Architects Journal
Paul Finch

Paul Finch is editorial director of the Architects' Journal

Heathrow, has outlived its usefulness. Let's turn it into the world's greatest New Town

14-May-2013
The Foster proposal is about far more than an airport and is based on serious research into the future of the UK economy, writes Paul Finch
Don't blame the planners for planning decision madness

10-May-2013
From the Geffrye to South Bank, don’t blame the planners for planning decision madness, writes Paul Finch
Paul Finch considers a modest proposal that combines preservation of heritage with the demand for growth

30-Apr-2013
When designers start taking all the blame for social ills with multiple causes, it is time for a reality check, writes Paul Finch
City design is never a simple matter of cause and effect

23-Apr-2013
When designers start taking all the blame for social ills with multiple causes, it is time for a reality check, writes Paul Finch
Thatcher's many achievements were a mixed blessing

17-Apr-2013
Mrs Thatcher feared no one - including the Prince of Wales, writes Paul Finch
It’s about time the profession started to fight back against unscrupulous competitions

12-Apr-2013
It would be good to see RIBA warning members off from competitions where the likelihood of a decent outcome is low, writes Paul Finch
Basement mania should be nipped in the bud before it becomes endemic

27-Mar-2013
Making life tough for the super-rich will not solve our housing problem… what we need is sufficient housing for all, writes Paul Finch
The proposed policy is disgusting and should immediately be abandoned

20-Mar-2013
If 35 per cent of a development is ‘affordable’, what does that make the remaining 65 per cent? asks Paul Finch
We should address our housing problem by building, not punishing

13-Mar-2013
What is required is an inclusive attitude to the many shades and drivers of architecture, writes Paul Finch
An architecture policy would not guarantee quality, but it would set a welcome tone

6-Mar-2013
What is required is an inclusive attitude to the many shades and drivers of architecture, writes Paul Finch
The sorry default position of local politicians is a tighter grip on planning control

1-Mar-2013
Don’t blame the housing shortage on housebuilders: they are in business and not responsible for a social programme, writes Paul Finch
When engineers get the knife out, they can be worse than architects

21-Feb-2013
Serious competitions with serious winners should not be the subject of professional sniping says Paul Finch
We can build the way the Georgians did

14-Feb-2013
Rational House shows we can build the way the Georgians did - and do it better, writes Paul Finch
My question to Policy Exchange is this: did terraced housing push Ronnie and Reggie Kray over the edge?

7-Feb-2013
The suggestion that tall buildings cause criminal behaviour is a dangerous error, writes Paul Finch
Boles and Pickles should be congratulated for implementing a long-overdue reform

31-Jan-2013
Bravo for as-of-right opportunities for office owners to convert their buildings for residential use without planning permission, says Paul Finch
Design quality needs to be on everybody's agenda in the planning debate

24-Jan-2013
The more talk there is of local identity, the faster we see the closure of fire stations, libraries, police stations and swimming pools, writes Paul Finch
There is much we should learn from decades of successful British architecture

17-Jan-2013
The traditional British attitude to overseas markets, which is to be internationalist, is alive and well writes Paul Finch
Please, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg, think again about housing and planning

10-Jan-2013
Letter from London: The coalition’s mid-term review should give pause for thought about housing and planning, writes Paul Finch
10 ways the Olympic spirit can help solve our housing crisis

19-Dec-2012
Letter from London: It has been a year of triumphs, but also of missed opportunities, writes Paul Finch
Foster's fantastic plan isn't just an airport, it's a £50bn leap into our connected future

12-Dec-2012
Foster’s ambitious estuary project is about a great deal more than just an airport, says Paul Finch
If you want to keep our press free, distrust judges and politicians

6-Dec-2012
Journalists, like architects, already face a strict regulatory regime, writes Paul Finch
Taxing housing and development is an odd way to promote growth

27-Nov-2012
When will we wake up to the fact that house builders cannot provide the new homes we need? Residential development should be free of all planning gain, affordable housing and other taxes on delivery, writes Paul Finch
The Architectural Association is doing very nicely, despite headlines that might have misled you

