2012 London Festival of Architecture Events, Building, News, Venue, Development

London Festival of Architecture 2012

AF Events & installations, England, UK – focus on King’s Cross & Hoxton

London Festival of Architecture 2014

6 Jul 2012

London Festival of Architecture Events in 2012

LFA 2012’s final weekend spotlights Hoxton and King’s Cross

Festival promises dance, picnics, play spaces…and conversations about the weather

A cavalcade of playful installations and activities are planned for this weekend’s finale to the London Festival of Architecture 2012, with a major focus on events taking place in both King’s Cross and Hoxton.

RIBA London, The Architecture Foundation and a host of architecture and design firms and organisations are spearheading dozens of imaginative responses to the Festival’s “Playful City” theme, delivering programme packed with transformed spaces, and brand new public installations.

The Architecture Foundation, working with Squire and Partners, will lead on activity planned for the King’s Cross neighbourhood, with the “King’s Cross Urban Actions Focus Weekend” (6-8 July), bringing it alive during the Festival by creating a trail of urban actions designed to improve the city.

Highlights will include the King’s Cross Picnic (7 + 8 Jul from 11.00 am) which will see a cobbled King’s Cross backstreet transformed by Squire and Partners and landscape architect Jeremy Rye into a new temporary picnicking ground featuring swings, outdoor games, and a large scale installation from international artist Anna Garforth. The space will host performances from young dancers, a designer Poundshop kiosk, and refreshments available from the kitchen at 06 St Chad’s Place.

Meanwhile, architects Carmody Groarke’s King’s Cross Filling Station will host a lunchtime talk (7th July 1.00 pm) looking at this innovative project which carves out a semi-permanent restaurant, events and cultural space under the canopy of a disused petrol station. A stones throw away, at the unmissable birdcage on Good’s Way, David Morley Architects will host High Hopes ( 7th and 8th July from 12.00pm) where visitors will be invited to share their thoughts and hopes about the development in King’s Cross, by writing on seed-paper tags attached to a biodegradable helium balloon, which will be released at the end of each day, spreading the seed paper and messages of the festival far beyond N1C.

There will also be “Dancing in the Square” on Granary Square (7th July from 11.00 am) where Sadler’s Wells will present a family-friendly day of dance inspired by the city. The event will include dance workshops and a site-specific performance exploring the space, history and architecture of Granary Square, the (8000 sq m) new public space in front of the award-winning, newly transformed Granary Complex that is home to Central Saint Martins.

‘The Crossing’ at Central Saint Martins will host a vibrant Imagination Playground – a breakthrough play space concept designed by New York based Rockwell Group. This brand new play area is intended to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play, offering a changing array of elements including options for children to constantly reconfigure their environment and to design their own course of play.

In addition in the same space, Vlad Tenu’s installation of Minimal Complexities will be on display. Organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute, the award-winning sculpture is a product of architectural research focused on the form-finding and fabrication of minimal surface structures.

Plus The Honey Club – a social enterprise co-founded by Wolff Olins and Global Generation, located on the Wolff Olins roof garden – will host a “Roof Top Make Day” (7th July from 1.00pm) with local architect Simon Jones, offering visitors the chance to help build a new public structure for the garden.

A limited-edition “Urban Actions Field Guide” and map designed by Ken Kirton, edited by David Knight and published by Hato Press will also be available to King’s Cross visitors during the weekend, documenting the history of subversive actions in this changing part of London, and packed with inspiration and ideas of how to create new urban actions.

Over in Hoxton, curating organiser RIBA London, together with the London Borough of Hackney and consulting engineers Ramboll, will be transforming Hoxton Square with a quirky installation titled ‘WEATHER – IT’S RAINING OR NOT:……’ by Harry Dobbs, including ‘The Weather Yesterday’ by Troika (7th and 8th July from 12.00 noon). Playfully themed around the British obsession with all things meteorological, ‘The Weather Yesterday’, will feature a collection of parasol-shaped structures around a central five metre tall visual creation displaying the previous day’s weather conditions using classic forecasting iconography.

‘WEATHER – IT’S RAINING OR NOT:……’ will also host a packed events programme over the weekend, with highlights including PICNOPOLIS LONDON, a series of Urban Picnic Contests hosted by RIBA London with Tokyo Picnic Club. The event will include a Cafe Exhibition over the weekend and a Picnic Talk (7th July from 3.30 pm).

