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| David Marks, who has died aged 64 of cancer, was passionate about the potential of architecture to improve people’s lives. His most prominent contribution was to the skyline: the London Eye, the British Airways i360 observation tower on the seafront at Brighton, and the Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens, west London. | |
| Marks’ skill as a designer and innovator was complemented by a socially conscious entrepreneurialism – idealistic, potentially reckless, but ultimately very successful. Traditionally architects work by commission, designing what they are paid to design. However, Marks, with his wife and professional partner, Julia Barfield, often did not wait around to be asked. | Marks’ skill as a designer and innovator was complemented by a socially conscious entrepreneurialism – idealistic, potentially reckless, but ultimately very successful. Traditionally architects work by commission, designing what they are paid to design. However, Marks, with his wife and professional partner, Julia Barfield, often did not wait around to be asked. |
| The London Eye began as a fanciful entry to a 1993 competition in the Sunday Times to design a monument for the new millennium. Marks and Barfield, then struggling to maintain their newly established practice, proposed a reinvented fairground Ferris wheel: lightweight in structure, larger than any previously built, and located on the southern bank of the Thames in the heart of London, where the Festival of Britain had been sited in 1951. It was to be a symbolic extension of a British engineering tradition that had generated some of Marks’ heroes, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Joseph Paxton and the pier designer Eugenius Birch. It would also provide a moment of pure joy, a chance to see the city anew. | The London Eye began as a fanciful entry to a 1993 competition in the Sunday Times to design a monument for the new millennium. Marks and Barfield, then struggling to maintain their newly established practice, proposed a reinvented fairground Ferris wheel: lightweight in structure, larger than any previously built, and located on the southern bank of the Thames in the heart of London, where the Festival of Britain had been sited in 1951. It was to be a symbolic extension of a British engineering tradition that had generated some of Marks’ heroes, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Joseph Paxton and the pier designer Eugenius Birch. It would also provide a moment of pure joy, a chance to see the city anew. |
| The competition came to nothing: no winner was even declared. But against advice and convention, Marks and Barfield decided to try to build their dream project themselves, remortgaging their home to found the Millennium Wheel company. They spent the next six years patiently gathering financial, public and political support, resolving engineering and logistical challenges and weathering considerable opposition. | The competition came to nothing: no winner was even declared. But against advice and convention, Marks and Barfield decided to try to build their dream project themselves, remortgaging their home to found the Millennium Wheel company. They spent the next six years patiently gathering financial, public and political support, resolving engineering and logistical challenges and weathering considerable opposition. |
| That opposition evaporated once the London Eye opened in 2000. It has since become the most popular paid-for attraction in the UK, with more than 3 million visitors a year. While it was initially given a five-year planning permit as a temporary structure, it is now impossible to imagine the London skyline without it. | That opposition evaporated once the London Eye opened in 2000. It has since become the most popular paid-for attraction in the UK, with more than 3 million visitors a year. While it was initially given a five-year planning permit as a temporary structure, it is now impossible to imagine the London skyline without it. |
| Born in Stockholm, Sweden, David was the son of Gunilla (nee Lovén) and Melville Marks. His father, a restless polymath from Manchester who fought in the Israeli war of independence, worked as a journalist and film producer, and helped found the Montreux Golden Rose television festival, was given to never taking no for an answer. | Born in Stockholm, Sweden, David was the son of Gunilla (nee Lovén) and Melville Marks. His father, a restless polymath from Manchester who fought in the Israeli war of independence, worked as a journalist and film producer, and helped found the Montreux Golden Rose television festival, was given to never taking no for an answer. |
| David sought the same outcome through reasoned argument and calm persuasion. Despite his imposing height, he was generally a retiring personality, though when it came to discussing matters he genuinely cared about – design, culture, politics or social justice – he would become animated. | David sought the same outcome through reasoned argument and calm persuasion. Despite his imposing height, he was generally a retiring personality, though when it came to discussing matters he genuinely cared about – design, culture, politics or social justice – he would become animated. |
| After attending school in Geneva, in 1972 he went to London to study at Kingston Polytechnic, now University, and then the Architectural Association. In contrast to flamboyant contemporaries such as Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas, Marks was more concerned with simple, innovative, socially useful architecture, in the postwar utopian spirit of Richard Buckminster Fuller. He found an ally in Barfield, his fellow student, and they married in 1981. | After attending school in Geneva, in 1972 he went to London to study at Kingston Polytechnic, now University, and then the Architectural Association. In contrast to flamboyant contemporaries such as Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas, Marks was more concerned with simple, innovative, socially useful architecture, in the postwar utopian spirit of Richard Buckminster Fuller. He found an ally in Barfield, his fellow student, and they married in 1981. |
