Past Events

CURATOR LED VISIT OF ZOE ZENGHELIS EXHIBITION

Series : Members' Event
Date : June 26 2021
Time : 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location : AA Gallery

Hamed Khosravi, curator of the first retrospective exhibition of the works of Zoe Zenghelis: ‘Do you remember how perfect everything was?’ will lead a tour for AA Members. Booking is essential and numbers are strictly restricted in line with Covid restrictions.

‘Do you remember how perfect everything was?’ presents and reviews Zenghelis’ early paintings from the 1960s, her years at OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), through to recent works made in 2020. Stretched between abstract metropolitan tectonics and landscape structures, the exhibition represents an enquiry into absent architectural projects.
Hamed Khosravi is an architect, researcher, and educator. He is a Studio Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, running Diploma Unit 7 and the Projective Cities MPhil programme.

Please note: Refreshments will be available

Only open to AA Members. Become a memberBook your place using the form below

 

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Guided Tour of The School of Athens Exhibition

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : October 10 2020
Time : 7:30 pm
Location : Benaki Museum

Join Ryan Neiheiser and Xristina Argyros, founders of Neiheiser Argyros, curators of The School of Athens exhibition and tutors of AA unit City/Hall: Community and Collective Form (Experimental 15), for a guided tour of their exhibition at the Benaki Museum in Athens followed by a drinks reception.

Inspired by Rafael’s fresco “The School of Athens” – a utopian vision of a free, open, informal, and common space for learning – the project recognises that common spaces within the university – unprogrammed spaces for impromptu conversation, casual gossip, heated debate, pop-up lectures, networking, and informal teaching – are vital to the institution’s continued relevance and vibrancy.

The School of Athens exhibition was first shown at the Greek Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018. The new show at the Benaki Museum has been expanded and redesigned for the new context and represents the evolution of an ongoing research project into the architecture of the academic commons.

The project was produced as part of an international student collaboration between the Architectural Association in London and the National Technical University of Athens. Academic institutions included in the exhibition range from Plato’s Academy of Athens, the Carpenter Center by Le Corbusier, the ‘Infinite Corridor’ at MIT in Cambridge, the Athens Conservatory, and the voids of SANAA’s Rolex Learning Centre, among others.

Attendees must register to attend using the form below, and will be required to buy a ticket to the exhibition on entering the museum as well. The tour will start at 7.30pm EEST so please arrive early to buy your tickets beforehand.

Spaces are limited. Please register for the event using the form below.

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Exhibition Tour: SOM’s Anatomy of Structure – The Future of Art and Architecture

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : March 13 2020
Time : 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location : Ambika P3, University of Westminster
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join this private tour of SOM’s Anatomy of Structure – The Future of Art and Architecture exhibition at the University of Westminster.

The exhibition by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in collaboration with Princeton University, TU Delft, and Global Robots, explores robotics and the future of art and architecture around five themes: Research + Future, Efficiency + Economy, Hierarchy + Order, Scale + Form, and Creation + Collaboration.

The tour is for AA Members, alumni and students and will last for 2 hours with a short talk at the end led by Bill Baker, structural engineering partner at SOM, and Mark Sarkisian, structural and seismic engineering partner in SOM’s San Francisco office.

Ambika P3, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Booking is essential. This event is open to AA Members and Alumni (including AA Students and Staff). Become a member.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be automatically refunded to students once their attendance at the event is confirmed

Book your place using the form below (please note SED students do not need to book).

 

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Building Visit: Coal Drops Yard

Series : Building Visit
Date : March 2 2020
Time : 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Location : Coal Drops Yard, Coal Office Restaurant
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for a tour of Coal Drops Yard with Tasmin Green from Heatherwick Studio.

Opened to the public in October 2018, Coal Drops Yard is a new retail quarter and public space designed by Heatherwick Studio. The project includes the restoration and transformation of two Victorian industrial buildings, and the addition of a curving roof that provides a new upper storey and connection between the buildings.

Tasmin Green joined Heatherwick Studio in 2012 and acted as the Project Leader during both the design and build of Coal Drops Yard.

Please meet at 4:55pm outside the Coal Office Restaurant, 2 Bagley Walk, Kings Cross, London N1C 4PQ. The tour will last for approximately 1.5 hours.

Booking is essential. This event is open to AA Members and Alumni (including AA Students and Staff). Become a member.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be automatically refunded to students once their attendance at the event is confirmed

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Building Visit: The Standard with Orms

Series : Building Visit
Date : January 27 2020
Time : 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Location : The Standard, London
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

John McRae, Director of Orms, and project architect Simon Whittaker will lead AA Members on a tour of their recently completed project in King’s Cross, which saw the conversion of the brutalist former offices of Camden Council into a boutique hotel.

As lead consultant, Orms was responsible for the exterior architecture / shell and core, and worked alongside interior designer Shawn Hausman Design and interior architect Archer Humphryes.

Orms began the conversion from offices to a contemporary boutique hotel by retaining and cleaning the original brutalist concrete frame. The façade’s existing precast concrete panels formed an integral part of the building’s structure and so could not be removed or altered without significant structural remodelling. Adding three new-build storeys to the existing structure was a key component of Orms’ brief, and to accommodate the additional weight of the three new floors, Orms collaborated with Structural engineers Heyne Tillett Steel to add new steel columns to the existing structure. These were threaded like needles down through the existing waffle slabs to the 1st floor transfer slab and concrete columns below.

Please meet at 5:20pm at the entrance to The Standard, 10 Argyle Street, London WC1H 8EG. The tour will last for approximately 1.5 hours.

Open to AA Members (including AA Students & Staff). Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be refunded to students if they attend the event

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1000 Forms of Dumplings – Celebrating 2020 Lunar New Year at the AA

Series : Reunion
Date : January 24 2020
Time : 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Location : 36 Bedford Square
Ticket Price : £0.00

As the symbol of family reunion and good fortune, dumplings are the stars of any table for a celebratory Lunar New Year. While the symbolic meaning may be shared across cultures, the form of dumplings has been transformed in different cuisines. This year at the AA we will gather with our creative minds and hands to explore the art of wrapping and celebrate the diversity of the AA community through the making of dumplings. There will be small prizes for those who get the lucky bites! We will name and document the dumplings so please be prepared for the photo-shooting and drawing session for your own creation.

The event is organised by the AA Chinese Alumni Group and coincides with Jury in Translation as part of the wider Architecture in Translation project. While the Jury in Translation celebrates the wealth embedded in different linguistic and cultural contexts in the production and dissemination of ideas, discourse and debate in architecture, the Lunar New Year celebration explores another dimension of translation through creating an immersive context – the transformed space, the sound, the smell, the colour and the act of beating rice cakes together are all non-linguistic forms of translation.