22-Nov-2012
The AA’s building programme continues apace, via Wright & Wright’s masterplan, now entering its third phase, says Paul Finch
Self-confidence and identity are key to the renewal of our blighted urban centres

15-Nov-2012
We should aim to create first-rate small towns rather than third-rate versions of bigger neighbourhoods, says Paul Finch
Congratulations, Zaha on your investiture as a Dame

8-Nov-2012
There is nothing like a dame - especially Dame Zaha, writes Paul Finch
Sometimes you just don't know whether to laugh or cry

1-Nov-2012
The Home Builders Federation’s more thoughtful members are interested in good standards, not bad ones, says Paul Finch
Why did Ted Happold’s combined course in architecture and engineering fail?

25-Oct-2012
A new programme for architectural-engineering collaboration is waiting to be written, says Paul Finch
An enjoyable Stirling Prize and a very deserving winner

18-Oct-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Cambridge’s requirements for college buildings to last 500 years were far from stupid, writes Paul Finch
Collaboration is a condition of architecture, not a problem to be overcome

10-Oct-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Early collaboration ought to take the place of confrontation at London’s estuary airport, writes Paul Finch
Architecture has globalised, but design can still be different

4-Oct-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The World Architecture Festival has become a celebration of variety and difference, writes Paul Finch
Design is the tribute art pays to industry, you might say

27-Sep-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Scarpa’s glass works, design sensibility and architecture make him the nearest thing to a Renaissance figure in the 20th century
Architecture is forever falling through the political gaps

20-Sep-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: A frustrating reminder that architecture is forever falling through the political gaps
Why the sudden interest in paying the RIBA president?

12-Sep-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Perhaps the RIBA should stop thinking their president is more important than everyone else’s and reduce the term to a year
Here's 6 ways to help house-build our way out of recession

6-Sep-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Paul Finch returns from Venice to find a bucket of cold water being poured over housing and planning
UNESCO is a great big phoney that should be sent packing

30-Aug-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The capital must stand up to Paris ideologues UNESCO over calls for a development-free zone
London must stand up to UNESCO

23-Aug-2012
Paris ideologues have no right to impose a development-free zone in the city, says Paul Finch
London 2012 is a lesson in design procurement

16-Aug-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The London 2012 Olympic delivery bodies absolutely did not rely on contractors to tell them who the architects should be
We seem unable to treat designers with the credit they are due

31-Jul-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: why was there no reference to the architects at the London 2012 opening ceremony
Formally, clients need a design, planning permission, and a set of production drawings, but that is only half the story

26-Jul-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: What clients value is what they will pay for - or at least they should do, says Paul Finch
The Olympics will be the remembered for spectacle and venues, not who checked your bags

19-Jul-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: London’s memorable permanent buildings and magnificent historic venues will provide a televisual feast for viewers, says Paul Finch
The Shard is a genuine new icon

12-Jul-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: With the Shard, Irvine Sellar, Renzo Piano and the Qataris have done London proud, says Paul Finch
The RIBA Awards will never be perfect

5-Jul-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The system will never be perfect. It is an example of the sorites paradox, says Paul Finch
It is a pity that architects don’t talk more often about volume

28-Jun-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Architectural discourse would benefit from a little more volume and a lot more time, says Paul Finch
Penny-pinching as an Olympic sport

21-Jun-2012
Olympic victory could be ours if we moved past the veneer and encouraged artistry from the core, says Paul Finch
George Ferguson has thrown his hat in the ring in the forthcoming mayoral election in his hometown of Bristol

14-Jun-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Mayoral campaigns are ideal opportunities to put retrofit and architecture on the political agenda, says Paul Finch
Who are the architects that define the New Elizabethan era?

