The Architectural Association (AA) in London finds itself in crisis this week as students, staff, and leadership express a lack of support for a proposed strategic plan crafted for the institution’s future by AA Director Eva Franch i Gilabert. 

Further, as The Architect’s Journal reports, 52% of the nearly 900 people surveyed at the AA indicated that they did not have confidence in Gilabert’s leadership moving forward. The same poll found over 80% disagreement within the “school community” over the 2020-25 strategic plan Gilabert has crafted for the institution. The nature of the disagreements over the plan are unclear, though The Architect’s Journal shared an anonymous letter it received last year detailing concerns that the school “will favor ‘theory’ over ‘design,’ to the detriment of both, as well as some types of architectural thinking over others” under Gilabert’s leadership. 

In a welcome address published in late 2019, Gilabert espoused a vision of openness coupled with responsibility for the institution and its pupils, stating, “As architects, we always speak on behalf of the other. But we also need to constantly ask ourselves: ‘Who has the right to speak, and on behalf of whom? How am I affecting the environment with my actions? How can I care more about others?’ I invite every member of our community to practice radical empathy; to consider the planet and the future; to listen; to ask; to share; to discuss; to debate and, ultimately, to care.”

In the two years since Gilabert assumed the helm of the AA, she has helped rescue the school’s dire financial situation, revived its beloved AA Files journal, and has overseen the final stages of the school’s accreditation such that the 172-year-old institution is now able to grant bachelor's and master's degrees for the first time in its history.

Archinect has reached out to the AA and Gilabert for comment. 

In response to the vote of confidence, the school issued the following statement:

A meeting of the AA school community was held on June 29. A number of motions were put forward on which the school community was asked to debate and vote.

The AA has a long tradition of self-determination through its school community and is proud to have as part of its constitution a mechanism to facilitate discussion and debate and to vote on significant matters regarding the AA’s future and direction.

Council recognises the heart of the AA lies in its democratic principles and welcomes the advice of the school community expressed through its meeting and voting mechanisms to inform the governance and leadership of the association.

The outcomes of the school community meeting have now been passed to council for discussion.