As a ticketed event a contribution of £15 is required to cover the costs involved. Your contribution grants you access and includes food and one free drink. There will also be a cash bar available.

 

Programme:

The evening will include dumpling making, rice cake beating, food, drink and  Karaoke. .

 

The event is open to all (students/alumni/members/public wishing to connect) but booking is essential. Make your contribution and book your ticket using the form below.

 

Co-curated by Chen Zhan, AA Dipl and Jingru (Cyan) Cheng, AA PhD & M.Phil

Image credit: Painting by Andrea Goh, AA PhD Candidate; Composed by Chen Zhan, AA Dipl.

 

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Members’ Event: Bauhaus Exhibition Tour with Ines Weizman

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : December 9 2019
Time : 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location : RIBA
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Join us for a members’ tour of RIBA exhibitions Beyond Bauhaus – Modernism in Britain 1933–66 and László Moholy-Nagy in Britain: Between the New Vision and the New Bauhaus.

The tour will be led by Ines Weizman, director of the Bauhaus Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and Planning and a professor of architectural theory at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, as well as Pete Collard, curator at the RIBA.

Meet in the entrance foyer of RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD at 5.55pm.

 

 

Ines Weizman is director of the Bauhaus Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and Planning and a professor of architectural theory at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. She is founding director of the Centre for Documentary Architecture (CDA). In 2014, her edited book Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence was published by Routledge. The book Before and After: Documenting the Architecture of Disaster, co-written with Eyal Weizman, was published in the same year by Strelka Press. Her latest book Dust & Data. Traces of the Bauhaus across 100 Years was published in 2019 with Spector Books. The installation ‘Repeat Yourself’: Loos, Law and the Culture of the Copy was shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, and in 2013 as solo-shows in the Architecture Centre Vienna and the Buell Architecture Gallery at Columbia University, New York. Earlier research and exhibition projects include Celltexts. Books and other works produced in prison (together with Eyal Weizman), first exhibited in Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turino (2008, 2009, 2014, 2015). In 2019 she curated the exhibition of the CDA The Matter of Data: Tracing the Materiality of ‘Bauhaus Modernism’ that was shown at the Bauhaus-Museum Weimar and the Liebling Haus in Tel Aviv.

 

 

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be refunded to students once their attendance at the event is confirmed

Image: RIBA exhibition ‘Beyond Bauhaus’, Edmund Sumner, 2019

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Members’ Screening: Metropolis (1927)

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : November 27 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for a screening of Metropolis (1927) Directed by Fritz Lang

This influential German science-fiction film presents a highly stylised futuristic city where a beautiful and cultured utopia exists above a bleak underworld populated by mistreated workers. When the privileged youth Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) discovers the grim scene under the city, he becomes intent on helping the workers. He befriends the rebellious teacher Maria (Brigitte Helm), but this puts him at odds with his authoritative father, leading to greater conflict.

Only open to AA Members (including AA Students and Staff). Book your place using the form below.

Become a member.

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Series : Silver Gala
Date : November 19 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 11:59 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Silver Gala

 

Tuesday 19 November 2019
36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES

 

If you would like to donate further and become part of the Silver Gala Committee please email development@aaschool.ac.uk

 

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Series : Silver Gala
Date : November 19 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 11:59 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Silver Gala

 

Tuesday 19 November 2019
36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES

 

The Silver Gala is an important event to raise funds for the Public Programme and Publications at the AA. Guests who attend this evening are helping us to keep our lectures, symposia and exhibitions free and open to everyone and proceeds from the 2018 Silver Gala made possible the revival of AA Files, the long-standing and globally-renowned journal of the AA.

The Silver Gala also offers AA students and staff the opportunity for us as individuals, and as a School, to reach out to networks who could potentially contribute to the success of the AA in the future.

We invite all students and members of staff to distribute invites to the gala. Should any of your selected individuals accept the invitation to attend, you will receive a free ticket to the event. Download this pack of useful material, send your invitations, and if your invitee indicates your name when making their booking, we’ll let you know.

Alternatively, buy your guest a ticket using the form below and your ticket will be for free.

 

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Building Visit: ONE Putney with Tyen Masten

Series : Building Visit
Date : October 25 2019
Time : 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location : ONE Putney
Ticket Price : £0.00

This event was originally on 10 October and has been postponed to 25 October

Join us for a tour of the recently completed ONE Putney with Tyen Masten, former AA Academic Staff, current AA Member and founder of PHASE3.

Building description provided by PHASE3:

ONE Putney aims to transform a neglected stretch of Putney town centre while establishing a new dialogue for future developments along this main thoroughfare. Simultaneously, mitigating the scale of the high street and the adjacent neighbourhood required a thoughtful response in order to create a well-proportioned and well-crafted building for the future.

The six-storey BREEAM Excellent building includes 15 residential apartments, a shared rooftop terrace and green roofs. The design plays with interlocking volumes, reinterpreting the original structure in a new way. Curved corners emphasise the continuous lines along the high street and Montserrat Road, activating more pedestrian space. Horizontal and vertical elements are formed from precast concrete, echoing townscape materials. Carefully respecting scale and the relationship between the high street and bordering residential road, the mixed-use development establishes a strong identity and active retail frontage, with the rear elevation stepping down to reflect the height of two-storey terraced housing behind.

Please meet at 3:55pm at the entrance to ONE Putney, 89-95 Putney High Street, SW15 1SR. The tour will last for approximately 1 hour.

Open to AA Members (including AA Students & Staff). Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be refunded to students if they attend the event

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Nigel Coates Exhibition Talk

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : October 15 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location : Betts Project
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join architect and AA alumnus Nigel Coates as he talks through his current exhibition Nigel Coates: David in Voxtacity at Betts Project.

The works in David in Voxtacity emerge from a theoretical environment Coates calls Voxtacity which revives the area of Vauxhall in London, as a pleasure garden in the more recent tradition of the expo or the theme park.

The exhibition comprises of a series of paper sculptures and watercolours portraying a collection of buildings and pavilions that epitomise the historic layout of the eighteenth century gardens. Each of these abstractions is a variation of Michelangelo’s iconic figure and explore how the three levels of a building can generate fluid humanistic connotations.

Meet at 6:25pm at Betts Project, 100 Central St, London EC1V 8AJ. A glass of wine will be served on arrival. Find out more about Betts Project.

This event is open to AA Members (including AA Students and Staff). Become a member. Booking is essential. Book your place using the form below.

AA Students go for free – the booking fee will be refunded to students if they attend the event

Image: David No.6, 2019, Nigel Coates, courtesy of Betts Project

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Blueprint for the Future: AA Project Narratives 2019

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : July 9 2019
Time : 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location : Bert Frank showroom

Join us for a drinks reception to celebrate the opening of AA Project Narratives at the new Bert Frank showroom in Clerkenwell as part of Blueprint for the Future.

