Francis Cuthbert Duffy (born 3 September 1940) is a British architect, a founder of DEGW, the international

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

and design practice best known for office design and

workplace strategy Workplace Strategy is the dynamic alignment of an organization’s work patterns with the work environment to enable peak performance and reduce costs.Savage A E (2005) Workplace strategy: What it is and why you should care. ''Journal of Corporate R ...

and, more recently for advanced thinking on the programming of educational and arts facilities. Duffy is particularly noted for his work on the future of the office and the flexible use of space. He was president of the

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

from 1993 to 1995. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the New Year Honours 1997. In 2004, he received the British Council of Offices (BCO) President's Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2008 was named by ''Facilities Magazine'' as one of 25 Pioneers of Facilities Management in the UK. He is currently on the Board of Trustees of

The Architecture Foundation Founded in 1991, The Architecture Foundation is Britain's oldest independent architecture centre. It examines contemporary issues in architectural theory and practice, through a public programme that has involved exhibitions, competitions publicat ...

. In the 1960s, Duffy was responsible for introducing ''

Bürolandschaft Office landscape (german: Bürolandschaft/Großraumbüro) was an early (1950s) movement in open plan office space planning that typically used irregular geometry and organic circulation patterns. History The general European mentality towards i ...

''( office landscaping) into the English-speaking world. His doctoral research at Princeton was focused on the mapping the relationship between

organisational structure An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the founda ...

and office layouts. In the 1970s, he was one of the pioneers who introduced North American practice in Space Planning and Facility management into Europe. He coined the concept of "Shell, Services, Scenery and Sets"(or

Shearing layers Shearing layers is a concept coined by architect Frank Duffy, which was later elaborated by Stewart Brand in his book, '' How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built'' (Brand, 1994), and refers to buildings as composed of several layers ...

), the analysis of buildings and building components in terms of layers of longevity to facilitate the accommodation of technological and organisational change. This concept was later elaborated by Stewart Brand in his book How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built (Brand, 1994). In the 1980s Duffy and his DEGW colleagues initiated the ORBIT (Office Research: Buildings and Information Technology) into the impact on office design of advances in Information Technology. This research had a substantial impact initially on key British office projects such as Broadgate and Stockley Park and then on office design worldwide. More recently Duffy's interests have focused on the challenges that increasing reliance on virtual communications is bringing into

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...

– asking the question, "In an increasingly virtual world what arguments can architects and urbanists use to justify spaces and places?" National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C467/103) with Francis Duffy in 2013 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Duffy, Francis (1 of 3) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 2013
Retrieved 10 April 2018 Frank Duffy was editor of th
Architectural Association Journal
(1965–67) and o
Facilities
(1982–90). As a consultant specialising in Workplace Strategy for almost 40 years, Duffy has worked internationally for a wide variety of corporate and government clients. DEGW now has offices in the UK, the US, France, Germany, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Spain, Italy, Singapore and Australia.

Works

# "Burolandschaft", ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...

'' (February 1964) # "Some notes on Archigram", ''House & Garden'' 129 (February 1966) p. 171–172 # ''Office Landscaping'', Anbar Publications (1966), also published in Sweden as ''Kontolandsskap ''(1967) # "Work, Organization, Behavior, and Office Buildings: Some Proposals for Analysis and Design." Thesis ( Master of Architecture),

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(September 1969) # "Office Interiors and Organizations" Dissertation (PhD),

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

(1974) # Planning Office Space, Architectural Press, (1976), also published in Spain as ''Officinas ''(1976) #
Office Buildings and Organisational Change
, Anthony King, Buildings and Society (1980)
The ORBIT Study, Information Technology and Office Design
(1983)
The Changing City
Bulstrode Press (1989) with Alex Henney
The Changing Workplace
Phaidon (1992) with Patrick Hannay
The Responsible Workplace, Butterworth Architecture
(1993) with Andrew Laing and Vic Crisp
The New Office, Conran Octopus
(1997) with Kenneth Powell # "The New Office." Facilities Design and Management (12 October 1998)
New Environments for Working
Construction Research Publications (1998) with Andrew Laing, Denice Jaunzens and Steve Willis
Architectural Knowledge: The Idea of a Profession
E & FN Spon (1998) with Les Hutton
Design for Change: The Architecture of DEGW
Birkhauser (1998) also published in German as ''Flexible Gebaude''
Work and the CityBlack Dog Publishing
(2008)

References

External links

DEGW

Portrait of Frank Duffy (National Portrait Gallery)

HOW TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS ARE TRANSFORMING URBAN SPACES By Mitchell L. Moss and Anthony M. Townsend
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Frank Living people 1940 births 20th-century British architects Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Princeton University School of Architecture alumni Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects