RIBA Regent Street Windows Project 2013

Six architecture studios present window installations created for stores along London’s Regent Street in this movie filmed by Dezeen.

RIBA president Angela Brady introduces this year’s Regent Street Windows Project, which pairs local architecture practices with six retailers to create displays along one of the most iconic shopping streets in Britain.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Topshop window installation by Neon

Starting at the north end of the street, George King and Mark Nixon from Neon present a rotating wheel of manequins that allows different outfits to be presented in the window of fashion brand Topshop at different times of the day.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Karen Millen window installation by Mamou-Mani

Next up, Arthur Mamou-Mani‘s installation made from sportswear fabric and cable ties flows along the 30-metre-long display of the Karen Millen store facade.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Ferrari Store window installation by Gensler

Drawing on the emotional experience of driving a Ferrari, John Tollitt and his team at Gensler crafted a heart and a brain for the windows of the car brand’s London flagship, then brought them to life using digital animations to represent the heartbeat and firing neurons.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Esprit installation by naganJohnson

Across the street, naganJohnson transformed the atrium of Esprit into a beach scene complete with a wave of chestnut paling fencing.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Jack Spade window installation by Carl Turner Architects

Carl Turner Architects referenced American artist Gordon Matta Clark’s images of cut-out buildings to create fantasy New York streetscapes on the facade, in the windows and on blackboard illustrations at Jack Spade‘s Brewer Street store, just off Regent Street.

RIBA Regent Street Windows 2013
Moss Bros window installation by AY Architects

Finally, AY Architects used interlocking panels to form freestanding screens at Moss Bros, creating a three-dimensional herringbone effect.

The installations for the Regent Street Windows Project are on display until 6 May. Photographs are by Agnese Sanvito.

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RIBA calls for space and light standards in UK new build housing

Jubilee Line Tube carriage, photo by Andy Wilkes

News: campaigners are calling on the UK government to protect and expand minimum housing standards for space and natural light after an RIBA report revealed the average one-bed new build is only the size of a London Underground carriage.

An upcoming ministerial review could result in the government reducing or even abolishing the UK’s limited housing standards, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today warned as it ramped up its Homewise campaign for better quality homes.

Kevin McCloud, presenter of Channel 4 show Grand Designs, filmed a short video on a Tube train to emphasise the cramped conditions of modern new builds and encourage the public to lobby their MPs.

An RIBA report, The Case for Space, recently revealed that the average one-bedroom new build home in the UK is 46 square metres – the same size as a Jubilee Line train carriage on the London Underground (above) – making them the smallest in western Europe.

Currently, London is the only place in the UK to have introduced legal minimum space standards for both public and private housing. Outside of the capital, minimum space standards only apply to publicly funded social housing.

“The country is in the grip of the worst housing crisis in decades,” said RIBA president Angela Brady. “In their rush to build the government must avoid the temptation to reduce current standards and give the go-ahead for builders to produce another generation of poor quality homes, without adequate space and natural light.”

Campbell Robb, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, said: “Britain is one of the only countries in western Europe without space standards for house building, so it’s no wonder our new homes are the some of the smallest in the continent.”

British architect Terry Farrell was recently chosen to lead an independent review of the UK’s architecture policy, while earlier this year fellow architect Richard Rogers called on architects, planners and developers to redevelop brownfield sites and empty offices to help solve the UK’s housing crisis.

Photograph is by Andy Wilkes.

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David Adjaye to design Charles Correa exhibition at RIBA

News: the work of Indian architect Charles Correa will be showcased in a forthcoming exhibition designed by David Adjaye at the RIBA’s headquarters in London.

David Adjaye to curate Charles Correa exhibition

Above: British Council, Delhi, India, with Howard Hodgkin mural
Top: Jawahar Kala Kendra arts centre, Jaipur, India

Curated by Dr Irena Murray, the exhibition will celebrate the gift of Correa’s archive of over 6000 drawings to the RIBA Library and showcase his influence on Indian architecture in the latter half of the twentieth century.

David Adjaye to curate Charles Correa exhibition

Above: Kanchanjunga apartments, Bombay, India

“[Correa’s] work is the physical manifestation of the idea of Indian nationhood, modernity and progress,” said Adjaye, whose own work includes an art gallery in east London and an under-construction museum of African-American history in Washington DC.