7-Jun-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The major British figures of the past 60 years
Great ruins such as Brighton’s West Pier and Battersea Power Station deserve a future

31-May-2012
Does our obsession with the past and period architecture obscure our view of the future?
Water should be treated as a condition, not simply as a distant threat to our way of life

24-May-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The ‘fair-weather maps’ are at odds with the way water works, a process which needs to be understood in section
Wang Shu’s influence as the antithesis of China’s rush to urbanisation is greater than his output

17-May-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: Wang Shu rejected the idea that China had to keep building at its current pace, suggesting there were more than enough houses
Thanks to Ken Livingstone, London has made it to the Olympic finishing line

10-May-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The reason we are celebrating our Olympic facilities can be summed up in two words: Ken Livingstone
Hunt, Murdoch… at least there’s the British Construction Industry Awards to look forward to

3-May-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: As culture secretary is discovering, blaming other people leads to the question of who appointed them
Our energy, architecture and history all unite in Battersea’s magnificent ruins

26-Apr-2012
Paul Finch’s Letter from London: The worse the condition of Battersea Powerstation, the more important the building has seemed to become
We need tax relief from the government if we’re going to preserve churches like St Bride’s

19-Apr-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The improvement of our existing stock should take preference over new-build
Creative architects will make the most of the new planning environment

5-Apr-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The new robustness toward design may concentrate the mind of those responsible for government procurement
Complexity and contradiction are still the hallmarks of national planning policy

29-Mar-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Do you ever get the feeling that you are living in a parallel universe in which politicians have all gone slightly mad? Or sound as though they have?
Semi-naked trouser-ironers and the danger of a loosened belt

22-Mar-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Tam Dalyell is made an honorary fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
The future of the NHS depends on how we design for birth, death and everything in between

15-Mar-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: There has been little attention paid to converting parts of homes into space where the ill can lead a civilised existence
The only thing that matters at MIPIM is the deal

8-Mar-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Like Nouvel and OMA in the City, private development should make a public contribution
The ARB should be abolished

1-Mar-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Why do architects need a regulatory body at all?
My blueprint for a successful House of Lords

23-Feb-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Reform of the House of Lords has failed because it hasn’t addressed who should sit in the second chamber
'The English will spare no expense to get something on the cheap'

16-Feb-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: We need to educate the public about what buildings really cost
Paul Finch: We should tell UNESCO where to stick it

9-Feb-2012
Letter from London: It’s time for French bully UNESCO to stop interfering with our heritage sites
What now for Battersea Power Station?

2-Feb-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: We need a big idea for Battersea Power Station – time to call in Professor Alsop
Chipperfield’s quest for Common Ground at the Biennale is admirable; the British Council’s, perverse

26-Jan-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: When Berlusconi thought he had hired Norman Foster…
Design Council Cabe is alive and kicking – here’s what we’ve been up to

19-Jan-2012
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The first nine months of DCC
It’s time for steady nerves and cool decisions

8-Dec-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Keep calm and carry on
Both quality and quantity should be hallmarks of housing policy

24-Nov-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: There is much to welcome in the government’s new housing strategy
Barcelona abuzz: World Architecture Festival 2011

10-Nov-2011
Letter from London: The optimism and confidence of Barcelona’s architects stole the show at this year’s WAF
Embassy design: A series of unfortunate diplomatic incidents

3-Nov-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Does our embassy architecture really symbolise our commitment to quality design?
Buildings without people are like fish without water

27-Oct-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Is property really a ‘people business’?
CABE design review lives on – here’s how

20-Oct-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The future role of Design Council CABE
The French know how to fete the architectural creme de la creme

13-Oct-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Britain should take a lesson from the French in how to celebrate individual design talent
'Beyond Disaster, through Solidarity, towards Sustainability'

6-Oct-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The UIA conference of 5,000 architects in Tokyo is a tribute to Japan’s resilience
Architectural education and global difference – lessons from South Africa

29-Sep-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Last week this column discussed UK and European perspectives on architectural education delivered at the RIBA in the last of three debates in memory of Peter and Muriel Melvin. This week we turn to comments from South Africa and South America, and the view from the RIBA itself.
Dogma, design or technical details: How should architecture be taught?

22-Sep-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Global differences in architectural education
When the media is a mirror

15-Sep-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The 9/11 anniversary and a debate on the merits of the architectural press
Don't go mimsy on the NIMBYs, Greg

8-Sep-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Greg Clark has the unenviable task in the NPPF of putting town and country planning into perspective
We regret to inform you that good airport design has been delayed

1-Sep-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Escalators to nowhere, garish retail and poor signage: how airport architecture makes travel painful
Now Liverpool is the place to be

18-Aug-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Liverpool’s new architecture is transforming the city’s image and burying images of the 1980s riots
Why I ♥ the NPFF

4-Aug-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Why I read the draft National Planning Policy Framework with delight and near-incredulity
I am not an implacable enemy of the 'traditional'

28-Jul-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Despite being in trouble with my old mucker, Robert Adam, I don’t value the ‘contemporary’ over the ‘traditional’
Does architecture have the media it deserves?

