RIBA with Arper UK and Cosentino are delighted to invite all American Friends to a celebratory event for all 2018 RIBA National Award winners on Thursday 12 July at the Serpentine Galleries Pavilion, designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo who became the youngest architect to work on the Serpentine Pavilion.
The RIBA National Awards are given to buildings across the UK recognised as significant contributions to architecture and this year we have awarded 49 fantastic projects.
American Friends are welcome to join us for an exclusive visit to Sir Terry Farrell’s home on the afternoon of Thursday 21 June 2018.
Sir Terry Farrell invites us into his unique loft apartment within an Art Deco 1920’s former aircraft parts factory. The living space is organised around an atrium with a garden. The ceilings are high an a collection of replica fighter planes from both the First and Second World Wars is housed within the space.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
American Friends are welcome to join us for an exclusive visit to Crossrail’s Farrigdon Station on the afternoon of Tuesday 5 June 2018.
We will start our afternoon in the British Architectural Library at RIBA to view some of our collections thematically relating to the development of transport infrastructure in the UK with several of our curators.
We will then head on our exclusive visit to Farringdon Crossrail Station, expected to be one of the busiest in the UK when it opens to serve the Elizabeth line in December 2018, for a behind the scenes hard-hat tour to learn about the architectural and engineering challenges that the Crossrail team has faced.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
American Friends are welcome to join us for this half-day out in South London where we will explore two self-build schemes.
Walter’s Way and Segal Close, devised by the architect Walter Segal and built by residents nearly 30 years ago; and No. 49 by 31/44 Architects – a self-build project for the owner/architect showcasing a set of zen-like domestic interiors and courtyard spaces.
American Friends are welcome to join us for a visit to Neave Brown’s seminal Alexandra Road Estate and Alexandra Centre in South Kilburn on Wednesday 11 April 2018.
We will celebrate Neave Brown being awarded the 2018 Royal Gold Medal by visiting his visionary Grade II* listed 1970s Alexandra Road Estate. With its striking stepped concrete terraces and spacious flats, in Neave’s own words it’s “a piece of city”. We will visit the Alexandra Centre – a care home for young people with learning difficulties, renovated by RIBA chartered architects, Haverstock, and take a tour of the public park. We are then invited in by the owners of to two private apartments – one which retains all of the original features, and one newly refurbished and sensitively restored.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
We are very pleased to announce the dates and locations for the US lecture tour, The Country Houses of Sir Edwin Lutyens, which Charles Hind (RIBA Chief Curator and Architectural Historian) will be giving on our behalf for the Royal Oak Foundation this April.
Don’t forget to use our co-sponsor code 18SRIBA for discounted tickets.
The Country Houses of Sir Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Landseer Lutyens is considered one of the greatest British architects of the first half of the 20th century.
Before 1914, a large part of his work was the building or remodelling of private homes and British country houses whilst after the 1st World War, he is primarily known for memorials and public buildings.
But even his greatest work, the Viceroy’s House in New Delhi, from which the British ruled India, is really an English country house on a monumental scale—for which the architect designed virtually every piece of furniture and the interior details including the doorknobs and chandeliers.
Lutyens’ early work was characterized as adaptations (but not copies) of rural vernacular. His early style grew out of the Arts and Crafts movement and was strongly influenced by his upbringing in rural Surrey, southwest of London. Stylistically Lutyens later moved to a full blown classicism—what he called “a big game, a high game”—which was popular during the later Edwardian period and of which the most dramatic example is Heathcote, a suburban villa in Ilkley, Yorkshire (1905-7) where used variations on Renaissance architecture.
But whichever style he adopted, Lutyens was deeply committed to developing and distilling its essence while making it suitable to the needs of his patrons, who required all the conveniences of modern life. He also integrated his houses with carefully considered and harmonious gardens influenced by his partnership with Gertrude Jekyll, for whom he built Munstead Wood (1893-97) and who introduced him to most of his earliest patrons, many of whom remained lifelong friends and supporters.
Two of Lutyens’ houses, Castle Drogo and Lindisfarne Castle (now National Trust properties) can be described as typical. Castle Drogo (1910-30), designed for a department store magnate, is a recreation of a medieval castle enclosing modern interiors, while Lindisfarne (1903) is a remodelling of a coastal Tudor fort created for the owner of Country Life Magazine. But both are far more romantic than their supposed or real historical origins might suggest.
Charles Hind, Chief Curator and H.J. Heinz Curator of Drawings at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), will talk about Lutyens’ domestic architecture and show, using illustrations drawn from RIBA’s extensive archive and images from the National Trust, how his work continues to inspire architects and patrons today, on both sides of the Atlantic.
American Friends are welcome to join us for a visit to the Home Studio in Kilburn on Wednesday 14 March 2018.
An unassuming front door conceals an unexpected family home and workplace which overlap without interfering. Recently featured in World of Interiors Magazine, Home/Studio 320 Kilburn Lane is a RIBA London Award winning and Don’t Move Improve! Most Innovative Award winning project and home to architectural practice Studio McLeod. Our tour will be led by architect and owner, Duncan McLeod.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
American Friends are invited to join us for a visit to Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in London. The building is a true exemplar of sustainable development and features a unique natural ventilation system and an innovative energy-saving ceiling as well as a subterranean Roman Temple beneath the building. Art plays a central role in the project, with major site-specific commissions including work from Olafur Eliasson and Cristina Iglesias. On our visit led by Michael Jones, Senior Partner and Bloomberg Project Manager at Foster + Partners, we will explore how this innovative space energizes employees, clients and visitors while encouraging a new level of productivity and collaboration.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
American Friends are invited to join us for a visit to Sun Rain Room, a RIBA Award-winning project, which is a two-storey extension and restoration of a Grade-II Listed Georgian townhouse on Wednesday 17 January 2018. Designed and constructed by Tonkin Liu in collaboration with local craftspeople, it serves as both a studio for the practice and a home for the partners’ family. An innovative plywood roof forms a canopy over internal and external living and meeting spaces, which cradle a rainwater-filled reflecting pool. It is a place to enjoy changing weather, seasons and times of day. We will visit the Sun Rain Rooms in the evening for the best experience.
For more information or to RSVP please contact Arina Zharikova on +44 (0) 20 7307 3701 or Patrons@riba.org.
American Friends are invited to join us for a masterclass with the Chief Curator of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Charles Hind, followed by a drinks reception on Tuesday 10th October from 6.30 – 8pm at KPF’s offices.
Charles will be speaking about the historic links between architects in Britain and America since the 18th century and the impact on RIBA’s collections since the first gifts by US architects in 1838. The AIA, founded in 1857, was modelled on RIBA and became an important conduit for American materials travelling to London. Since the mid-20th century, the traffic has tended to be the other way, with British architects studying and recording American innovations in architecture and also teaching in leading US architecture schools. In recent years, the RIBA Collections have been much more proactive in obtaining American accessions – a welcome return to earlier practice.
Please RSVP to Emily.deVismes@riba.org for this event as security will need to check your name from a list.