“He is someone who has that rare capacity to give physical form to something as intangible as culture or society.”

David Adjaye to curate Charles Correa exhibition

Above: Champalimaud Centre for the Study of the Uknown, Lisbon, Portugal (photograph by Rosa Reis)

As well as drawings and photographs of Correa’s best-known work, such as the British Council building in Delhi and the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Portugal, the exhibition will feature his designs for housing and cities, including his masterplan for the township of Navi Mumbai.

David Adjaye to curate Charles Correa exhibition

Above: Belapur housing, New Bombay, India

Born in 1930 and still working today, Correa received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1984, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1988 and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in 1994.

Charles Correa: India’s Greatest Architect opens on 14 May and runs until 4 September at the RIBA building, 66 Portland Place, London. Admission will be free.

Adjaye was recently commissioned to design a fashion hub in an area of east London badly affected by rioting in 2011, while earlier this month he was the headline speaker at the Design Indaba conference in Cape Town – see all architecture by David Adjaye.

Here’s more information from RIBA:


Charles Correa: India’s Greatest Architect

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) presents the first major UK exhibition showcasing the work of renowned Indian architect Charles Correa (born in 1930). Rooted both in modernism and the rich traditions of people, place and climate, Correa has played a pivotal role in the creation of an architecture and urbanism for post-war India. He has designed some of the most outstanding buildings in India and has received many of the world’s most important architecture awards including the RIBA Royal Gold Medal (1984), Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1988) and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (1994), and is still working today.

The exhibition celebrates Correa’s gift of his archive of over 6000 drawings to the RIBA Library. This has offered a unique opportunity to access and display the drawings, plans, photographs, models and films behind his projects. International buildings showcased in the exhibition include the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Museum, India; the MIT Brain and Cognitive Science Centre, USA; the InterUniversity Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, India and the Champalimaud Centre for the Study of the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. The exhibition also features Correa’s designs for housing and cities, looking closely at climate change, affordable housing and his projects to improve cityscapes, including his urban masterplan for Navi Mumbai (New Bombay).

David Adjaye, architect and designer of the exhibition says: “Charles Correa is a highly significant architect, globally and for India. His work is the physical manifestation of the idea of Indian nationhood, modernity and progress. His vision sits at the nexus defining the contemporary Indian sensibility and it articulates a new Indian identity with a language that has a global resonance. He is someone who has that rare capacity to give physical form to something as intangible as ‘culture’ or ‘society’ – and his work is therefore critical: aesthetically; sociologically; and culturally. This exhibition has presented us with an exciting opportunity to engage absolutely with his work and to think how the exhibition design can communicate the key messages. It has been an enriching experience that will feed into my own practice on many levels.”

Curator Dr Irena Murray says: “Correa is brilliantly inventive in his deployment of certain timeless themes in Indian culture and philosophy – journey, passage, void and the representation of the cosmos. He uses them as a means to creating ambitious new spaces and structures. His deep understanding of the implications of climate, demographics, transport and community life has a universal quality and has helped structure the thematic arrangement of the exhibition.”

Highlights from the Out of India season of talks and events include a public lecture by Charles Correa on 15 May, an in conversation event on art, architecture and metaphor with David Adjaye, Stephen Cox and Dr Irena Murray on 11 June and a special ‘Last Tuesday’ on Mumbai on 25 June.

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Report unpaid architecture internships, says RIBA

RIBA president Angela Brady

News: the Royal Institute of British Architects has called on students to report companies offering unpaid architecture internships and said it “deplores any architects treating students this way”.

RIBA president Angela Brady (above) reminded architects operating under the institute’s charter that they are required to pay student interns and said all architecture companies should follow suit.

“The rest of the profession should feel honour bound to follow this example and pay architectural students for their hard work,” she said. “While it is legal for employers not to pay students for up to 3 months, it is certainly not good practice and risks devaluing our profession.”

RIBA chartered practices are required to pay interns who are working to complete their Professional Education and Development Record (PEDR). UK architecture students must log a minimum of 24 months’ work under the direct supervision of a qualified architect before they can themselves qualify as an architect.

Brady said:  “I urge any student working unpaid towards their PEDR, within an RIBA Chartered Practice, to contact the RIBA with their concerns.”

