Charles Jencks

1939 -

Architect, architectural historian and author. Born in Baltimore, Jencks was educated at Harvard and the University of London. He has worked in Britain and the USA on a series of projects, but is also famous for his writings on Post-Modern architecture. His book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977) was regarded as tour de force, reaching six editions and translated into at least ten languages. He also taken part in a number of British and American television programmes on architecture.

Jencks has made his home at Portrack House in Dumfriesshire, where he has developed a unique "garden of cosmic speculation", said to be one of the most important modern gardens in Europe. His sculpted landscape in front of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art won the Gulbenkian Prize in 2004. He was named Country Life Gardener of the Year in 1998. He was co-founder of the Maggie's Centres for cancer care with his late wife Maggie Keswick Jencks (1941-95).

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