Other Hoxton Square highlights will include “Make do and Draw: Architectural Puppet Show”, (7th and 8th July) which will see RIBA London partner with London-based contemporary architecture and design expert Beatrice Galilee to present ‘Emerging Architects in Hoxton Square’. The event will comprise an architectural puppet show that reinterprets the city in a soft, tactile theatre-set, and will respond to Hoxton Square and the activities taking place, from the installations to the picnics.

Another attraction organised in collaboration with Assemble and RIBA London is “Assemble: Make, Don’t Make Do”, a two-hour long demonstration of how to create chairs from interesting materials such as concrete (7th and 8th July from 2.00 pm).

Alex Schweder La will be offering free architectural advice for visitors to Hoxton Square, providing individual one-hour consultations on innovative ways in which living spaces can be renovated with little expense, limitless flexibility, and an attitude of experimentation.

An additional Hoxton Square based highlight will be “Architecture 00 – Bureau of Strategic Solutions” organised by 00:/, a London based strategy & design practice, with the intention of providing the public with strategic responses to problems in a one to one consultation lasting for 2 hours.

Finally, the Travelling Gin Company will be providing a unique bar experience in Hoxton Square, with G&Ts and other gin based cocktails served from delivery bicycles.

Away from the two weekend hubs, there are plenty of other Festival activities planned for this weekend. The British Council’s International Architecture and Design Showcase will see the opening of the “Somalia – Mogadishu – forgotten pasts and distant futures” exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library. The exhibition comprises an image and sound installation which charts the urban transformation of Mogadishu, from the late 19th century through to the first few decades of the 20th century.

The Palestine Sunbird Pavilion, another International Architecture and Design Showcase opening this weekend (at the Dreamspace Gallery) will focus on Palestinian cultural identity incorporating a mixture of live projects alongside more speculative and anticipatory features.

Finally, in historic Aldgate visitors will get the chance to view the completed ‘Paleys upon Pilars’ installation, Studio Weave’s intricate timber evocation of Chaucer’s house, constructed by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects as its contribution to the Olympic celebrations. Paleys upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room of the old gate and an invocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples as featured in his two dream poems, ‘The House of Fame’ and ‘The Parliament of Fowls’, written while resident in rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1386. The New Aldgate is supported by the City Property Advisory Team (CPAT) and eight other Worshipful livery Companies and is built from sustainable British Larch supplied by BSW Timber. It is sponsored by 4C Hotel Group.

Sarah Ichioka, Director, The Architecture Foundation and Festival Director commented “the final weekend of this year’s Festival promises to explore the “Playful City” theme in countless ways, ultimately encouraging visitors to think about and experience the city in new ways, using a variety of exciting approaches. The weekend will see a varied range of attractions, from the creation of brand new play spaces through to free architecture consultations. This variety amply shows the broad scope and sheer versatility of the London Festival of Architecture, and we hope that our many visitors have both enjoyed, and been inspired by, the show so far and make sure they don’t miss a second of what will be an exceptional final weekend”.

The London Festival of Architecture runs until 8th July 2012. Further information is available from www.lfa2012.org/

21 Jun 2012

LFA 2012 Events News

Key LFA 2012 Events

Information from Peter Murray:

The London Festival of Architecture 2012 kicks off on Saturday – here are some of my highlights with lots of interesting people including Dame Zaha Hadid, Jon Snow, Alexei Sayle, Nick Grimshaw, Liza Fior et al.

1. I’ve curated the Developing City exhibition which looks at the role architecture has played in maintaining the Square Miles’ preeminence as a mercantile centre through history. Three teams of architects look at the impact the current economic meltdown will have on the world’s financial capital and present their vision of the City in 2050. The exhibition is in Foster’s Walbrook building opposite Cannon Street station.

2. Pineapples! We have adopted the pineapple as our logo for LFA2012 because the fruit was a symbol of hospitality and welcome in the 16th and 17th century – which is why it appears on finials of so many buildings – St Paul’s Cathedral, Ham House, Lambeth Bridge etc – we have a very nice badge which you can wear to say ‘Welcome to London’ so you don’t have to use the hideous official Olympic logo. I shall also be leading a Brompton bike ride looking at buildings with pineapples.

3. We are getting closer to turning the Store Street Crescent outside the NLA/Building Centre into a permanent public space rather than a car park. Roz Barr has designed a brilliant installation for the Festival which will be launched on the evening Tuesday July 3 and will form part of the public consultation for the permanent change.