Blueprint for the Future is a free, three-day showcase of the work of the brightest, most interesting and challenging architecture students graduating Part II across London and the UK, as selected by Blueprint Magazine. Blueprint has paired 13 leading architecture schools with 13 international design brands, resulting in a ‘trail’ of exhibitions held over three days (9, 10, 11 July), in showrooms across Clerkenwell.

The AA will exhibit the work of 15 Fifth Year students that were nominated for Honours, the school’s highest award. With work from each Honours nominee displayed in the new Bert Frank showroom in Clerkenwell, several of the students will be present in the space to perform their projects and answer questions about these ideas and proposals’ importance and relevance to contemporary architecture.

Find out more about the exhibition.

Venue: Bert Frank showroom, 67 Farringdon Rd, London EC1M 3JB

Time: 5-7pm, Tuesday, 9 July

Please register using the form below.

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Members’ Evening 2019

Series : Members' Evening
Date : June 24 2019
Time : 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Location : Architectural Association

AA Members and Alumni are invited to a private opening of the Projects Review exhibition on Monday 24 June 2019, from 6pm-8pm.

Guests will have a chance to tour the end of year show in a relaxed setting with AA Students on hand to talk and answer questions about their work. A complimentary drink will be served.

UK Members’ and Alumni will receive their passes in the post. Students and Staff can collect their passes from reception. If you have not received your pass and would like to attend please email events@aaschool.ac.uk

The Project Review Exhibition Opening is on Friday 21 June from 6.30pm – 10pm.

The exhibition will open be open to the public from 22/6/2019 – 13/7/2019

Monday to Friday 10am – 7pm

Saturday 12pm – 5pm

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Summer Garden Party

Series : Summer Garden Party
Date : June 22 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

Summer Garden Party

Become a member


Join us in raising funds for Scholarships and Bursaries to support future generations of AA students by donating or pledging your support. There will be opportunities to donate or pledge your support on the night. If you would like to set up a named Scholarship or Bursary, sponsor the event or become part of the host committee email events@aaschool.ac.uk


 

Tickets

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Summer Garden Party

Series : Summer Garden Party
Date : June 22 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

Summer Garden Party

Become a member


Join us in raising funds for Scholarships and Bursaries to support future generations of AA students by donating or pledging your support. There will be opportunities to donate or pledge your support on the night. If you would like to set up a named Scholarship or Bursary, sponsor the event or become part of the host committee email events@aaschool.ac.uk


 

Tickets

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Projects Review Exhibition Opening

Series : Projects Review
Date : June 21 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
Location : Architectural Association

AA Projects Review is the Architectural Association’s annual end of year show. Student work is displayed throughout the buildings to showcase the different unit or programme’s year long brief and agenda. Every student who has passed through the Architectural Association, from Foundation to PhD, Zaha Hadid to Richard Rogers, has had their work scrutinised by the public in the annual AA Projects Review. This year, almost 800 students will showcase their visions for the future of architecture. The exhibition will be organised around a series of themes and concerns providing a common ground for students and visitors to explore the nature of the work and to better understand the ways in which each project pushes architecture forward.

The Project Review Exhibition Opening is on Friday 21 June from 6.30pm – 10pm. UK Members’ and Alumni will receive their passes in the post. Students and Staff can collect their passes from reception. If you have not received your pass and would like to attend please email events@aaschool.ac.uk

The exhibition will open be open to the public from 22/6/2019 – 13/7/2019

Monday to Friday 10am – 7pm

Saturday 12pm – 5pm

If you are a journalist looking to cover the AA Projects Review exhibition or an Architectural Practice wanting to attend the Press and Practices’ Private View, please e-mail events@aaschool.ac.uk

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AA Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony 2019

Series : AA Graduation
Date : June 21 2019
Time : 2:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location : Bedford Square Gardens

 

This year’s Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony will take place at 2.30pm on Friday 21 June 2019 in Bedford Square Gardens. Please read through the information below and print a copy for your reference on the day. Each year we experience a wonderful turn out, and look forward to celebrating and congratulating all our graduates on their efforts.

ON THE DAY

11.30 – Registration desk opens

12.00 – Individual photographs available from Ede & Ravenscroft at 32 Bedford Square

1.45 – Students make their way to North Gate entrance to Bedford Square Gardens

2.00 – South Gate entrance to Bedford Square Gardens opens to guests

2.30 – Graduation ceremony begins

4.30 – Students gather for 2019 Group Photo

5.00 – Reception: Drinks and canapés served

6.30 – Projects Review opens

TICKETING

All graduating students attending the ceremony are entitled to two complimentary guest tickets. An unlimited number of additional tickets can be purchased in online in advance for £40 each.

For students who have already completed their course and require a confirmation letter for the purposes of obtaining a visa for themselves or their guests, please contact the AA’s Compliance Officer Krishna Songara (Krishna.Songara@aaschool.ac.uk) with details of the request.

A live stream of the ceremony will be available for friends and relatives who are unable to attend at www.aaschool.ac.uk/live.

DRESS CODE

Academic gowns are not required, however smart or national dress is expected. In case of unfavourable weather conditions, please ensure you and your guests bring umbrellas as you will be queuing outside the garden in the open air.

THE CEREMONY

All graduating students need to report to the registration desk on arrival. The registration desk will open from 11.30am on the day, on the paved area opposite 36 Bedford Square. Guest tickets will also be available for collection by the graduating student at the registration desk.

At 1.45pm all graduating students are required to gather at the garden’s North Gate entrance and make themselves known to the undergraduate and graduate school coordinators.

The South Gate entrance to Bedford Square Gardens will open for guests at 2.00pm. Seating will be first come first served.

Following the speeches and presentation of awards and prizes, students will proceed to the paved area in front of 34-36 Bedford Square for the group photograph. Complimentary drinks and canapés will be served in the gardens until 6.30pm. Please make your guests aware that in line with UK licensing laws no drinks will be allowed outside the garden gates.

The 2019 Projects Review exhibition will open immediately following the ceremony at 6.30pm.

GRADUATION PHOTOGRAPHS AND FILM

Individual photographs: From 12.00pm on the day of the ceremony, academic photographers Ede & Ravenscroft will be available to take portrait photographs of graduates and guests. They will be based in 32 Bedford Square First Floor Front and will have graduation robes on hand for individual photos. Copies of individual photos will be available to order from Ede & Ravenscroft directly. Details on how to register for your individual photos will follow soon.

Group photograph: A group photograph of all graduates will be taken in front of the AA immediately following the ceremony. This will be available to pre-order online for a discounted price when booking graduation tickets, or available to purchase at full price after the event at the AA Bookshop. This year students will be able to buy both the formal photograph and an informal one.

Graduation film: A film documenting graduation day will be available to pre-order at a discounted price, or available to purchase at the standard rate after the event.

