The Bartlett School of Architecture New Dean, London UCL News

New Dean of The Bartlett School of Architecture

UCL faculty of the built environment, England, UK – 100 years of radical thinking

13 Mar 2019

New Dean of The Bartlett School of Architecture News

Professor Christoph Lindner announced as new Dean of The Bartlett

The Bartlett, UCL’s global faculty of the built environment, has announced Professor Christoph Lindner as its new Dean – in the year that The Bartlett marks its 100^th anniversary.

New Dean of The Bartlett School of Architecture Professor Christoph Lindner:

photo courtesy of The Bartlett, UCL

Professor Lindner will be the 14^th Dean of the faculty and will succeed the current Dean Professor Alan Penn when he officially takes up the post on September 1, 2019. The news comes the week after The Bartlett was announced as No.1 in the world to study architecture and the built environment in the QS World Rankings by subject.

The appointment was made following a worldwide search and a competitive interview process. Professor Lindner is currently Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon and is renowned for his research in the areas of globalisation and gentrification, brutalist architecture, creative urbanism, and the rise of elevated parks in post-industrial cities.

photos courtesy of The Bartlett, UCL

Professor Lindner said: “The Bartlett is unique for bringing together the most radical and advanced thinking on all aspects of the built environment. It is an exciting time for the faculty which has just been ranked as the top institution in the world for architecture and the built environment and is celebrating the centenary of The Bartlett name.

“I am thrilled and energised to be joining an innovative academic community committed to shaping a fairer and more prosperous future for cities and societies across the world.”

The Bartlett, UCL:

photo : Jack Hobhouse

Professor Michael Arthur, UCL’s President and Provost, said: “We are delighted to welcome Christoph as the incoming Dean at this important time for the faculty.

“In recent years, the Bartlett has grown to become the most comprehensive built environment faculty in the world, recognised for the quality of its research, teaching and external engagement. It has the capacity to profoundly shape the way people around the world perceive and interact with the built environment.

“I would also like to pay tribute to Alan Penn. Over the past-10 years, The Bartlett has cemented its position as a world-leader and its recent success is down to the leadership Alan has provided.”

During his time as Dean, Professor Penn has more than doubled the number of degree programmes available to study, with over 3500 students currently enrolled. The number of staff has doubled during this time and the faculty has grown five-fold in terms of income.

Professor Penn has also overseen the biggest estates growth within The Bartlett with the refurbishment of 22 Gordon Street and the opening of a new fabrication and experimental space at Here East – the first presence on the Olympic Park for UCL.

The Bartlett has also established its commitment to ensure that the built environment is diverse and representative by launching the Accelerate programme with Open City and appointing the first Vice-Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at UCL.

Professor Lindner will lead the 12 schools and institutes that make up The Bartlett, and will be tasked with leading key future objectives for the school. These include establishing a UCL Energy Impact Accelerator programme, encouraging and supporting cross-disciplinary practice, maximising opportunities for cross-disciplinary work at Here East, playing a key role in UCL East, and a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.

Christoph Lindner full biography

Christoph Lindner (Ph.D. University of Edinburgh) is an interdisciplinary urban and cultural theorist whose work spans the fields of architecture, visual culture, geography, and urban planning and design. In his research and teaching, he is particularly interested in the interrelations between globalisation, urban life, and the built environment, which he approaches from a comparative, transnational perspective.

Recent research projects have focused on globalisation and garbage, architectures of ruin in Detroit and Mumbai, gentrification and street art in Amsterdam, slowness and boredom in the era of acceleration, Brutalist architecture and creative insurgency in London and Caracas, and the rise of elevated parks in New York, Paris, and São Paulo.

He is currently Professor and Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon, which includes the School of Architecture & Environment; School of Art + Design; School of Planning, Public Policy and Management; and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture.

In addition to his role at the University of Oregon, Dean Lindner is an Honorary Research Professor in Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam. Previously, he was Professor of Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam, where he launched and directed the ASCA Cities Project.

From 2011-2016, he was founding Director of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis and, in 2012, he co-founded the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies. From 2010-2014, he was Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, an arts and humanities research institute and doctoral school focused on the interdisciplinary study of contemporary society, politics, and culture.

At the University Oregon, he leads the UO Slow Lab, a collaborative research initiative bringing together scholars, designers, and urban professionals to promote critical enquiry into global cultures of speed, mobility, and connectivity. Reflecting the group’s shared concerns, UO Slow Lab takes a special interest in the relationship between velocity and inequality.

Dean Lindner has been a visiting professor at New York University, The New School, University of California-Berkeley, University of Edinburgh, University of Freiburg, Queen Mary University of London, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and the University of London Institute in Paris.

Tribal Gathering at Here East campus:

photo © K Holst

He is regularly invited to give public lectures and guest classes at architecture and design schools worldwide, and in recent years has lectured at Brown University, Cooper Union, Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, UCLA, The Bartlett School of Architecture, New York University, MIT, University of Oxford, CUNY Graduate Centre, University of Lisbon, University of Pennsylvania, Aachen School of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Washington, and the Geneva School of Landscape Design, among others.

He is the author or editor of 13 books, including Imagining New York City (Oxford University Press, 2015), Deconstructing the High Line (Rutgers University Press, 2017), Global Garbage (Routledge, 2016), Cities Interrupted: Visual Culture and Urban Space (Bloomsbury, 2016), Inert Cities: Globalization, Mobility, and Suspension in Visual Culture (I.B. Tauris, 2014), and Paris-Amsterdam Underground (Amsterdam University Press, 2013). His newest book is The Routledge Companion to Urban Imaginaries (2019).

About The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment

The Bartlett is University College London’s global faculty of the built environment. The Bartlett’s schools, units and institutes are pioneering innovative approaches to the challenges facing the built environment. From architecture, planning and spatial analysis to energy, project management and development in the global south, The Bartlett offers unrivalled opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The Bartlett has been ranked first in the world for Architecture / Built Environment in the QS World University Rankings. The Bartlett is also a key component in UCL’s research success, it was assessed as having more 4* ‘world leading’ research than any other UK university in Architecture, Planning and the Built Environment in the UK Government’s 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett | @BartlettUCL

www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/100 | #Bartlett100

Professor Alan Penn, Dean of The Bartlett:

photograph : Michael Chapman

About Professor Alan Penn

Professor Alan Penn is the outgoing Dean of The Bartlett, UCL’s faculty of the Built Environment, he is a founding director of Space Syntax Ltd, a UCL knowledge transfer spin out with a portfolio of over 100 applied projects per year, including whole city masterplans, neighbourhood development plans and individual buildings. He is a board member of UCL Consultants Ltd. He is a member of the Space Syntax Laboratory within The Bartlett School of Architecture.

He was the Chair of the Architecture, Built Environment and Planning sub-panel 16 and a member of Main-panel C for the Research Excellence Framework 2014. He is Principal Investigator on the £5m five-year EPSRC funded Digital Economy Hub: UK Regions Digital Research Facility. He is a trustee of the Shakespeare North Trust a charity which is constructing a new Shakespearian theatre and educational centre in Prescot outside Liverpool.

UCL Built Environment Clubs New York:

image : Andre Benz

About UCL (University College London)

UCL was founded in 1826. We were the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to open up university education to those previously excluded from it, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. We are among the world’s top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. UCL currently has over 41,000 students from 150 countries and over 12,500 staff. Our annual income is more than £1 billion.

Bartlett School Exhibition: London School of Architecture, UCL

The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
22 Gordon Street
London WC1H 0QB

The Bartlett School of Architecture / UCL