4. On the same evening the Building Centre opens the exhibition 60 building 60 years – a Jubilympics celebration of modern architecture in London and a list of must-see buildings for visitors to the capital. This includes quite a lot of images from The Architecture Club exhibition – 50 Years of London Architecture which has just got back from a showing in Belgrade.

5. RIBA Futures. On Tuesday June 26 with Lisa Fior of MUF and Daisy Froud of AOC I’ll be discussing ‘This house believes that there is a significant difference between an Olympic host city and a playful city’

6. With Jon Snow and Alexei Sayle I’ll be discussing Wheels of Chance at Grimshaw on 28 June a celebration of the bicycle and its capacity to transform the ways we negotiate and discover London

7. Studio Weave’s beautiful installation in Aldgate – sponsored by 4C Hotels (phew!) to celebrate the Olympics is currently on site and will be completed by the end of the Festival

8. Congratulations to Dame Zaha for her elevation in the honours list! Zaha is going to give an exclusive private view of her own new exhibition space and showroom in the Goswell Road as part of the Festival. Details to be announced

9. Finally, my novel Passion to Build, which looks at the sagas surrounding the design and construction of an Olympic-style event increases in relevance as we the Games draw nearer.

Hope to see you during the festival – the website www.lfa2012.org has hundreds of great events. BD said it ‘lacks focus’ – I think it reflects the amazing diversity and creativity of London.

One of my favourite Festival events is West London architects’ plans to put the A4 into a tunnel.

11 Jun 2012

London Festival of Architecture Event

Do Architects Help? The Profession in International Development

Article 25 – RIBA – London Festival of Architecture event
Date: Tuesday 19 Jun, 7pm
Venue: Jarvis Suite, RIBA 66 Portland Place

This prestigious Article 25 event taking place at the Royal Institute of British Architects as part of the London Festival of Architecture will examine the role that the UK built environment industry plays in overseas development.

Architects and other built environment professionals are well placed to use their specialist knowledge and skills to influence development policy and help communities better prepare for and recover from disasters. Despite this their expertise is largely lacking for mainstream international development practice.

Understanding why this is the case will require detailed examination of how built environment expertise has contributed to development overseas and work in cooperation with the international development community. This event aims to challenge to status quo and explore how we can begin to address this issue by asking:

– Why aren’t built environment professionals more often engaged in overseas development?
– How can built environment professionals help achieve development objectives?
– How do we assess the quality of this contribution?
– How can UK built environment professionals more effectively influence development policy?
– How can we raise the profile of the impact built environment professionals have in international development?
– How do we address the wider issue of long-term funding availability for international development projects?

Panel Debate

A panel debate of distinguished speakers will be chaired by Sunand Prasad (PPRIBA). Speakers include:

– David Sanderson, Director of CENDEP, Oxford Brookes
– Camillo Boano, Lecturer, Development Planning Unit, UCL
– John Norton, President, Development Workshop France
– Graham Saunders, Head of Shelter, International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

Entry free but booking is essential.

Please email Jessica-toale@article-25.org to reserve your place.

9 May 2012

2012 London Festival of Architecture Event

Chaucer’s home, Aldgate – London Festival of Architecture Installation, UK

picture from London Festival of Architecture

The New Aldgate : Chaucer’s home to be celebrated by Olympic “palace on pillars” installation marking historic Aldgate

To mark the location of the historic Aldgate – where Chaucer lived from 1374-1386 – an intricate timber ‘paleys upon pilars’ (palace on pillars) will be constructed by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects as its contribution to the Olympic celebrations.

The installation, which forms part of the London Festival of Architecture, secured temporary Planning Permission on Friday May 4th, and will remain in place during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Created by the young, award-winning architects Studio Weave, and managed by M3 Consulting, the construction will also mark the start of High Street 2012, the direct route from the City of London to the Olympic Park at Stratford.

The New Aldgate is supported by the City Property Advisory Team (CPAT) and eight other Worshipful livery Companies and will be built from sustainable British Larch supplied by BSW Timber and is sponsored by 4C Hotel Group.

Sir Michael Bear, former Lord Mayor of London and President of the London Festival of Architecture says “As a ward member for the area I am delighted that this elegant structure will provide a focus and identity for this area which is undergoing major regeneration.”

Peter Murray, founder director of the London Festival of Architecture and Court assistant to the Worshipful company of Chartered Architects says “This is a delightfully evocative design that brings a contemporary clarity to the eastern fringe of the Square Mile. The old Aldgate was designed to keep people out; Studio Weave’s design welcomes visitors from around the world who will be visiting London for the Olympics.”