STUDENT ASSISTANTS NEEDED

If you know any non-graduating students who are eligible to work in the UK and interested in assisting on the day please ask them to contact the Membership & Alumni Office at graduation@aaschool.ac.uk. They will be paid the standard student rate, and will be entitled to attend the ceremony at no cost.

DISABLED FACILITIES

If wheelchair access is required, please contact graduation@aaschool.ac.uk in advance to make the necessary arrangements.

TOILET FACILITIES

Toilet facilities will not be available in the Gardens. The toilets within the AA buildings will be available for use. Please ensure you advise your guests of this in advance.

PARKING FACILITIES

There is an NCP Car Park on Adeline Place and limited Pay & Display bays in Bedford Square. Please advise any driving guests that restrictions on resident bays are enforced 24 hours a day.

Should you require any further information about the ceremony, please contact the Membership & Alumni Office 10am-6pm Monday-Friday on 020 7887 4034 or at graduation@aaschool.ac.uk

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Series : Summer Garden Party
Date : June 20 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location : Bedford Square Gardens

The Summer Garden Party is a new tradition to mark a historical moment for the AA School of Architecture and to bring together our wider community of alumni, members, friends and supporters for what promises to be an unforgettable night. The evening will be a celebration of our shared future, and past, and an opportunity for our guests to share their endeavours, ideas, and projects, and to take advantage of a unique occasion where our community of alumni, members and friends will be together in one place.

Bring your tuxedos and gardening gloves and be prepared for some major announcements, as well as some memorable food and drink.

To join us, buy your tickets on the Summer Garden Party website

 


 

The event is in support of Scholarships and Bursaries for future generations of AA students. If you would like pledge or donate your support or set up a named Scholarship or Bursary email events@aaschool.ac.uk

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Members’ Screening: Workingman’s Death

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : June 11 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for a screening of Workingman’s Death (2005) Directed by Michael Glawogger

Workingman’s Death is an unflinching portrait of the state of manual labour in the 21st century. The film is composed of six chapters, the first five are portraits of heavy manual labour around the world, the sixth shows contrasting scenes of youths in a former German industrial complex which had been converted into a leisure park.

In Ukraine, a group of men spend long days crawling through cramped shafts of illegal coal mines. Sulfur gatherers in Indonesia brave the smoky heat of an active volcano and the treacherous trip back down. Blood, fire and stench are routine for workers at a crowded open-air slaughterhouse in Nigeria. Pakistani men use little more than their bare hands to dismantle an abandoned oil tanker for scrap metal. Steelworkers in China fear they could be a dying breed…

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

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AA Building Conversations: Drawings Study Room & Cast Courts, V&A, with Peter Wilson

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : June 6 2019
Time : 3:15 pm - 5:30 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

A visit to the Drawings Study Room and the recently re-opened Plaster Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, led by Peter Wilson of Bolles+Wilson, in conversation with Elena Palacios (AA PhD candidate).

Drawings Study Room & Cast Courts, V&A

Architect Peter Wilson will be showing a collection of his own drawings currently archived at the V&A drawing collection, followed by a tour of his favourite moments in the Plaster Cast Courts. Peter will relate his reading of the V&A to Walter Benjamin’s concept of history. The Plaster Courts are one of the most significant rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum, gathering copies of relevant works of art. The Courts have recently reopened after a conservation project and the new setting brings together the paradoxes of the conservation of reproduction and the deterioration of the actual monuments, the current state of the Court and the restoration of the copies to its original 19th-century display.

Peter Wilson

Peter Wilson studied at the University of Melbourne, Australia, 1969-71, before attending the Architectural Association from 1972-74, and graduating with the Diploma Prize. He subsequently taught at the AA from 1974-88. In 1980 he set up his practice Bolles+Wilson with Julia Bolles-Wilson and relocated to Munster, Germany in 1989. Alongside design work, Peter Wilson has lectured and run studios worldwide, acting as Guest Professor for both the Kunsthochschule Wiebensee and the Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio. He was a visiting professor from 2013 – 2014 at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and an International Fellow of the RIBA since 2014. In 2009 he was awarded the President’s Prize of the Australian Institute of Architects and in 2013 the Gold Medal of the Australian Institute of Architects.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

Meet at the new entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum on Exhibition Road

 

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AA Building Conversations: Sivill House with Tyen Masten

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : June 6 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Sivill House
Ticket Price : £0.00

A building visit led by Tyen Masten of PHASE3, of Sivill House by Skinner Bailey & Lubetkin, co-led by Sofia Krimizi, AA PhD candidate.

Sivill House

Sivill House was completed in 1962 in the Constructivist style and designed by Douglas Bailey, Francis Skinner and Berthold Lubetkin, the successors to the Tecton Group. The 76-flat council housing block on Columbia Road has 19-storeys, at a total height of 59m and is nearby to the Dorset Estate which was also designed by the same team.

Tyen Masten

Designer Tyen Masten is founding director of PHASE3, an architecture practice with work that goes beyond traditional expectations of building. PHASE3 operates as a platform that connects architecture, thinking and design to create big, serious, thoughtful projects. Tyen was a tutor at the AA in both the Diploma and Intermediate School between 2005-2017. During his tenure at Zaha Hadid Architects (2004–12) he successfully led the design on a multitude of projects in the Middle East and across the UK.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

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AA Building Conversations: Danish Embassy and Duke of York Restaurant with Alan Dempsey

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : May 28 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Embassy of Denmark
Ticket Price : £0.00

This building visit led by Alan Dempsey of Nex—, will start at the Danish Embassy designed by Arne Jacobsen and move to the Duke of York Restaurant designed by Nex—. The conversation will be co-led by Naina Gupta (AA PhD candidate).

The Danish Embassy

The Danish Embassy in London was designed by the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. It is a purpose-built embassy in modernist design, which houses the chancellery functions as well as the ambassador’s residence. The design was made in respect to the scale and the traditional composition of buildings in the area, while at the same time creating a functional entity. The visible structure of the embassy comprises of stacks of glazed boxes, cantilevered out from concrete walls.

The Duke of York Restaurant

Designed by Nex—, The new Duke of York Restaurant occupies a prominent position on the King’s Road. The form of the building responds sensitively to the adjacent Grade II listed screen wall of the Duke of York Headquarters.  A counterpoint spiral of ribbon like off-white concrete leads to a public roof garden, supported on glazed arches. At ground level, the interior is designed with a desire to create a restaurant for all seasons, which connects interior and exterior. A technical world first — the innovative curved glazing can lower into the basement, allowing alfresco dining in fine weather.

