After winning 67% of the vote by the AA School Community (comprised by students, academic and admin staff, and members of Council), Eva Franch i Gilabert has been selected to be the new Director of the Architectural Association in London. Final contractual negotiations still need to be made and a formal announcement of the appointment will come later this month.

Franch, who beat out two other short-listed candidates for the title, comes from the Storefront for Art & Architecture in New York, where she served as Chief Curator and Executive Director. She has taught at Columbia University GSAPP, the IUAV University of Venice, SUNY Buffalo, and Rice University School of Architecture. She has been running her own solo practice, Office of Architectural Affairs, since 2004 and has represented the U.S. at the Venice Architecture Biennale. 

The AA has been without permanent leadership since the departure of their former director Brett Steele in 2016. Since, the school has undergone a period of turmoil and uncertainty. Facing rising rent costs and anxiety in the wake of Brexit, the school made controversial staff cuts to their publication and exhibition departments earlier this year, sparking much concern. 

The two departments have been a vital part of the school's identity and mission since its inception. Their cultural outputs, including the AA Files, a much-respected in house architecture magazine, have long been seen as some of the school's greatest contributions as a cultural hub. Franch, who brings along extensive exhibition and curatorial experience, is well poised to ease tensions in the recent aftermath of the school's hotly contested redundancies.