Staff from Avery Classics have worked closely with Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. (D.A.P.) and Designers & Books as they created a meticulous facsimile of the nine and a half issues of Archigram magazine. Editors used Avery Library’s copies of the magazine (call number AB Ar2179F) to ensure the accuracy of the facsimile, comparing the proofs to the originals over many hours in the reading room.

Archigram is a perennial favorite with architecture students, especially issue number 4 with its center pop-up in a style reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein’s work. That pop-up is one of many ways that the designers of Archigram played with form and content. In fact, each magazine has a distinct design. The title page of Archigram 1 included hand-written text that wound around and through the typewritten text. The poetic juxtaposition of words attempting to elucidate “the new architecture as they see it.” The design of Archigram 6 was more conventionally book-like although the shape and cover design alluded to record jackets. Archigram 9 focused on ecology and included a packet of seeds.

In all of the issues, the collective – comprised of Peter Cook, Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron and Mike Webb – put forth indelible designs that explored architecture’s intersection with consumerism and new technology. Among the most famous projects to emerge from the magazine were Peter Cook’s Plug-in City and Ron Herron’s Walking City (left), which featured giant, insect-like buildings stalking the earth’s surface against the backdrop of a traditional city skyline.

The new facsimile is available via a Kickstarter campaign and includes a reader’s guide with essays by Peter Cook, David Grahame Shane and Reyner Banham, along with tributes from architects influend by Archigram’s work, an index of projects and a scrapbook of archival images.