On Twitter, Brady also called for the word “intern” to be dropped. She tweeted: “Work is work and pay is pay: Lets drop this word “INTERN” it was never part of architecture. It implies exploitation to me? What you think?” The term “intern” has no legal status in the UK.

RIBA said it had received reports of architects breaking the rule. “It is disappointing and worrying to hear of reports of architectural students taking unpaid internships in architecture,” said the institute in a statement.  “The RIBA deplores any architects treating students this way”.

Dezeen has recently come under fire for offering unpaid editorial internships. Yesterday we announced that we are ending unpaid internships and introducing a new, paid programme.

Here is the statement from the RIBA:


It is disappointing and worrying to hear of reports of architectural students taking unpaid internships in architecture.  The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) deplores any architects treating students this way; it is a requirement for all RIBA Chartered Practices to pay interns who are working towards their Professional Education and Development Record (PEDR).

Before any architectural practice is accepted as an RIBA Chartered Practice it is required to sign a declaration stating that they will ensure that at least statutory minimum wage is paid to all architectural students employed within the practice, where the work undertaken is eligible to count towards the students PEDR. Over time, and as the economy improves the RIBA wishes to see the statutory amount paid to students rise above the national minimum wage. All RIBA Chartered Practices are required to sign this declaration each year they remain part of the scheme.

To verify this policy, the RIBA undertakes a random annual audit of 5% of its 3,200 UK Chartered Practices. In addition to the declaration and audit, if the RIBA has reason to suspect a Chartered Practice is not fulfilling the criteria they have signed up to, then it is committed to fully investigate any claims of a breach. Chartered Practice suspension is automatically evoked, pending further investigation, once a complaint is received.

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“Architecture is not about form” – Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor

News: Swiss architect Peter Zumthor rejected architecture as form-making in his Royal Gold Medal lecture at the RIBA in London yesterday, explaining that he believes that light, materials and atmosphere are the most important aspects of architecture.

“Architecture is not about form, it is about many other things,” he said. “The light and the use, and the structure, and the shadow, the smell and so on. I think form is the easiest to control, it can be done at the end.”

Zumthor, who is best known for designing material-led projects such as the Therme Vals thermal baths in Switzerland and the Kunsthaus Bregenz gallery in Austria, told an audience that his ultimate goal is to “create emotional space”. He insisted that the “condensation of emotion” can be created in any building, from a humble railway station in Berlin to a house in countryside. “For me, they should all have atmosphere,” he said.

Thermal Bath Vals

Above: Thermal Bath Vals, photographed by Hélène Binet

This notion of a “presence in architecture” provided the subject of the lecture, as Zumthor described his quest to find an architecture that is free from symbolism and all about experience.

Reflecting on a childhood recollection of running through a village in springtime, he said: “This is my first memory of something which I think was pure presence, with no meaning and no history.” He then discussed how these ideas influenced the design of projects such as the Steilneset Memorial, a tribute to suspected witches who were burned at the stake. “Meaning of course can never be avoided,” he said, “but I like to work as long as possible on use and structure and materials, to avoid premature meaning.”

Steilneset Memorial

Above: Steilneset Memorial, photographed by Andrew Meredith

The architect recalled how he once asked students to design a house without form, while his latest project is a holiday retreat with rammed concrete walls, intended as a haven of calm and reflection. “It’s about creating emotional space,” he added. “If I can do that, if I can create a space which is just right for its purpose and for its place, I think that is the greatest achievement. That’s my goal.”

In a question and answer section, Zumthor described himself as more of an isolated artist than an architect; someone who is not inspired by other architecture but instead tries to do everything without precedent. “I start from scratch, I guess I work more like an artist,” he explained. “I’m not a typological architect, I’m more of an architect of place. I always start completely anew.”

But with this emotional and personal approach to architecture, how does he find the right team of architects and trainees to work with him? “When you work in my office, this is a big family – you are helping me.” he said. “So this is not about your buildings, it is about my buildings!”

Kunsthaus Bregenz

Above: Kunsthaus Bregenz, photographed by Hélène Binet

The Royal Gold Medal, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects, is presented annually to an architect in recognition of a lifetime’s work. Previous recipients include Herman Hertzberger, David Chipperfield and I. M. Pei.