Alan Dempsey

Alan is the founding Director of Nex—, Alan leads the design of all projects at Nex— , a London based architecture studio that designs buildings and spaces defined by place, people and atmosphere.  Alan graduated from the AADRL in 2002 and taught undergraduate and post-graduate courses at the AA from 2005-2013. Alan’s work has been recognised with awards and commendations from the D&AD, The Architects Journal, UK Technology Strategy Board, World Architecture Network, Building Design, and the Architecture Foundation. He has been an invited speaker at the AA, NAI, CAFA Beijing, ETH, MIT and other international venues.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Image: © AA Photo Library, Alan Blanc, 1992

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

 

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Tour of exhibition Eric Parry: Drawing with Eric Parry

Series : Exhibition Tour
Date : May 24 2019
Time : 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Location : Soane Museum
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for a tour of the exhibition ‘Eric Parry: Drawing’ at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, led by Eric Parry himself.

For Eric Parry (AADipl 1979 and AA Past President) drawing is integral to his practice as an architect: not just as a design tool, but as a way of conceiving, reflecting on and analysing buildings and the places they occupy. Across projects as diverse in typology, scale and context as the new buildings at Pembroke College, Cambridge, the Holburne Museum in Bath, the renewal of St Martin-in-the-Fields, One Eagle Place on Piccadilly, 30 Finsbury Square (in the City of London) in Islington and the more recently completed 4 Pancras Square at King’s Cross and Fen Court in the City of London – drawing is always fundamental to Parry’s creative process.

This exhibition offers a never seen before insight into the extraordinary range of drawings Parry has created over the last four decades: from the sketchbooks that present a near continuous thread of ideas and observations, and the design drawings that document how projects have evolved, to the computer-generated construction drawings that show with immaculate precision the inner workings of his buildings.

Drawing is also a fundamental component of the Soane Museum, reflecting its importance to Soane’s conception and practice of architecture. Taking its cue from Soane’s example, Parry’s drawings will be displayed around the Museum, in a stimulating and sometimes surprising dialogue with Soane’s collection and spaces.

Image: French + Tye and courtesy of Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Only open to AA Members. Become a memberBook your place using the form below

 

 

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AA Building Conversations: Waterlow Court with Adam Khan

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : May 21 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Location : Waterlow Court
Ticket Price : £0.00

This building visit to Waterlow Court designed by Ballie Scott, will be led by Adam Khan of Adam Khan Architects in conversation with Alvaro Velasco, AA PhD candidate.

Waterlow Court

Waterlow Court formed part of the Industrial Dwelling Company involvement in Hampstead Garden Suburb development in North-West London. Open in 1909, the building is designed in the Arts and Craft style. Behind its timber-framed exterior elevation the building is organised around an arcaded cloister. Though traditional in its Neo-Tudor language, the houses are composed by a skilful design of Baillie Scott in which he developed new solutions in typological level. The Court includes a wide variety of dwelling types, from small terraced homes to stacked apartments. It was made up of fifty three- to five-room flats, with, originally, a communal dining area and was intended for the new breed of single working women who would not be able to keep servants, but would surely benefit from some degree of co-operative living. As well as a the communal dining area, there was a communal kitchen, a small common room, and servants’ (including a housekeeper’s and porters’) quarters. There was also a bicycle shed for these progressive women, and allotment strips for them to grow their own flowers.

Adam Khan

Adam Khan Architects was founded in 2006 and aims to address key issues of our time: social inclusion, sustainability and the vitality of public space. The practice’s design methodology is based on careful study of context, collaborative working methods and an active process of client and user engagement. Awards include NLA Award: Housing 2018, RIBA Award: National 2014, Graham Allen Award: Conservation and Design 2016 and RIBA Award: National 2014 among others.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Image: © AA Photo Library

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

 

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Members’ Screening: Robinson In Space + Q&A with director Patrick Keiller & architect Sam Jacob

Series : Members' Screening
Date : May 15 2019
Time : 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Location : Birkbeck Cinema

Join us for a special screening in 35mm of Robinson In Space (1997), directed by Patrick Keiller. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director Patrick Keiller and architect Sam Jacob.

England, 1995. An unnamed narrator sets out from Paddington to meet his friend Robinson in Reading, where the latter is earning a precarious living as an English-language teacher. Soon the couple (whom we never see) are enlisted as spies by a mysterious organisation and set out on seven meandering trips over England, in imitation of Daniel Defoe’s literary tour of the country. The first trip takes them along the Thames, west and east of London; the second to Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol; the third to the West Midlands; the fourth to Birmingham and Liverpool; the fifth to Manchester and Hull; the sixth to Scarborough and Whitby; the seventh to Blackpool and Sellafield.

Speaking over images of a wide variety of places, the narrator gives a picaresque account of the couple’s uneventful journey, embroidered with historical and philosophical observations on English life. Inexplicably released from their quixotic task, the couple end their journey in Newcastle, where Robinson may or may not find the utopia he has been seeking.

The film will be shown in its original format of 35mm in Birkbeck Gordan Square Cinema. This event is a collaboration between the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image and the Architectural Association

Only open to AA Members. Become a memberBook your free ticket below

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AA Building Conversations: The Barbican Estate with Stephen Witherford

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : May 9 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Barbican Centre
Ticket Price : £0.00

This building visit led by Stephen Witherford of Witherford Watson Mann Architects, will explore The Barbican Estate designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, in conversation with Tatjana Crossley, AA PhD candidate.

The Barbican Estate

The Barbican Estate was designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon. In 1954, the young architects were asked to submit designs for the Barbican. With its coarse concrete surfaces, elevated gardens and trio of high-rise towers, the Barbican Estate offered a new vision for how high-density residential neighbourhoods could be integrated with schools, shops and restaurants, as well world-class cultural destinations. Approval was given in 1959 for the residential blocks to be built and construction lasted for twelve years, with the complex officially opening in 1982. At the time of their completion, the Barbican towers were the tallest residential towers in Europe.

Stephen Witherford

Since establishing Witherford Watson Mann Architects in 2002, Stephen has led projects including Amnesty International UK, Bankside Urban Forest, the Olympic Legacy Masterplan and the 21st century Almshouse. He has a strong commitment to urban design and public space, and has taught at the London School of Economics Cities Programme, and served as a member of the Mayor’s Design Advisory Group.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Image: © AA Photo Library, Reyner Banham, 1972

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

 

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AA Building Conversations: St Paul’s Bow Common with Hugh Strange

Series : AA Building Conversations
Date : April 30 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : St Paul’s Church, Bow Common
Ticket Price : £0.00

A building visit led by Hugh Strange of Hugh Strange Architects, of St Paul’s Bow Common by Robert McGuire & Keith Murray, co-led by Alvaro Velasco, AA PhD candidate.

St Paul’s Bow Common

In 2013 St Paul’s Bow Common won the National Churches Trust Diamond Jubilee award for the best church designed since 1953.  The building is particularly significant as a built manifestation of the liturgical reform movement, reappraising the setting for modern worship that here is focussed around a central altar.