The London Festival of Architecture (23rd June – 8th July), a three-weekend programme of activities, installations and attractions organised by Architecture Foundation, The British Council, New London Architecture and RIBA London.

Chaucer’s home on Pillars Aldgate – Studio Weave : Project Description

A gate stood at Aldgate from the Roman Period until 1761. From 1374 to 1386 Chaucer (1343-1400) lived in the rooms above the Aldgate

Our design is inspired by the two dream poems written by Chaucer while resident in the rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1386. ‘The House of Fame’ and ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ both include images of fantastic dream-like temples of impossible materials and scale, elevated on precarious, precious structures above vast, bizarre landscapes conceivable as analogies for the City.

Paleys upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room of the old gate and an invocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples. The structure consists of a kind of timber embroidery and will sit in the air above the busy Aldgate High Street, supported on pillars decorated with images from Chaucer’s illuminated manuscripts.

19 Mar 2012

London Festival of Architecture Bike Ride Event

VELONOTTE – London Festival of Architecture Event, UK
23 Jun
London Festival of Architecture Event

picture from VELONOTTE
London is about to welcome its first VELONOTTE, on 23rd June. On the night of 23rd of June 2012 London will host a great Midsummer night bike ride called VELONOTTE. London Festival of Architecture has invited Velonotte team to produce the event on the very first night of the Festival. VELONOTTE will transform the East End into an open-air museum while star architects and cultural historians like Peter Ackroyd, Richard Rogers, Ricky Burdett, Peter Murray and David Adjaye will be narrating the tour. www.velonotte.org

24 Feb 2012

London Festival of Architecture – The Developing City Exhibition

The Developing City Exhibition Launched by NLA

21 Jun – 9 Sep 2012

A major public exhibition highlighting the relationship between the architecture of the City of London and its success as one of the most important global trading centres was announced today.

A headline event of the London Festival of Architecture, this landmark public exhibition takes place at The Walbrook Building, designed by Foster and Partners, between 21 June and 9 September and is organised by NLA – London’s Centre for the Built Environment in association with the City of London Corporation.

pictures from NLA

The exhibition will look at how the physical fabric – the buildings, the streets and public spaces – have defined the City over the centuries and responded to changes in how we live and work. It will also look ahead to 2050, presenting a series of visions of the City of the future, examining how its built form may adapt in response to the systemic changes we currently face.

The Square Mile has been a centre of mercantile trade for 800 years. It has survived pestilence, fires, the Blitz and IRA bombings. Each shift in activity and associated regulation has had a significant impact on the buildings that house the City’s businesses and the streets and spaces that create its character. Yet despite the fact that large sections of the City have been regularly rebuilt, the area still retains its medieval street pattern that reflects its rich history.

As bankers face reform, so the City of London and Canary Wharf, which plays a key role in the financial market, will need to adapt their buildings to accommodate these structural changes as well as very different types of business.

The exhibition will look at the growth of the City since Roman times, the development of the medieval City, The Great Fire, Wren’s and Evelyn’s plans for rebuilding, the Victorian infrastructure boom, the Blitz, post-war reconstruction, Big Bang and the development of Canary Wharf.

It will examine the modern city, development planned for the next decade and the role of planning and property in accommodating the requirements of the markets, as well as an investigation of current and future occupier needs.

It will also look to the future, unveiling visionary images of the City of London in 2050 in response to a series of drivers of change, including governance, climate change, and banking regulation. Three teams of architects and property professionals including John Robertson Architects, Arup, Woods Bagot, Hilson Moran and Gensler will present their visions of the City in 40 years time.

Peter Murray, curator of The Developing City exhibition commented: “The City of London is a remarkable organism; it is the lynchpin of the UK economy, its governance dates back to the 13th century yet it is home to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen. It is a global financial capital yet operates within a medieval street pattern. It is the most resilient city on earth.”

The City Marketing Suite is the venue for the launch event where Peter Murray, and Peter Wynne Rees, The City Planning Officer for the City of London, will speak on issues affecting the City and details of the exhibition will be released.

Dates:
The exhibition runs from 21 June – 9 September 2012 and is a headline event of the London Festival of Architecture 2012.

Venue:
The Walbrook Building, London EC4 (Entrance opposite Cannon Street Station)
Admission details:
Free entry
Tuesday – Sunday 11am to 5.30pm Friday until 7pm
Closed Monday

21 Feb 2012

London Design Festival – 2012

Call for application, features space available in Tent London 2012

16 Mar 2012 – deadline

Tent London is the annual design trade show during the London Design Festival, and this year they are putting out a Call for Applications, and are targeting architects to submit applications for one of 4 feature spaces in the show.

