The last few months have been full of uncertainty for the prestigious AA School of Architecture, which currently does not have a permanent director (Samantha Hardingham has been interim director since Brett Steele left the position in 2016). In the school's ongoing search for a new leader, they recently revealed a shortlist of three finalist candidates. They are:

• Pippo Ciorra, Senior Curator of MAXXI Architettura in Rome, architect, critic, and professor
• Eva Franch i Gilabert, Chief Curator & Executive Director of Storefront for Art & Architecture in New York, architect, curator, and educator
• Robert Mull, Head of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton, architect, educator, urbanist, and activist

After receiving 73 responses to their call for applications, the AA selected 26 candidates for their initial list, which was then narrowed down to 15 candidates for the first round of interviews. The first round of interviews included individuals from Australia, North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, with nine men and six women. Out of the eight candidates during the second round, there were four men and four women.

In a Facebook post in response to the AA's announcement, Patrik Schumacher questioned why only three candidates had been shortlisted. “These are certainly credible candidtates [sic] .... however, i had argued (at prior school community meetings) to see at least 6 candidates to make more of this occasion in terms of debate and choice,” Schumacher wrote in a comment. “Also, there is no candidate on this list who one would expect to promote computationally based approaches to architectural research and design.”

Starting next week, the three candidates will make public presentations to the AA School community. All members of the school community will be eligible to vote in a potential two-round balloting system starting on February 26, and the winner is expected to be announced in early March. Find out more at search.aaschool.ac.uk.