Hugh Strange

Hugh Strange established Hugh Strange Architects in 2011 and has gone on to win the RIBA Award 2011, AIA UK Award 2011 (Best Small Project) and the Wood Award 2011 (Best Small Project) for The Strange House, in South-East London The practice have also won the 2016 AJ Small Projects Award for Avon Wildlife Trust and the RIBA National Award for the Drawing Matter Archive.

AA Building Conversations

AA Building Conversations brings together practicing architects and AA members to discuss in-situ how existing buildings in London have influenced, sharpened or challenged the architects’ own practices and understanding of the discipline. The conversations will be triggered by an AA PhD student, and will be a collective construction among all those present. This project has been initiated by Gabriela Garcia de Cortazar (AAPhD 2016), and realised by AA membership and AA PhD candidates Sofia Krimizi & Alvaro Velasco.

Open to AA Members. Become a member. Book your place using the form below.

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Members’ Screening: The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : April 23 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for a screening of The Fog of War (2003) Directed by Errol Morris

How does modern warfare work? How do you distinguish between the rational and the emotional? Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (1916-2009) was the architect of the Vietnam War, and there are many who hold him responsible for this catastrophic conflict. In his book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, McNamara offers 11 lessons that form the framework for a conversation in which he speaks candidly about his experiences as a student, the director of Ford Motor Company and a statesman. His deep interest in logic and aesthetics was already flourishing in his college days, but he is also remembered as a sophisticated politician with a penchant for statistics.

The interview with McNamara himself is interspersed with archive footage and audio recordings of conversations with John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. This Oscar-winning documentary offers an engrossing perspective on the dark machinations of 1960s American politics. McNamara places great emphasis on the importance of perception. How many soldiers should be allowed to die in the battle for a secure world? How can war be prevented? How do you define war crimes? He believed that a good leader should see war as a machine, one from which all emotion has been eradicated. Only in this way is it possible to avoid making major errors of judgement in the heat of battle.

Open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

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Jonathan Tuckey Design – Southbank Centre Archive

Series : Members Trip
Date : March 25 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Southbank Centre Archive
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for this exclusive visit of the Southbank Centre archive with project lead Matt Farrer, Associate at Jonathan Tuckey Design, and Clare Wood, Southbank Centre Archivist.

As part of the Southbank’s long-term programme of restoration and improvement, the Southbank Centre has opened their archive to the public. The Archive Studio, designed and built by Jonathan Tuckey Design, is a free-standing, self-supporting structure; an open framework that makes the scale of the archival process apparent to visitors, allowing visitors to meet the archive team and to actively engage with the collection.

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This event was originally planned to take place on 19 March and has now been rescheduled for 25 March.

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Remembering John Andrews (1950-2019)

Series : Memorial/Celebration
Date : March 16 2019
Time : 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location : Front Members Room – Architectural Association

We extend a warm invitation to this event at the Architectural Association remembering John Andrews – one of the most inspirational and influential educators to emerge from the AA School, who sadly passed away on Saturday 16 February.

The event will be held at the Architectural Association Front Members’ Room and Bar from 3pm – 7pm on Saturday 16 March.


3.00–4.00 pm Arrival, wine and snacks

4.00–4.30 pm Informal speeches: Memories of John

4.30–7.00 pm Drinks reception and student performance


The event is open to all who knew John – so that we can estimate numbers, please help us by completing the RSVP  form below.

Address: Architectural Association School of Architecture, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES

 

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Stanton Williams – Royal Opera House Tour

Series : Members Trip
Date : March 13 2019
Time : 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Location : Royal Opera House
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for a tour of the new Royal Opera House extension with Stanton Williams Architects.

The original building that now houses the Royal Opera House was designed by E.M. Barry and opened in 1858. Barry also designed the iron Floral Hall that was originally intended as a flower market.

Stanton Williams have recently redesigned the entrances, reconfigured the ground-floor lobby and added a 400-seat auditorium as part of the Open Up project. The Open Up project forms a part of the Royal Opera House’s aim to make ballet and opera available to everyone and aims to make the building more welcoming, transparent and permeable.

Image: © Hufton+Crow

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Members’ Screening: Wall (Mur)

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : March 5 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for an exclusive screening of Wall (2004) Directed by Simone Bitton

WALL (Mur) is a cinematic meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which the filmmaker blurs the lines of hatred by asserting her double identity as Jew and Arab. In an original documentary approach, the film follows the separation fence that is destroying one of the most historically significant landscapes in the world, while imprisoning one people and enclosing the other.

On the building site of this mad wall, daily utterances and holy chants, in Hebrew and in Arabic, defy the discourses of war, passing through the deafening noise of bulldozers. MUR offers its spectators a last glimpse of the beauty of this land and the humanity of its inhabitants a moment before they disappear behind the wall.

Only open to AA Members. Become a member

Image: Photograph by Léopold Lambert (2010), Depicting the Israeli wall near Jerusalem separating East Jerusalem and the West Bank

 

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dMFK – Salters’ Hall

Series : Building Visit
Date : February 26 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Salters’ Hall
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for this exclusive tour of Salters’ Hall with Julian de Metz from De Metz Forbes Knight Architects.

Salters’ Hall was the last building designed by Sir Basil Spence. Brutalist in style, the building was originally completed in 1976, and is Grade II listed. The Worshipful Company of Salters appointed dMFK in 2006 to explore ways to improve income producing potential, sustainability and public visibility of the building, while retaining the livery hall functions. The building was re-opened in 2016 after a refurbishment and extension by dMFK Architects.

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Salters’ Hall, 4 London Wall Place, London, EC2Y 5DE

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Curator led visit of ‘A Home for All: Six Experiments in Social Housing’ Exhibition

Series : Members' Event
Date : February 22 2019
Time : 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location : Victoria and Albert Museum – Gallery 128a
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join Shumi Bose, RIBA Exhibitions Curator, for curator guided visit of A Home for All: Six Experiments in Social Housing at the V&A. The visit will be followed by drinks at a nearby pub.

A Home for All is a collaborative display by the V&A + RIBA Architecture Partnership. Drawn from the RIBA Collections and V&A archive, this display presents six UK social housing projects from the last 100 years (five historic and one contemporary), each demonstrating an experiment in social housing design. The display includes works from the RIBA collections by Neave Brown, Mary Duggan Architects, Ralph Erskine Arkitektkontor, Denys Lasdun, Tecton and the architectural departments within various local government bodies.

Shumi Bose is a teacher, curator and editor based in London. With Finn Williams and Jack Self, she co-curated Home Economics, for the British Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture.

