Archinect - News

Rowan Moore wants a ‘truce’ between King Charles' traditionalists and the avant-garde

2023-05-09T12:08:00-04:00

The incurable optimist in me still wonders: could his yearnings about the built environment be more beneficially directed? Charles may have been at war with much of the architectural world for nearly 40 years, but might they not unite over what they have in common? They all want sustainable communities and good design. Architects and the monarch also have a shared enemy: the sacrifice of positive architectural qualities to housebuilders’ pursuit of profit.

Moore’s calls echo in some regard the statements made by housing secretary Michael Gove last year, in which he called for an openness to classicism given there is “no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis” domestically. Stirling Prize winners Mikhail Riches and Alison Brooks Architects are brought in as examples of those left out in the fray he created by virtue of his comments and status as an “unofficial addition” to the country's planning system.

“If he were to do anything more in the realm of architecture,” Moore writes, “it should be generous: He could praise those architects who, even if their style is not to his personal taste, dedicate energy and skill to making British towns and cities better places to live.”

Elsewhere, the Architects’ Journal reported that Norman Foster would also like a word with his new king.

UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove throws his hat behind the country's traditionalism movement

2023-01-05T15:50:00-05:00

The UK’s housing chief is throwing his name into the contentious ongoing debate surrounding the role and perception of traditionalism and classical architecture in the country’s design culture and academia.

The Architects’ Journal has details on Secretary Michael Gove’s foreword to a report authored by critic Ike Ijeh for a right-wing think tank that calls for the establishment of a “School of Place” and other educational changes that would “revive” traditionalism “from the annals of obscurity to which contemporary architecture education has unfairly consigned it.”

Gove tied the cause to the country’s housing crisis while also welcoming calls for the elevation of classicism in university curricula without expressly stating that it should be mandated in either educational Part of the RIBA-administered licensure process, stating: “There is no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis, nor to transform British towns and cities overnight or instantaneously deliver a workforce imbued wit...

Architects Lesley Lokko and Indy Johar recognized in King Charles' New Year honors list

2023-01-03T18:24:00-05:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced that Scottish-Ghanaian architect and academic Lesley Lokko has been awarded an OBE for her services to architecture and education in King Charles III’s first New Year's honors list.

Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute and former Dean of the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, Lokko’s growing collection of honors and accolades includes the 2020 RIBA Annie Spink Award and being appointed to curate the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, making her the first Black architect and fourth woman to do so.

Previously on Archinect: Lesley Lokko chosen as curator for 2023 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition

Lokko was joined by fellow architect Indy Johar, co-founder of Dark Matter Labs, a nonprofit strategic design and development company, who was awarded an MBE for his services to architecture.

Indy Johar. Image: Dark Matter Labs

Johar also co-founded multi-disciplinary design studio Archi...

David Adjaye appointed to Britain's esteemed Order of Merit

2022-11-15T11:12:00-05:00

Sir David Adjaye has achieved yet another accolade after being named as one of the six new Order of Merit appointments announced this weekend and selected by Queen Elizabeth II shortly before her death in September at the age of 96.

Adjaye is now also one of five architects on the list, joining Basil Spence, Norman Foster, Giles Gilbert Scott, and Edwin Lutyens. The Order was created during the reign of King Edward VI and is meant to "honor 'exceptional distinction' in areas such as science, medicine, culture and the arts in the UK and Commonwealth realms," according to the BBC.

Previously on Archinect: Sir David Adjaye receives RIBA Gold Medal at illustrious virtual event

Adjaye’s presence in the now-201-member roster helps to diversify the institution that, even with the new appointees, only includes five women and a few people of color. He was joined by news presenter Floella Benjamin, biologists Paul Nurse and Venki Ramakrishnan, Nurse Elizabeth Anionwu, and Canadian historian Ma...

Don't expect much from King Charles' reign architecturally, these two of his constituent critics say

2022-09-26T12:25:00-04:00

Poundbury, Paisley and Perspectives all ultimately failed to conquer the complex commercial and political challenges they faced. Their royal patron’s attempts to create human-centred townscapes have led to car-dominated suburbs. His efforts to uplift grand historic buildings have carved them into dreary flats. Our King is someone who sees the right problems but, ensconced in the very establishment that prevents meaningful solutions, he can only meddle around the edges of effecting real change.

The new British King is memorably the originator of the panned Poundbury estate that has failed to fall in line with its stated goals towards sustainability and car-free pedestrian orientation, according to Phineas Harper. He thinks the scion is hemmed in by a stolid commercial banking system and arcane land ownership laws and that class differences have otherwise made Charles' ability to gain perspective on the needs of his constituents otherwise impossible. As the Open City director sees it: “His view of society, as of architecture, is restricted to what can be seen from the tinted window of a chauffeured car.”

Previously on Archinect: Richard Rogers challenges Prince Charles to public debate over built environment

Meanwhile, in a different corner of the empire, new ArchitectureAU monthly critic Elizabeth Farrelly says she felt he “proved himself thoroughly unrepentant” during his time as Prince, citing his statements in support of traditionalism, and asking, “is he, as a constitut...