See more of Peter Zumthor’s architecture, including his 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London. You can also hear more from the architect in an interview we filmed at the pavilion’s opening.

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RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012 winners announced

RIBA Presidents Medal's Students Awards 2012

News: a concept for rooftop housing built from foam blocks and steel cables (above) is one of the winners of the RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards, announced last night.

RIBA Presidents Medal's Students Awards 2012

Above and top: Sunbloc by students from London Metropolitan University

A team of students from London Metropolitan University receive the RIBA Silver Medal for their graduate project, Sunbloc, which imagines residences that generate their own electricity for infill sites and unused rooftops around London.

RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012 winners announced

Above: Sunbloc by students from London Metropolitan University

Vidhya Pushpanathan, an undergraduate student at the Architectural Association, wins the Bronze Medal with her designs for a system of scaffolding around the buildings of Moscow.

RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012

Above: The Depository of Forgotten Monuments by Vidhya Pushpanathan

Spanning between the nineteenth century Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and the Garage Centre of Contemporary Culture, The Depository of Forgotten Monuments is conceived as a framework for the city’s fragmented architecture.

RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012

Above: The Depository of Forgotten Monuments by Vidhya Pushpanathan

The dissertation medal is awarded to the Bartlett School of Architecture student Matthew Leung, who presented his studies into the development of Chinatown in the Japanese city of Yokohama.

RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012

Above: Oriental Orientalism in Japan – the case of Yokohama Chinatown by Matthew Leung

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards are awarded annually to two stand-out design projects and one dissertation from the undergraduate and post-graduate courses of over 300 schools of architecture.

RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2012

Above: Oriental Orientalism in Japan – the case of Yokohama Chinatown by Matthew Leung

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London last night and medals were presented to each of the winners.

“2012 has been a record-breaking year for the RIBA President’s Medals with the highest number of entries ever in the 176 year history of the awards,” said RIBA president Angela Brady. “It is an honour to present these awards to the future trailblazers of the architecture profession.”

See some of the winners from previous years.

Here’s a press release from the RIBA with the full list of awards presented:


Winners of the 2012 RIBA President’s Medals announced at London ceremony

The winners of the 2012 President’s Medals have been announced at a special ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in central London. The prestigious RIBA Presidents Medals, which date back to 1836, reward talent and excellence in the study of architecture.

‘Sunbloc’, a collaborative project by a team of students from London Metropolitan University, received the RIBA Silver Medal (awarded for best post-graduate design work).

Sunbloc is a lightweight and heavily-insulated prototype house constructed using a pioneering system of foam blocks and steel cables. The inexpensive structure is designed to produce more electricity than it consumes over an annual cycle. The judges rewarded the detailed study and solid body of research involved in the project and were highly impressed with the team’s entrepreneurial spirit and ability to complete a real building. The students were tutored by Eva Diu, Nathaniel Kolbe, Jonas Lundberg, Toby Burgess and Iain Maxwell.

Vidhya Pushpanathan from the Architectural Association was awarded the Bronze Medal (for best undergraduate design project) for her project ‘The Depository of Forgotten Monuments’.

‘The Depository of Forgotten Monuments’ addresses Moscow’s paradox of deconstruction and reconstruction. The project suggests a flexible architectural framework. As both a curatorial strategy and an urban prototype, it suggests an opportunity for a hybrid between the city’s cultural and commercial art sites and an allowance for the co-existence of past and future. The project was deemed by the judges to reveal a fresh and sophisticated quality of thinking. Vidhya Pushpanathan was tutored by Maria Fedorchenko and Tatiana von Preussen.

Matthew Leung from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, was awarded the Dissertation Medal for his work ‘Oriental Orientalism in Japan – the case of Yokohama Chinatown’.

The judges considered this a highly accomplished dissertation on the development of a pocket of Chinese style within a major Japanese city. Drawing from an impressive breadth of sources, Matthew Leung meticulously composes a picture that brings a careful reading of history to bear upon the complex contemporary reality. Critically astute, beautifully written and illustrated, this piece never loses sight of the architectural dimension of its topic, offering a thoroughly convincing and sophisticated discussion of an unexpected and topical subject. The dissertation was supervised by Professor Murray Fraser.

