Architect Peter Ahrends, Co-Founder of ABK, Dies at 93

Peter Ahrends, a founding partner of the architectural firm Ahrends, Burton and Koralek (ABK), has died at age 93. Ahrends, along with Richard Burton and Paul Koralek, met as students at the Architectural Association in London in 1951 and practiced together for over 50 years. ABK's notable works include the Berkeley Library at Trinity College Dublin (completed 1967, renamed the Eavan Boland Library in 2025), a business school at Oxford University (Templeton College, 1967-1990), a serpentine addition to Keble College (1980), and the British embassy in Moscow (1988). The firm gained notoriety in 1984 when Prince Charles famously described their proposed extension to the National Gallery in London as a 'monstrous carbuncle,' leading to the scheme's abandonment. Ahrends was also a professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture (1986-89) and chaired UK Architects Against Apartheid (1986-1994). He is survived by two daughters, two grandsons, two great-grandchildren, and his partner Marlene Rolfe.