Editing Future Systems

{{Short description|Architectural and design practice}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the [[IBM Future Systems project]].}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox architectural practice
| name                  = Future Systems
| image                 = Selfridge Exterior2.jpg
| caption               = Exterior detail of the [[Selfridges Building, Birmingham|Selfridges Building]], [[Birmingham]]
| architects            = [[Jan Kaplický]] David Nixon<br>[[Amanda Levete]]
| city                  = London, England, UK
| founded               = {{Start date and age|1979|df=yes}}
| dissolved             =
| awards                = [[Stirling Prize]] (1999)
| significant_buildings = [[Lord's Media Centre]]; [[Selfridges Building, Birmingham|Selfridges Building]]; [[Bull Ring, Birmingham|Bull Ring]]; [[Malator]]; Ferrari Museum, Modena
| significant_projects  = National Library, Prague
| significant_design    = Green Bird, London
}}
'''Future Systems''' was a London-based [[architecture|architectural]] and design practice, formerly headed by Directors [[Jan Kaplický]] and [[Amanda Levete]].

Future Systems was founded by Kaplický and David Nixon after working with [[Denys Lasdun]], [[Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank|Norman Foster]], [[Renzo Piano]], and [[Richard Rogers]] in 1979. The work of Future Systems can be classified within the British high-tech architects as either [[bionic architecture]] or amorphous, organic shapes sometimes referred to as "[[blobitecture]]". "Compared to his peers, Kaplicky was the avant-garde incarnate, relentlessly pursuing the new new thing, refusing to settle into some predictable, and comfortable, architectural niche."<ref>"Jan Kaplicky, a visionary, dies" Architectural Record, March 2009, p.27</ref>

==Practice==
Future Systems proposals adapted construction methods from other professions, including (most commonly) the curved [[monocoque]] shell structures found in [[aircraft design process|aircraft design]], [[car design]] and [[boat building]].

In the 1990s the company moved from theoretical projects to fee-paying work with projects such as the "spacecraft-like"<ref name="Booth">{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Booth |title=Radical architect Jan Kaplický dies |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jan/15/architect-jan-kaplicky-dies |work=The Guardian |date=15 January 2009 |access-date=20 August 2009}}</ref> [[Lord's Media Centre|Media Centre]] at [[Lord's Cricket Ground]] in London (completed 1999), and the Selfridges Building (completed 2003). For Lord's, Kaplicky received the [[Stirling Prize]]. The [[Selfridges Building, Birmingham|Selfridges]] department store is a prime example of the early 21st century movement referred to as "[[blobitecture]]", and has been compared to [[Peter Cook (architect)|Peter Cook]]'s [[Kunsthaus Graz|Kunsthaus]] in [[Graz]], Austria.

After Future Systems won the Stirling Prize, the firm received larger commissions including the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena, Italy (2009)<ref>{{cite news |title=Designed for the fast lane |url=http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=818 |publisher=World Architecture News |date= 15 January 2007|access-date=20 August 2009}}</ref> and the unbuilt new [[Czech National Library]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-06 |title=ZUKUNFT VON GESTERN. Visionäre Entwürfe von Future Systems und Archigram {{!}} DAM Online |url=https://dam-online.de/veranstaltung/archiv-zukunft-von-gestern-visionare-entwurfe-von-future-systems-und-archigram-2/ |access-date=2023-06-04 |language=de-DE}}</ref> In 2008 Kaplický and Levete split the firm. Kaplický took the firm name and some staff to the Czech Republic, and Levete would take a proposed new headquarters for News Corporation in east London and a commission for a hotel and retail complex in Bangkok, Thailand, along with most of the staff – between 35 and 45 people.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Booth |title=From a shining future to a bitter end as 'blob' architecture pioneers part company |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/oct/17/architecture |work=The Guardian |date=17 October 2008 |access-date=20 August 2009}}</ref>

==History==

1979 Founded by Jan Kaplicky and David Nixon while working at Foster Associates.

1989 Joined by [[Amanda Levete]] who arrives from Richard Rogers & Partners to become a partner.

1994 Completed the well received Hauer-King house in Canonbury, Islington, London.

1999 Won the Stirling Prize for Lord's Cricket Ground [[Lord's Media Centre|media centre]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Laura |date=2015-10-06 |title=Twenty years of the RIBA Stirling Prize |url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/twenty-years-of-the-riba-stirling-prize |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=The Architects’ Journal |language=en}}</ref>

2003 Completed the Selfridges building at the regenerated Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham.

2007 Won the commission for the controversial Czech National Library.

2008 Split into two practices after Kaplicky and Levete officially separate as business partners.

2008 Submits design of London Routemaster bus.<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff Writer |title=Future Systems' London Routemaster bus|url=http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3130978|publisher=BD Online, The Architects Website|date=8 January 2008 |access-date=14 September 2009}}</ref>

2008 Czech National Library project cancelled by Prague authorities.<ref name="Staff Writer"/>

2009 Jan Kaplický dies on 14 January 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic.<ref name="Booth"/> A month later the final few staff working for Kaplický/Future Systems in Levete's offices were let go.<ref name="Staff Writer">{{cite news |last=Staff Writer |title=Levete confirms Kaplicky job cuts |url=http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storycode=3134263 |publisher=BD Online, The Architects Website |date=19 February 2009 |access-date=20 August 2009}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Nat West media centre cropped.jpg|The Media Centre, [[Lord's Cricket Ground]], London
Image:Birmingham Selfridges building.jpg|[[Selfridges]] Building, the [[Bull Ring, Birmingham|Bull Ring]], [[Birmingham]]
File:Birmingham churches and Selfridges.JPG|The Selfridges Building from a distance
Image:selfridges interior1.jpg|Interior of the Selfridges Building
Image:SelfridgesBhamFront.jpg|Front view
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book | last=Pawley | first=Martin|title=Future Systems : The Story of Tomorrow | location=London | publisher=Phaidon | year=1993 | isbn=0-7148-2767-3}}
*{{cite book | last=Sudjic | first=Deyan | title=Future Systems | location=London | publisher=Phaidon | year=2006 | isbn=0-7148-4469-1}}

==Further reading==
===Articles===
*{{cite web |title=Amanda Levete / Future Systems |url=http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/futuresystems.html |publisher=designboom |date=26 September 2003 |access-date=1 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408233238/http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/futuresystems.html |archive-date=8 April 2007 }}
*[http://www.theplan.it "Interview with Jan Kaplicky-Future Systems"] by Alessandra Orlandoni- '''The Plan 008''' January 2005
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090210150954/http://www.benflatman.com/Bull%20Ring/Bull%20Ring.html Article on the architecture of the new Bull Ring shopping centre]

===Books===

*{{cite book | last=Field | first=Marcus | title=Future Systems | location=London | publisher=Phaidon | year=1999 | isbn=0-7148-3831-4}}
*{{cite book | last=Future Systems | title=Unique Building (Lord's Media Centre) | location=Chichester | publisher=Wiley Academy | year=2001 | isbn=0-471-98512-0}}
*{{cite book | last=Kaplický | first=Jan | title=Confessions | location=Chichester | publisher=Wiley-Academy | year=2002 | isbn=0-471-49541-7}}
*{{cite book | last=Kaplický | first=Jan | title=For Inspiration Only | location=Chichester | publisher=Academy Editions | year=1996 | isbn=1-85490-478-7}}
*{{cite book | last=Kaplický | first=Jan | title=More for Inspiration Only | location=Chichester | publisher=Academy Editions | year=1999 | isbn=0-471-98770-0}}
*{{citation | last=Kaplický | first=Jan | title=Looking Back in Envy: 20th Century Art and Design Revisited (Architectural Design) | location=Chichester | publisher=Wiley Academy | year=2001 | isbn=0-470-84228-8 | ref=none | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/lookingbackinenv0000unse }}
*{{cite book | last=Pawley | first=Martin | title=Hauer-King House : Future Systems | location=London | publisher=Phaidon | year=1997 | isbn=0-7148-3630-3}}
*{{citation | editor1-last=Tichá | editor1-first=Jana | editor2-last=Kaplický | editor2-first=Jan | editor3-last=Margolius | editor3-first=Ivan | title=Future Systems | location=Prague | publisher=Zlatý řez| year=2002 | isbn=80-901562-6-6 |ref=none}}
*{{citation | last1=Kaplický |first1=Jan | last2=Margolius | first2=Ivan | title=Česká inspirace - Czech inspiration | location=Prague | publisher=Fraktály Publishers | year=2005 | isbn=80-86627-09-8 |ref=none}}
*{{citation | last=Margolius |first=Ivan |title=Jan Kaplický - For the Future and For Beauty | location=Stuttgart |publisher=Edition Axel Menges | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-86905-025-6}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Sturm |first1=Philipp |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujaxAQAACAAJ |title=Yesterday's Future: Visionary Designs by Future Systems and Archigram |last2=Schmal |first2=Peter Cachola |date=2016 |publisher=Prestel |isbn=978-3-7913-5575-7 |language=de}}

==External links==
*[http://www.future-systems.com Official website of Future Systems]
*{{ArchINFORM|arch|233}}
*[http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2007/02/blog-post.html STORIES OF HOUSES: House in Pembrokeshire (Wales), by Future Systems]

{{Stirling Prize laureates}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Architecture firms based in London]]
[[Category:Stirling Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Design companies established in 1979]]
[[Category:Companies disestablished in 2009]]
[[Category:1979 establishments in England]]
[[Category:2009 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:British companies disestablished in 2009]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1979]]