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Please note: Attendees will receive one free drink at the pub

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Squire and Partners – The Department Store

Series : Building Visit
Date : February 14 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : The Department Store
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for this exclusive tour with Tim Gledstone, Partner at Squire and Partners, who led the practice’s design and interiors teams to create its new office at The Department Store.

In 2015 Squire and Partners purchased a dilapidated Edwardian department store in Brixton.  Formerly known as Toplin House the building dates from 1906 and was bought in a derelict condition. Squire and Partners collaborated with craftspeople and furniture makers to restore the building and convert it into their new office building. Original Crittall windows, Burmese flooring, cast-iron radiators and a tiled central staircase have been restored where possible,  while internal spaces have been reconfigured by installing a new triple-height void and a new rooftop social space with a bar and restaurant.

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STUDENTS GO FOR FREE

The Department Store
248 Ferndale Road, London, SW9 8FR

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Member’s Screening: Denise Scott Brown’s Soane Medal Lecture

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : February 5 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for an exclusive screening of Denise Scott Brown’s Soane Medal Lecture.

In this one hour documentary, Denise Scott Brown narrates the early life experiences that shaped her later practice, illustrating the narrative with her own largely unseen photographs. This lecture was commissioned by Sir John Soane’s Museum, pre-recorded in Scott Brown’s home in Philadelphia, and originally shown at an event to celebrate Denise Scott Brown’s 2019 Soane Medal Award.

Only open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

Become a member

Image credit: Denise Scott Brown in front of The Strip, Las Vegas, NV, US, 1966, Photo by Robert Venturi, courtesy of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc.

 

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CANCELLED – John Pawson – Design Museum Tour

Series : Building Visit
Date : February 5 2019
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Design Museum
Ticket Price : £0.00

Join us for this exclusive tour of the Design Museum with John Pawson CBE.

The Design Museum opened its new home in 2016 in the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington. John Pawson CBE and former AA student, was appointed for the interior architecture of the £83 million restoration of the 1960s Grade II* listed building. Pawson was responsible for the building’s newly configured interiors, which aim to preserve and enhance the original structure’s inherent architectural qualities, while also accommodating the full programme of a contemporary museum. Within the scheme, the galleries, restaurant, education spaces, members’ room, library and offices are arranged around a minimal oak and marble lined atrium. Pawson also designed the standalone museum shop.

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Unfortunately this event has been cancelled. Please contact events@aaschool.ac.uk with any queries.

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Fire, Smoke, Roasted Beast

Series : Members Trip
Date : February 2 2019
Time : 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location : Front Members Room – Architectural Association
Ticket Price : £0.00

BBQ Party to celebrate the Chinese New Year at the AA

The old story of Chinese New Year always ends with how brave villagers defeated a beast. On the Saturday 2 February, we will celebrate the Year of Pig with a special Hog in the Box and a BBQ party at the AA.

The event is organised by the AA Chinese Alumni group and requires a contribution of £25 to cover the costs involved. Your contribution grants you access and includes food and one free drink. There will also be a cash bar available.

This first-ever Chinese New Year event at the AA is part of the Four-City Dinner Party Series 2019 for AA Chinese Alumni to come together and reconnect.

The event is open to all (students/alumni/members/public wishing to connect) but booking is essential. Make your contribution and book your ticket using the form below.

6pm – 6.45pm Arrival Drink + Snacks [Front members room + Terrace], Live Performance – Chinese Lute Play [Front members room]
6.45pm – 7pm Unveiling of the Hog + Toast together [Terrace], BBQ Servicing starts (vegetarian options included) [Bar]
7pm – 8pm Live Performance – Singer/Guitar [Front members room], Mah-jong [Front members room], Dumpling Making and Cooking [Back members room]
8pm – 9.30pm Kara OK [Front members room], Mah-jong continues [Front members room], Dumpling Making and Cooking continues [Back members room]
9.30pm – 10pm Cool down

If you would like any further information about the event please contact the event organiser –

Jingru (Cyan) Cheng
Email: cyanjingrucheng@gmail.com
Wechat ID: jingru-cyan-cheng

Image: Made up of two ancient inscriptions of the Chinese character Jia, the word for home and family. The ideogram is a pig under a roof, a perfect concept to represent the meanings of Hog in the Box, Year of Pig and Home.

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Sophie Hicks – 1A Earl’s Court Square Visit

Series : Building Visit
Date : January 22 2019
Time : 1:00 pm
Location : 1a Earls Court Square
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Join us for this exclusive visit of 1a Earl’s Court Square with Sophie Hicks of Sophie Hicks Architects.

Hicks founded Sophie Hicks Architects in 1990 while still a student at the Architectural Association. In parallel to her work on flagship fashion stores around the world, Sophie Hicks acquired three sites in London, all in conservation areas, with the intention of building a contemporary house on each. The second of the three, 1a Earl’s Court Square, was completed in 2018.

Amidst a climate of opposition to contemporary architecture within conservation areas, Hicks has delivered an example of a modern, sustainable and comfortable home in this Earl’s Court building. Hicks’ houses respect the past, and respond to it, while at the same time expressing the spirit of our times. A rare sight in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, this house sits right on the street and does not try to hide itself for being contemporary in its design.

Built on a small site of just 75m², the house employs thermal mass through the use of structural concrete to control both its temperature and acoustics. The perception of space is maintained through raising the ceilings and by ensuring the house is visually open to the natural world outside.

The visit will take 45 minutes.

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Members’ Screening: Citzen Jane: Battle Cry For The City

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : January 15 2019
Time : 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location : AA Cinema

 

Join us for an exclusive screening of Matt Tyrnauer’s film Citzen Jane: Batlle Cry For The City, 2016.

In 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “master builder” Robert Moses from running roughshod over the city. This film retraces the battles for the city as personified by Jacobs and Moses, as urbanisation moves to the very front of the global agenda. Many of the clues for formulating solutions to the dizzying array of urban issues can be found in Jacobs’s prescient text, and a close second look at her thinking and writing about cities is very much in order. This film sets out to examine the city of today through the lens of one of its greatest champions.
Only open to AA Members. Click here to book your place.

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Film Screening: Gholam

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : December 12 2018
Time : 7:00 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Synopsis

Set in London in 2011, Gholam is the story of an enigmatic Iranian cab driver, who works at night and doesn’t like to talk about his past.He has two jobs, yet seems not to be interested in the money. He eats at his uncle’s café every day, yet is fully aware of being betrayed by him. He agrees to the arrangement his mother makes for his return home, yet has no intention of going back. We learn that he was once a war hero, and yet disappeared from the battlefield without a trace.A man with no past, no future, no convictions, he still gets involved in the conflict of a total stranger and carries it through to the very end.

Biography: Mitra TabrizianMitra Tabrizian is an Iranian-British artist and filmmaker. Her photographic work has been exhibited and published widely and is represented in major international museums and public collections, including the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Smithsonian Institution, Washington and Los Angeles County Museum of Art amongst others. Solo museum shows include Tate Britain (2008).