A number of other important student awards were also presented at the ceremony:

Bronze Medal Commendation
Paddi Alice Benson from the University of Cambridge for ‘Remember Berlin – kunsthochschule archipelago’

Bronze Medal Commendation
Richard Breen from the University of Newcastle for ‘Afterimage – Projected Morphology: a cyclotel created from perspectives’

Dissertation Medal High Commendation
Kirti Durelle from the University of Sheffield for ‘Poetic Creation: the magical metaphor of architectural design – an investigation into the relationship of exoteric and esoteric dimensions in the practice of architecture and alchemy’

Dissertation Medal Commendation
Stephen Marshall from the Architectural Association for ‘Here isn’t now – Ballard, Silvertown and the forces of time’

Dissertation Medal Commendation
Tom Sykes from Cardiff University for ‘The Site as Muse: Georges Perec and Walking into Topophilia’

SOM Travelling Fellowships
Part 1: Paddi Alice Benson from the University of Cambridge
Part 2: Rebecca Roberts from London Metropolitan University

Serjeant Awards for Excellence in Drawing
Part 1
Vidhya Pushpanathan from the Architectural Association for ‘The Depository of Forgotten Monuments’
Part 2
Martin Tang from Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, for ‘Manual for Eternal Autumnal Micro-climates: re-imagining Kyoto as the city of a thousand autumns’

RIBA Donaldson Medal
Brook Lin was awarded the RIBA Donaldson Medal. The winner of this medal is selected by the Bartlett School of Architecture to the student who graduates top of the class at Part I.

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Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams wins 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize

Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams

News: the Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams has been awarded the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize for the most significant contribution to British architecture this year.

Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams

A combination of limestone columns and concrete bands surrounds the exterior of the building, which provides scientific research facilities in the botanic gardens of Cambridge University.

Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams

Glass-fronted laboratories allow scientists to look out onto a courtyard at the centre of the building, beyond a double-height corridor filled with informal meeting areas.

Sainsbury Laboratory by Stanton Williams

Read more about the project in our earlier story.

The building was one of six shortlisted entries, including projects by OMA and David Chipperfield  – read more about each one here.

Previous winners include Zaha Hadid for the Evelyn Grace Academy (2011) and the MAXXI Museum (2010), and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for the Maggie’s Centre in London (2009) – see all our stories about previous winners here.

See more stories about Stanton Williams »

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

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Slideshow feature: Stirling Prize nominees

Slideshow feature: the winner of this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize will be revealed tomorrow at a ceremony in Manchester, but in the meantime here’s a reminder of the six buildings nominated, which include the London Olympic Stadium, a botanical laboratory and two projects by OMA.

The six competing to be named best building designed or constructed in Britain in the last year are:

» The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire by David Chipperfield Architects;
» London Olympic Stadium by Populous;
» The Lyric Theatre, Belfast by O’Donnell + Tuomey;
» Maggie’s Centre, Gartnavel, Glasgow by OMA;
» New Court, London by OMA with Allies and Morrison;
» Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge by Stanton Williams.

A £20,000 prize will be awarded to the winner, which we’ll announce here on Dezeen as it happens.

Previous winners include Zaha Hadid for the Evelyn Grace Academy (2011) and the MAXXI Museum (2010) and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for the Maggie’s Centre they designed in London (2009) – see all our stories about previous winners here.

See all our stories about the Stirling Prize »

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Peter Zumthor to receive the Royal Gold Medal for architecture

Peter Zumthor

News: Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has today been named as the recipient of this year’s Royal Gold Medal for architecture.

Awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the medal is presented annually to an architect in recognition of a lifetime’s work and previous recipients include Herman HertzbergerDavid Chipperfield and I. M. Pei.

Zumthor, who was also awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2009, is best known for designing the Therme Vals thermal baths in Switzerland and the Kunsthaus Bregenz gallery in Switzerland Austria, where he is currently showing an exhibition of his models.

His first project in the UK was the 2011 summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery in London and he is currently working on a hill-top retreat in Devon as part of Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture series.

Zumthor will receive the award from the Queen in a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London on 6 February 2013.

Hear more from Peter Zumthor in an interview we filmed with him at the opening of the Serpentine Pavilion, or click here to see a selection of his most famous projects.