21-Jul-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: In the wake of the News of the World scandal, it is timely to audit architectural publishing
The Olympics is a triumph of contemporary design

14-Jul-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: One of the great things about London 2012 is that none of it is endorsed by the Prince of Wales
Amnesia, politics, BSF and the South Bank

12-Jul-2011
There is an exchange in an early John le Carré novel where one character says (to the George Smiley figure) that he loves music and melody, but no sooner has the music ended than he forgets what he has just heard. ‘You should go into politics,’ replies Smiley.
Failure and risk are the hallmarks of good design

30-Jun-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: designers and architects are part of the same community
Converting office space into homes could rebalance the housing market

23-Jun-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Controversy should not derail this welcome reform
Retrofit remains the future

16-Jun-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Retrofit: an architectural hot-spot in a cold work climate
BSF: Repeating a lie does not make it true

9-Jun-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The Sunday Times should report the facts on Building Schools for the Future
Making sense of liability and the law (Part 2)

1-Jun-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Four lawyers discuss risk and architecture
Making sense of liability and the law (Part 1)

26-May-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Innovation, Liability and Risk: architecture and the law
A salute to Hopkins’ contribution to architecture

19-May-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Michael Hopkins thoroughly deserves to be recognised for his contribution to architecture
'Effort without visible consequence'

12-May-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: When work doesn’t result in buildings
What, exactly, is ‘fit for purpose’?

5-May-2011
Paul Finch’s Letter From London: Fitness for purpose is surely about more than structural integrity
The spirit of Milan is alive; the spirits, sadly, have gone

21-Apr-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Thirsty journalists had to leave the Salone to find the heart of the Milan furniture fair
This school-building review merits an A for economics, but an F for history

14-Apr-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: The James Review is sensible in parts, but a history-free zone
The inside story of the death - and re-birth - of CABE

7-Apr-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: CABE’s transformation over the last five months has produced a fully-fledged phoenix
Architects should welcome this enterprising budget

31-Mar-2011
Paul Finch’s letter from London: Last week’s Budget was invigorating, and the revival of Enterprise Zones may have a mini-Olympic effect
Redcar should think again about flattening its ABK library

4-Mar-2011
Save Redcar library, and all its embodied energy, and environmentally retrofit instead, says Paul Finch
Vote of no confidence in AA council fails

4-Mar-2011
A mass meeting of Architectural Association students, staff and members abandoned a vote of no confidence in the AA’s governing council following a two and a half hour special general meeting (SGM) on Thursday evening.
The shock of the old: the cost of the future

2-Mar-2011
Return on investment does not guarantee a building’s longevity or cultural importance, says Paul Finch
Obituary: Dennis Sharp

12-May-2010
Dennis Sharp, who died last week aged 76, was a very British architect with collaborators worldwide, says Paul Finch
Reasons to be cheerful

19-Jan-2010
Even in hard times, there are opportunities that architects should pursue, says Paul Finch
'Huge verve and brio - fantastic drawing'

7-Dec-2006
PRESIDENT'S MEDALS PART 1
'One of the few projects that takes a specific attitude to materials'

7-Dec-2006
PRESIDENT'S MEDALS PART 2
'Unusually cool for Part 1'

7-Dec-2006
PRESIDENT'S MEDALS PART 1
KPF PLANS HIGHEST TOWER IN CITY'S TALL BUILDINGS CLUSTER

23-Jun-2005
NEWS
Starting a new chapter

11-Nov-2004
The RIBA Library's new librarian, Dr Irena Murray, hopes to open up the institute's collections to a wider audience, including children, writes Paul Finch
A matter of trust

9-Sep-2004
people - The formation of the RIBA Trust is the most significant structural change the institute has seen, and Charles Knevitt has the job of leading the radical venture
Retail therapy

