Blog

Professor John Dyson, co-author of Design to Value, shares his thoughts on… -07 November 2022

Are projects complicated or complex and does it matter?

Designing a building is a technical affair however the function and the context of a building is social, environmental, political; therefore complex. The building details may be complicated but there is an empiricism to them, with the right expertise, modelling and calculations you can come to sound solution.

What is complexity? Complex system theory has been studied in depth since the mid 20^th Century. Complex systems are all around u...

21ST CENTURY HOUSES – DEFINING A DREAM -20 September 2022 What defines a dream house? Many people dream of commissioning an architect to design their perfect home. It is a commitment that takes time and money, but having a bespoke space built around your specific needs, interests and desires can be life-changing.

Why sexism, racism and environmental catastrophe are interdependent -01 June 2022 Introducing 'Working at the Intersection: Architecture After the Anthropocene', a fascinating, progressive collection of articles and case studies that explore the intersectionality of environmental justice and social justice, setting the table for inclusive architectural engagement.

How to give your practice a Spring clean -12 April 2022 Clare Nash, author of Design Your Life: An architect's guide to achieving a work/life balance, shares her top tips for giving your practice a refresh and introducing positive behaviours that will have a measurable impact on your life and business.

President’s Picks: Simon Allford’s favourite architecture books -27 January 2022

RIBA President Simon Allford shares his love of browsing bookshops and his recommended reading list

Have you ever had the pleasure of visiting the RIBA bookshop in person?

As happy as I am to browse websites for my online purchases, with books, as with clothes, one needs to touch, smell and ‘wear’ a book. Too many books are, of course, too heavy to be worn by anything but a coffee table! For this reason, I still harbour a fondness for pocket books that I can dip into – and bookshops that ...

Studying architecture - let's get started! -06 September 2021

Dr Robert Schmidt III is a Reader in Architectural Design and the Head of Architecture at Loughborough University. In his guest blog, he introduces us to the RIBA Part 1 course, and showcases a suggested architecture reading list for students.

As you are about to embark on a lifelong journey of exploration, creativity and critical thought into the spaces that we craft around us, this is a tremendously exciting time in your life.
Architectural education will challenge and push you to think creat...

I do like to be beside the seaside! -31 August 2021

Will Wiles takes us on a local, UK holiday, with this selection of books on British seasides and their architecture.

The pleasure pier is such an established part of the scenery of the British seaside that we forget their fantastical nature. They are “the most precarious and transitory of built structures”, writes Fred Gray in The Architecture of British Seaside Piers. It is, in some ways, “ludicrous” to build over the hostile margin of land and sea. A pier straddles three different types of...

Review of "Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency" by Barnabas Calder – an energetic global history of architecture -26 July 2021 When the great pyramid of Khufu was built, it was faced with pale, smooth limestone, covering up the massive, rough stones that can still be visited today. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, writing 2,000 years after the pyramid was built and 2,500 years before our own age, the limestone bore inscriptions recording some of the stupendous effort that went into the project. Forty tonnes of silver was used to buy ‘prodigious quantities’ of radishes, onions and leeks to augment the diet of the workforce. This was the immense tomb’s energy component: Egyptian sunlight, captured as chemical energy in root vegetables, being used to fuel thousands of sweating labourers.

How to get your head round being an architect -01 December 2020 Think Like An Architect: How to develop critical, creative and collaborative problem-solving skills

Lives in Architecture: Terry Farrell -01 December 2020

Lives in Architecture: Terry Farrell is a compelling personal account of Terry Farrell’s life in architecture, as an influential Postmodern designer, architect-planner and principal of a leading global practice.

Farrell reflects on his most important and most enjoyable projects, satisfaction, obstacles and his greatest treasure in a new series capturing lessons from some of the profession’s best known and experienced practitioners.

Pamela Buxton interviews Terry Farrel for RIBAJ.

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