See all our stories about Peter Zumthor »

Here’s the announcement from the RIBA:


Peter Zumthor to receive the Royal Gold Medal for architecture

The world renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has been named today (Thursday 27 September 2012) as the recipient of one of the world’s most prestigious architecture prizes, the Royal Gold Medal.

Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence “either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture”.

Known for running a small yet powerful and uncompromising practice, Peter Zumthor founded his award-winning firm in 1979 in Switzerland. His most celebrated projects include the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, the Therme Vals (thermal baths) in Vals, Switzerland and the Kolumba Art Museum in Cologne. He designed London’s 2011 Serpentine Pavilion and is currently designing a house in Devon for philosopher Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture architect-designed holiday home scheme.

He is exceptionally talented at creating highly atmospheric spaces through his mastery of light and choice of materials. Zumthor’s buildings, such as his small rural chapels and the Thermal Baths at Vals, are an experience for all the senses, with every detail reinforcing the essence of the building and its surroundings.

RIBA President Angela Brady, who chaired the Honours Committee which selected the Royal Gold medal winner said,

“Peter Zumthor’s work renews the link with a tradition of modern architecture that emphasises place, community and material practice. His writings dwell upon the experience of designing, building and inhabitation while his buildings are engaged in a rich dialogue with architectural history. I will be delighted to present him with the Royal Gold Medal.”

Peter Zumthor will be presented with the Royal Gold Medal on Wednesday 6 February 2013 at a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, during which the 2013 RIBA International and Honorary Fellowships will also be presented.

This year’s RIBA Honours Committee was chaired by RIBA President Angela Brady with architects Peter Clegg, Yvonne Farrell, Professor Adrian Forty, Niall McLaughlin and Sarah Wigglesworth.

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RIBA joins protest against Olympic marketing rules

RIBA join protest against Olympic marketing rules

Dezeen Wire: the Royal Institute of British Architects has joined the campaign to promote the architects and engineers who designed buildings for the London 2012 Olympic games but have been unable to promote their work because of a marketing agreement with the event organisers.

RIBA president Angela Brady, President of the Institute of Structural Engineers John Nolan and New London Architecture chair Peter Murray have today hung a banner down the facade of the RIBA headquarters in London listing all of those involved under the slogan “The Architects and Engineers who designed and built London 2012″.

The protest follows our story about how Murray wore a T-shirt listing the names to a Creative Industries Summit at Lancaster House earlier this week and attendees at today’s event can be seen wearing the same shirt.

Download a pdf of the design here so you can print your own.

See all our stories about the London 2012 Olympics »

Photography is by Jack Shaw.

Here’s a press release from the RIBA:


Team ‘Design GB’ stage ‘name drop’ event to promote the firms who built the Olympics

Today the RIBA staged a protest with the architects and engineers who built the Olympic buildings. Strict contractual rules have meant that they are not able to do any pro-active work to promote their role in London 2012. In an effort to encourage LOCOG to do more to promote, and to allow the architects and engineers to promote, their great work on the inspiring Olympic buildings, they did a literal “name drop” by unfurling a banner from RIBA’s central London HQ listing the names of all the design and engineering companies involved in the Olympics.

The banner was dropped by RIBA President, Angela Brady, President of the Institute of Structural Engineers, John Nolan and Peter Murray, Director of New London Architecture. Olympic architects and engineers surrounded the banner wearing T-shirts listing all the firms involved in designing the Games.

RIBA President Angela Brady, said today:

“Architects and engineers have delivered incredible buildings which are hosting the London 2012 Games right now. We are calling on LOCOG to be proud of our architectural and engineering achievements for the London 2012 Olympics and do everything they can to promote the buildings and all the designers involved. Time is of the essence and we want them to start doing it now, and very importantly, to let architects get out there and talk about their work now. Let’s shout about the great design and engineering talent that the UK has to offer and not miss this valuable opportunity to do so.”

President of the Institute of Structural Engineers said today:

“The London Olympics is an exemplar for building design throughout the world. It seems nonsensical in a time when so much of our industry is struggling that the opportunity to market ‘construction/design GB’ is being thrown away by short-sighted government policy.”

Peter Murray, Director of New London Architecture, said today:

“When the government called for businesses involved in the Olympics to promote themselves overseas to support the British economy it seems crazy that architects, consultants and other suppliers to the Olympics are gagged in this draconian way”.

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