These designs or concepts will be presented to Tent London’s 20,000 visitors. Installations must be engaging, 3-dimensional environments which clearly demonstrate the chosen concept; whether it be colour, material, light, human interaction, diversity etc.

Mafoombey by Martti Kalliala and Esa Ruskeepää, study of acoustic space in the medium of cardboard (to give a suggestion of what we are hoping to receive):

photo from Tent London

Once all applicants are received, 10 are shortlisted, and then these are presented to the Tent London newsletter subscribers and visitors to the website and they get to choose the final 4 that they would like to see in the show.

There is more information on the Tent website here: http://www.tentlondon.co.uk/news/design-feature-tent-london.

8 Feb 2012

London Festival of Architecture – 2012 Events

London Festival of Architecture 2012 Launches – hundreds of activities planned for city-wide summer programme

LONDON FESTIVAL OF ARCHITECTURE 2012

23 Jun – 8 Jul 2012

The UK’s largest celebration of buildings and the city, the London Festival of Architecture (LFA), will return from 23 June – 8 July 2012. The event, held since 2004, will reinforce London’s reputation as an international creative hub, as a varied programme of exciting events take place all over the capital.

As potential medal winners limber up for their Olympic and Paralympic moment, the theme of the London Festival of Architecture in 2012 will be the ‘Playful City’, proposing ways in which both Londoners and visitors can use the city and its buildings in a more creative, interactive and healthy way. From reinterpreting familiar places through new installations and animations and redesigning public spaces to encourage physical fitness, to testing new ways of planning future urban development, Festival participants will be encouraged to play in, and play with the city around them.

London Festival of Architecture – Urban Orchard project:

photo of London Festival of Architecture

Organised by four leading architectural and cultural institutions, The Architecture Foundation, the British Council, New London Architecture and RIBA London, and sponsored by Land Securities, the city-wide Festival will focus on three London areas over three weekends: City and Southwark (23-24 June), Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury (30 June-1 July), and King’s Cross and Hoxton (7-8 July). Throughout the Festival the Royal Docks in East London will also be transformed into ‘London’s Pleasure Gardens’, next to the Olympic venue at ExCel, with other events such as architects’ open studios and special exhibitions taking place across the city.

Peter Murray, Chairman of NLA and Festival Founding Director commented:
“All eyes will be on London in 2012 and there is no better time to celebrate the city’s rich historical and contemporary architectural culture. This year’s ‘Playful City’ theme will seek to encourage thousands of people to develop a better appreciation of architectural design through a series of interactive and entertaining events all over the capital. Whether you’re a Londoner who has lived in the city for 50 years, or a visitor coming to the capital for the first time, this year’s Festival promises an abundance of fun for all.”

Colette O’Shea, Development Director, Land Securities London commented:
“London is one of the world’s leading creative hubs and nowhere is this more in evidence than in the Capital’s architecture. London’s streets never stand still, and the city will evolve again this year as the Olympics transform the East End. The West End is undergoing its own revolution, at Victoria, as we deliver The West End’s buildings of the future. This dynamism has excited visitors to our City for centuries; we take great pride in contributing to London’s success and show casing our developments to the world during this year’s festival.”

The four organising institutions are each involved with delivering a series of landmark events during the Festival:

RIBA London is working with event producers Strong & Co to create 15 structures for the Royal Docks in East London. The 60,000sqm ‘London Pleasure Gardens’ site will function as a Festival space, with the structures including follies, performance pavilions, gardens, an Oyster Bar, café and covered marketplace. RIBA London is running a design competition for students and recent graduates in London, to deliver 50 benches as seating for visitors across the site. RIBA London will also be working with the London Borough of Hackney, to temporarily transform Hoxton Square into a field accommodating a series of playful and more intimate spaces that will be open to the public throughout the day and into the late evening.

The NLA is producing a landmark public exhibition which will examine how the City’s buildings, streets and public spaces have defined it over the centuries and responded to the changing patterns of business. The exhibition will include visionary images of the City of London as it might be, with teams of architects and developers putting forward proposals showing the Square Mile in 2050.They will also be extending its ongoing Walks programme, led by Blue Badge guides, over the period of the Festival to coincide with the three hub weekends. Finally, for a second time, NLA will also utilise the crescent outside the Building Centre on Store Street, staging a myriad of imaginative events throughout the Festival demonstrating an alternative use for the space to encourage local residents and business as well as tourists to use the space in an imaginative way.

