The British architect Richard MacCormac trained at Cambridge University in the early 1960s and, after some travel in the USA and practical experience in England, established his own practice in London in 1969. He is now senior partner in MacCormac Jamieson Prichard and Wright. Concurrently he has always been involved in architectural education, mainly at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, which has led to a series of important university commissions in England. He has published many articles on urban design, housing and architectural history, and he is a member of Britain's Royal Fine Art Commission.
The largest and most recent urban design scheme that he has undertaken, together with a developer and the architects The Fitzroy Robinson Partnership, is for Spitalfields, an area on the edge of the City of London. There were three contending proposals, but MacCormac's was the one selected.
In his recorded talk he distinguishes between what he calls "foreign" and "local" urban transactions. "Foreign" are those that do not relate to the locality (banking, warehousing, factories, etc.), "local" are those that do (shopping, eating and drinking, housing, etc.). He explains how he has reconciled these public and private interests in his design for Spitalfields.
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