions around the world.
In 2002 the group was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.
Dennis Crompton taught at the Architectural Association School from 1965 to 1996, where he was responsible for communications and publications. He recently taught Masters courses in Architecture and Urban Design at the Bartlett and continued to lecture frequently at schools of architecture, urban planning and design in the United States and Europe until his death on January 21, 2025.