The British Council is working with over 50 of London’s foreign embassies and cultural institutes to display innovative and thought-provoking architecture and design projects from their countries. The International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 will run from the 21st June to the 23rd September. A range of events including exhibitions, installations, lectures, debates and films will lead a global debate about architecture, design and issues that are vital to cities and communities around the world. Inspired by the international focus on London for 2012 and produced in partnership with the London Festival of Architecture and the London Design Festival, the International Architecture and Design Showcase will be represented within the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. The Silver Pigeon award for architecture will be presented to the best international showcase project during the London Festival of Architecture.

The Architecture Foundation will deliver LFA programming across two geographic hubs. For the first Festival weekend, the AF Project Space near London Bridge will see invited guests and the public take up residence at a commission designed by emerging Canadian-American practice Bureau Spectacular. The installation – a domestic playground blurring the lines between privacy and publicity, home and stage – will host a rolling programme of public events. This spring Bureau Spectacular’s director, Jimenez Lai, publishes his first book – both a retrospective and a collection of fanciful graphic enquiries into pressing issues facing architecture today; his LFA installation offers the first chance to see the work of this rising star in the UK. On the closing weekend of the Festival, the AF will focus its energy on the King’s Cross area, where visitors will be invited to explore a trail of ‘urban actions’—small, playful installations which seek to improve the city for its users–designed by leading local architects, businesses and cultural organisations, co-ordinated in partnership with architects Squire and Partners.

In addition to these core activities, The Festival’s directors are calling upon Londoners to organise their own activities in response to the Playful City theme, which can be registered on the newly launched website: www.lfa2012.org. This fully interactive website gives extensive information about individual events during the Festival. It also provides detailed information for architects and design organisations interested in staging additional events and activities about the sign up process. Featuring innovative functionality allowing professionals and the public alike to post pictures, information and links to buildings across London, in partnership with www.clippings.com, the site is the digital focal point for the Festival.

London Festival of Architecture image / information received 080212

Previously:

London Festival of Architecture 2010

CALL FOR ENTRIES : London Festival of Architecture 2010

19 Jun – 4 Jul 2010

The London Festival of Architecture invites London’s architectural community to get involved in a celebration of the city’s architecture. Ideas for events and happenings to take place next summer can now be submitted through the newly launched LFA website, www.lfa2010.org.

www.lfa2010.org has been designed for maximum interaction between visitors and organisers, to help support festival activities. By creating a personal and organisational profile, festival enthusiasts can register events, follow others’ events and receive the latest news from the Festival.

The theme for the 2010 Festival is The Welcoming City, which highlights how cities can become increasingly amenable, tolerant and engaging for residents and visitors alike. This theme anticipates the London 2012 Olympic Games slogan, “London welcomes the world”, by first turning the spotlight onto the streets and communities in the city. The energy and innovation from independent events staged by cultural institutions, artists, architects, and engineering practices is indivisible from the success of the Festival, and helps create the festival atmosphere.

Founding Director Peter Murray, said, “We are incredibly excited about this next London Festival of Architecture, particularly with our theme of ‘The Welcoming City’. London is unique, and we want to help celebrate this with as many events that involve the communities of London as possible. We look forward to preparing for the best ever London Festival of Architecture.”

The 2008 London Festival of Architecture drew crowds of over 250,000 people, to over 800 events staged across London’s boroughs in a four-week period. The Festival of Architecture now has a firm place in London’s creative calendar, and its legacy of engaging people in the built environment surrounding them is growing.

London Festival of Architecture 2010 News

The Festival in 2010 will be a city-wide celebration of architecture in the capital co-curated by The Architecture Foundation, New London Architecture and RIBA London. As London gears up for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games we look at ways that planners, architects and local communities play their part in the development of The Welcoming City.

Aerial view of Olympic Park: image from Olympic Delivery Authority

The Architecture Foundation is responsible for curating the High Street 2012 and Bankside Urban Forest hubs for the Festival as well as co-ordinating the International Architecture Student Festival in collaboration with London Metropolitan University and the International Architecture Showcase with the British Council.

Our brand new website for 2010 is now live and we would like to encourage as many people as possible to get involved by organizing independently run events. Please visit www.lfa2010.org for more information on the Festival in general and to join the LFA community by creating a profile, adding your organisation and proposing events.

Architecture on Film at the Barbican, London, info from the Architecture Foundation 180808

Location: The Barbican, London, England, UK