David Marks and Julia Barfield met in 1974. Both were architectural students at the Architecture Association in London and shared a common interest in geometry, vernacular architecture, and in the way nature 'designs' and organises itself so efficiently. They were influenced by the American inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller and his ideas about the social and environmental responsibility of architects.

David Marks and Julia Barfield met in 1974. Both were architectural students at the Architecture Association in London and shared a common interest in geometry, vernacular architecture, and in the way nature 'designs' and organises itself so efficiently. They were influenced by the American inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller and his ideas about the social and environmental responsibility of architects.

In 1975 they travelled together to South America, working first in Ecuador, and then in Peru where they designed low-cost and self-build community centres and houses in Villa El Salvador, the largest and most rapidly developing squatter settlement on the outskirts of Lima. On returning to the UK and after completing their studies at the AA, they worked respectively for Richard Rodgers and Norman Foster where they acquired the skills of applying leading-edge technology and modern craftsmanship in architecture.

In 1990 they set up their own practice and designed a 'Bridgebuilding' that spanned Regent's Canal at King's Cross; an 'Aquasphere' on the French Mediterranean; they designed an 'Information Age Centre' in the Thames Valley; and won prizes in European competitions.

In Liverpool they were commissioned to build an innovative Watersports Centre in Queen's Dock. It was a huge success locally and won prizes for architecture and engineering.

When the Sunday Times and the Architecture Foundation held an open competition in 1993 to design a landmark for the millennium, Marks and Barfield believed the millennium offered an opportunity to do something more. Something that would delight the public, celebrate London, and renew the spirit of confidence that was embodied in the Great Exhibition of 1851. They were inspired by such celebratory structures as Paxton's Crystal Palace, Eiffel's Tower, Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty, and Sarinen's St Louis Arch.

It has required no public money, no government subsidy, nor lottery funding. It is accessible to everyone, rich or poor, able or disabled.

For Marks and Barfield, architecture and engineering, at their best, merge into art, and are as capable of lifting the spirit and nourishing the soul as any other art form.