| While still at the AA, Marks and Barfield backpacked across South America and helped develop squatter settlements in Peru. In London, they were squatters themselves, in Stockwell, south London. Even then they were taking matters into their own hands. They saved their house from demolition and restored it into what eventually became a zero-carbon family home, where their three children, Benjamin, Maya and Sarah, grew up. | While still at the AA, Marks and Barfield backpacked across South America and helped develop squatter settlements in Peru. In London, they were squatters themselves, in Stockwell, south London. Even then they were taking matters into their own hands. They saved their house from demolition and restored it into what eventually became a zero-carbon family home, where their three children, Benjamin, Maya and Sarah, grew up. |
| They also proposed a community plan to conserve and regenerate the surrounding area by turning the derelict land across the road into a park. They continued to live in the house, and to be involved in redevelopment plans to maintain the park in the face of budget cuts. | They also proposed a community plan to conserve and regenerate the surrounding area by turning the derelict land across the road into a park. They continued to live in the house, and to be involved in redevelopment plans to maintain the park in the face of budget cuts. |
| After graduating, Marks and Barfield forged links with the British high-tech movement by setting up an architectural model-making business whose chief client was Richard Rogers. Marks went on to work with Rogers on projects including the Lloyd’s Building, after which he left to set up his own practice in 1989. Barfield, who had been working for Norman Foster, joined him soon after. | After graduating, Marks and Barfield forged links with the British high-tech movement by setting up an architectural model-making business whose chief client was Richard Rogers. Marks went on to work with Rogers on projects including the Lloyd’s Building, after which he left to set up his own practice in 1989. Barfield, who had been working for Norman Foster, joined him soon after. |
| Marks and Barfield’s involvement in the London Eye ended on a sour note: they lost control of the project when their co-developers, British Airways, sold their stake in 2005, though they ensured that 1% of revenues went to the local community in perpetuity. But the Eye’s success sealed their reputations. They were both appointed MBE in 2000, and the practice, Marks Barfield Architects, went on to design a range of projects, guided by the twin design principles of engineering-led sophistication and social consciousness. | Marks and Barfield’s involvement in the London Eye ended on a sour note: they lost control of the project when their co-developers, British Airways, sold their stake in 2005, though they ensured that 1% of revenues went to the local community in perpetuity. But the Eye’s success sealed their reputations. They were both appointed MBE in 2000, and the practice, Marks Barfield Architects, went on to design a range of projects, guided by the twin design principles of engineering-led sophistication and social consciousness. |
| The Treetop Walkway at Kew is a typical example – another uplifting structure. The firm’s portfolio also includes schools, art galleries, libraries, bridges and, currently in progress, a mosque in Cambridge. Marks declined invitations from other cities to design similar observation wheels, but he did create a sort of sequel in the form of the British Airways i360, which opened in 2016. Like its predecessor, it is a technically challenging observation structure, designed to cater to a smaller number of visitors, and a new landmark for the coastal town – a “vertical pier”. | |
| Again, the project was entirely self-generated. Having learned from the experience of the London Eye, Marks and Barfield took sole financial responsibility for the initial development of the i360, which was almost undone by the 2008 financial crash. As before, their combination of ingenuity, persuasion and resolve helped to realise the project with support from the city council. | Again, the project was entirely self-generated. Having learned from the experience of the London Eye, Marks and Barfield took sole financial responsibility for the initial development of the i360, which was almost undone by the 2008 financial crash. As before, their combination of ingenuity, persuasion and resolve helped to realise the project with support from the city council. |
| Marks believed not only that it was the duty of architects to do what they could to improve the world, but also that they already possessed most of the tools with which to do so. They were trained to analyse problems and propose design solutions, and there was no reason why they could not handle project management and finance, too, with a little support, and therefore generate projects under their own steam. Marks inspired a growing movement of self-initiating, community-minded designers, among them his son, Benjamin, whose practice won the RIBA’s MacEwen award last year for its work on the Oasis Children’s Venture, Stockwell. | Marks believed not only that it was the duty of architects to do what they could to improve the world, but also that they already possessed most of the tools with which to do so. They were trained to analyse problems and propose design solutions, and there was no reason why they could not handle project management and finance, too, with a little support, and therefore generate projects under their own steam. Marks inspired a growing movement of self-initiating, community-minded designers, among them his son, Benjamin, whose practice won the RIBA’s MacEwen award last year for its work on the Oasis Children’s Venture, Stockwell. |
| Marks is survived by his wife and children. | Marks is survived by his wife and children. |
| • David Joseph Marks, architect, born 15 December 1952; died 6 October 2017 | • David Joseph Marks, architect, born 15 December 1952; died 6 October 2017 |