The London Festival of Architecture brings an injection of fun, a little pizazz and offers more than a few geek-out opportunities in June. There’s a surprise twist this year with a snap general election during the festival and I expect this will be reflected in the programme. I’m looking forward to lively debates, playful installations, headline events and hidden gems – worth hunting for in the depths of the LFA programme.
There’s a lot of action in Newham during the festival. One that stands out is the Silvertown event with poetry, a live choir and a late-night bar in the former Carlsberg Tetley building. It’s fitting for this year’s LFA theme of ‘memory’ and worth going to explore the brutalist building while it’s empty. And as a fan of derelict buildings (who isn’t?) I might take a Silvertown tour to see the wider area before it is developed.
The launch event for the Cody Dock exhibition looks great, and not just for the pizza. I live near a community workshop so I know first-hand how grass-roots regeneration projects like this can transform an area. Newham is set for major regeneration but it’s the soulful small-scale projects that will help make the place a success.
I’m going to head to this event with my friends at Grey Griffiths Architects who recently started up their own practice. Some of the most interesting projects at The Building Centre have been created with emerging architectural practices. It will be good to understand how start-ups balance innovation, brand building and creating their own architectural style with the immediate pressures of bringing home the bacon.
Our own exhibition for the LFA opens on 1 June. Night Time is the Right Time explores the changing face of night-time citizenship and examines how our cities can adapt and improve after dark. On show will be the winners and finalists of an international competition launched with the Mayor of London to find ideas for better 24-hour cities. The project has given me a glimpse of what our cities might look like if we designed for better night time use. Being a night-owl has never looked so good.
I will be at ChitChat III to hear about Walthamstow’s changing built environment. ArchitectsE17 have done an excellent job sharing the best and worst design proposals for the borough. Here’s hoping for more of the good stuff.
It was interesting to see only one event on housing an ageing population. It’s a hot topic and unless I missed others here’s a shout out to Procter and Mathew’s event Courtyards and Communality.
Also worth a mention is NLA’s talk with David Adjaye, JW3’s event with Daniel Libeskind and the National Trust routemaster tours.
It looks like I will be busy in June.
