Founded in 1991, The Architecture Foundation is

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

's oldest independent

architecture 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 construction, constructi ...

centre. It examines contemporary issues in architectural theory and practice, through a public programme that has involved exhibitions, competitions, publications, lectures, films and debates.

History

The organisation was established in 1991 under the direction of Ricky Burdett and initially operated from a gallery in

Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutali ...

's buildings for the Economist magazine. Under Rowan Moore's subsequent tenure as director, the organisation ran the Yard Gallery in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

as a temporary space experimenting in different ways of exhibiting and communicating architecture before moving to Carmody Groarke-designed headquarters in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. Under the direction of Sarah Ichioka it gave itself a greater international remit, manifesting itself in 2009 through a series of exchange programmes. The Southwark headquarters also operated a project space, again hosting a variety of exhibitions, installations and talks. The Architecture Foundation left the Southwark space in 2014 due to financial problems following the withdrawal of

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

funding to all architecture programmes throughout England and Wales. In 2015 it co-located with the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

's Central House in

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End of London, West End West End Theatre, Theatreland. T ...

. In 2015, it appointed director Ellis Woodman to restructure the organisation on the basis of a private funding model. The following year saw the launch of Architecture on Stage, an ongoing series of talks and debates curated by the Architecture Foundation in partnership with the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

, which has included lectures by prominent architects. Following London Metropolitan University's sale of Central House in 2016, the Architecture Foundation relocated to The Royal College of Art in Kensington. Since 2020, the charity has operated from the offices of

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (also known as AHMM) is the fourth-largest architecture practice in the United Kingdom with offices based in London and Bristol, as well as international studios in Madrid, Sydney and Oklahoma City. Allford Hall Mona ...

. At the start of the 2020 Covid19 pandemic, the Architecture Foundation established an online series called the 100 Day Studio, which delivered up to three free daily lectures over the course of 100 days. The series was recognised by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of the cultural highlights of the year.

People

Directors

* Ricky Burdett (1991-1997) * Lucy Musgrave (1997-2002) * Rowan Moore(2002-2008) * Sarah Ichioka (2008-2014) * Ellis Woodman (2015-present)

Chair of board of trustees

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + ...

Will Alsop William Allen Alsop (12 December 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British architect and Professor of Architecture at University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture. He was responsible for several distinctive and controversial ...

Brian Clarke Sir Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British Painting, painter, architectural artist, designer and Printmaking, printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations w ...

Simon Allford Simon Allford (born July 1961, in Sheffield, UK) is a British architect, and is the co-founder and director of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM). He is a past President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and serves as a membe ...

* Cindy Walters * Jamie Fobert (December 2023 - present)

References

External links

The Architecture Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Architecture Foundation Architecture organisations based in the United Kingdom