She is a recipient of several photographic awards, including the Royal Academy ‘Rose Award for Photography’ (2013) and exhibited at the Venice Biennale (Iranian pavilion, 2015). Tabrizian’s short films have been screened at premier festivals including, Berlin and Toronto. www.mitratabrizian.com
All lectures are open to members of the public, staff and students unless otherwise stated.

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Members’ Screening: Mountain

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : December 11 2018
Time : 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for an exclusive screening of Jennifer Peedom’s Mountain, 2018.

Only three centuries ago, setting out to climb a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty, an upper world to be shunned, not sought out. Why do mountains now hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion, often at the cost of our lives? From Tibet to Australia, Alaska to Norway armed with drones, Go-Pros and helicopters, director Jennifer Peedom has fashioned an astonishing symphony of mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, heliskiers, snowboarders, wingsuiters and parachuting mountain bikers. Willem Dafoe provides a narration sampled from British mountaineer Robert Macfarlane’s acclaimed memoir Mountains of the Mind , and a classical score from the Australian Chamber Orchestra accompanies this majestic cinematic experience.

Only open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

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DSDHA – Tour of Smithson Plaza

Series : Building Visit
Date : November 20 2018
Time : 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location : Smithson Plaza (The Economist Building)
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Join us for this exclusive tour of the newly renovated Smithson Plaza. The tour will be led by Deborah Saunt of DSDHA.

Completed by Alison and Peter Smithson in 1964 for the Economist and acquired by Tishman Speyer in 2016, the Economist Plaza has now been renamed ‘Smithson Plaza’ in honour of the original architects.

DSDHA are proud to be restoring this iconic complex: one of London’s most significant urban landmarks and public spaces; widely appreciated internationally as a triumph of Brutalist architecture.

Having considered the impact of incremental changes since 1964 – the Smithsons themselves made alterations to their project before SOM architects’ major reworking in the 90s – DSDHA have assessed what might be preserved or changed and have developed a phased restoration framework for the complex’s sensitive restoration and substantial upgrade.

DSDHA’s interventions create sustainable workspaces and new flexible facilities as well as maintaining this unique public space for the city. Their design has been guided by a rigorous methodology, devised in conversation with distinguished scholars and experts and informed by extensive historical research and in-depth forensic investigations on the fabric of the Plaza.

 


Only open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

Image Credit: 2018 © Michael Carapetian

 

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Silver Gala

Series : Silver Gala
Date : November 17 2018
Time : 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Location :
Ticket Price : £0.00

 

Silver Gala

 

Saturday 17 November 2018
36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES

 

If you would like to find out more and become part of the committee email events@aaschool.ac.uk

 

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Members’ Screening: New Town Utopia

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : November 13 2018
Time : 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for an exclusive screening of Christopher Ian Smith’s New Town Utopia, 2017.

New Town Utopia is a documentary feature about utopian dreams and concrete realities… the challenging, funny, and sometimes tragic story of the British new town of Basildon, Essex.

A journey of memory, place and performance guided by the artists, musicians and poets of Basildon. Facing austerity, adversity and personal battles they are individuals driven by their creative spirit to improve their community through art, poetry, music… and some rather angry puppets.

New Town Utopia features Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent (Iris, Topsy-Turvy, Moulin Rouge) as the voice of Lewis Silkin MP. Directed by Christopher Ian Smith (citizensmith.net) and Executive Produced by Margaret Matheson (Scum, Sid and Nancy, Sleep Furiously). You can follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter + Instagram by clicking below.

Only open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

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Members’ Screening: Human Flow

Series : Members' AA Cinema Screening
Date : October 23 2018
Time : 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location : AA Cinema

Join us for an exclusive screening of Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow, 2017.
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.

Only open to AA Members. Book your place using the form below.

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A celebration of the architecture of Bedford Square – Benedict O’Looney

Series : Bloomsbury Festival
Date : October 20 2018
Time : 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Location : Architectural Association

 

This walking tour tells the remarkable architectural history of Bedford Square, one of the best-preserved Georgian Squares in Britain, an exemplar of modern domestic architecture in the late eighteenth century. This walk is a unique opportunity to see some of the normally hidden interiors of the finest houses on the square where much original features and detailing survive. While the Grade l listed townscape of Bedford Square has been carefully preserved, in recent years there has been considerable new development on adjacent streets. This tour concludes with a look at some of the exciting new projects on the edges of the square showing how the West End has flourished and grown around this elegant oasis of historic Georgian architecture.

This event was originally held as part of the Bedford Square Festival, an annual four-day programme of free events in July organised as a collaboration between five of the cultural institutions that reside on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury: The Architectural Association, New College of the Humanities, the Paul Mellon Centre, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Yale University Press London. For more information, please visit: www.bedfordsquarefestival.co.uk

This event is open to all and places are free, but limited. Book your place using the form below.

 

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AA Little Architect Family Workshop: Yes SHE Can!

Series : Bloomsbury Festival
Date : October 20 2018
Time : 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location : Architectural Association

 

Designed by Little Architect founder and director, Dolores Victoria Ruiz Garrido, this family workshop invites budding architects and designers aged 7-15 to hear from and get creative with female architects working in the profession. Children will hear from speakers about their careers in architecture and get to ask questions before designing buildings for a future city in a celebratory collective collaged mural and presenting their architectural visions to the group!

Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

This event was held as part of the Bedford Square Festival, an annual four-day programme of free events in July organised as a collaboration between five of the cultural institutions that reside on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury: The Architectural Association, New College of the Humanites, the Paul Mellon Centre, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Yale University Press London. For more information, please visit: www.bedfordsquarefestival.co.uk

This event is open to all and places are free, but limited. Book your place using the form below.

 

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AA Digital Prototyping Lab Open House: Developments in 3D fabrication for architecture

Series : Bloomsbury Festival
Date : October 20 2018
Time : 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location : Architectural Association

 

Angel Fernando Lara Moreira – architect, researcher and head of the AA’s Digital Prototyping Lab – hosts an open morning at the AA’s brand new centre for 3D fabrication, demonstrating the latest technologies available.

Join us and find out more about how architects and designers make use of lasers, computer numeric control milling, robotics and 3D printing & scanning during the design process.

This event was originally held as part of the Bedford Square Festival, an annual four-day programme of free events in July organised as a collaboration between five of the cultural institutions that reside on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury: The Architectural Association, New College of the Humanities, the Paul Mellon Centre, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Yale University Press London. For more information, please visit: www.bedfordsquarefestival.co.uk

This event is open to all and places are free, but limited. Tours run every 30 minutes and last for half an hour. Book your place using the form below, choosing the start time you would like to attend.

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