22-Jul-2004
'Shopping in the City', an AJ conference on retail design and planning at the RSA in London, examined how, through collaboration and commitment, impressive architecture could be created in the most unlikely of spaces. reports
On the road to sustainability

11-Mar-2004
buildings
Ever the twain shall meet

4-Mar-2004
ajenda
Points of review

26-Feb-2004
CABE's design review committee publishes its first annual report this week, commenting on proposals it has seen and trends it has noticed. Here, AJ editorial director Paul Finch looks back on more than four years of chairing the committee, on some lessons learned and the purpose of design review.
Up, up and away

5-Feb-2004
people
The Price was right

13-Nov-2003
Re: CP By Cedric Price. Edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Birkhäuser, 2003. 192pp. £27
Thinking of a five-star future

6-Nov-2003
Paul Finch gets to grips with 'Thinking outside the box', the European hotel design and management conference held at the Royal Lancaster in London last week
A small site, but a big idea

23-Oct-2003
As government and the housebuilding sector contemplate strategies for massive house-building in the Thames Gateway, a proposal for a small site in Camden offers an alternative idea for key worker housing in London.Why isn't it being greeted with open arms? Paul Finch reports
Allford and Zogolovitch in call for flexibility to ease housing shortfall

25-Sep-2003
The winner of the 'London Building of the Year' award has issued a clarion call for more flexible planning to bring about the supply of necessary housing for the capital and elsewhere - including the abandonment of any distinction between residential and B1 uses.
Cedric Price (1934-2003)

14-Aug-2003
Cedric John Price (born 1934 in Stone, Staffordshire) was a rarity in the architectural profession - having had a profound influence on architectural thinking through teaching and projects, rather than completed buildings. His architect father, A G Price (1901-53), was responsible for several Odeon cinemas in the 1930s. His son studied architecture at Cambridge, where he made friends including Jonathan Miller (Price was best man at his wedding), and became president of the Society of ...
Back to the future

10-Jul-2003
ajenda
Work in progress

26-Jun-2003
Paul Finch reports on the questions surrounding the PFI process, reviewed at an AJ conference earlier this month, and finds it still has along way to go
Seeing the light

19-Jun-2003
MacCormac Jamieson Prichard @ 30
Ian Davidson 1954-2003

13-Feb-2003
Architecture has lost one of its most influential voices with the untimely death of the founding partner of Lifschutz Davidson, writes Paul Finch
Four compete to grace Liverpool waterfront

14-Nov-2002
Designing an icon is difficult enough. But the task facing the shortlisted architects in filling the 'Fourth Grace'site in Liverpool is even more onerous: the design of an icon which is, at least partly, self-funding.
Manchester's lap of honour

15-Aug-2002
Following the success of the Commonwealth Games, Manchester hosted an international conference on international sporting events and the buildings in which they take place. Paul Finch and Zoë Blackler report
Abundance of quality in this year's RA awards

11-Jul-2002
The judges for this year's AJ/Bovis Royal Academy Architecture Awards were very impressed by the general standard of exhibits in this year's summer show. The room was nicely hung and the height at which the many models were shown worked well. As usual, we followed a simple procedure: the judges walked the room individually, then collectively to establish a list of potential winners, and then once more to agree on winners and commendations.
Office design in an environmental context

31-May-2001
A sparkling session on office design in an environmental context saw fast and furious comparisons between buildings by, respectively, Rab Bennetts and Mathias Sauerbruch of Sauerbruch Hutton. Rab showed his headquarters for Wessex Water, Mathias the GSW housing association hq in Berlin. In both cases, the client had reason for seeking an exemplary building; each was concerned with regeneration (though the Berlin example was much more urban); each had proved popular and successful. So ...
Hitting the heights on design strategies

15-Mar-2001
Tall buildings are as controversial as ever. In the run-up to May's AJ-backed conference on the issue, 'Tall storeys', we look at how their design quality should be assessed
Polymath and prophet

26-Oct-2000
Architecture 2000 and Beyond By Charles Jencks.Wiley-Academy, 2000. 140pp. £14.99
Renzo Piano goes sky high with Europe's tallest building

20-Jul-2000
Renzo Piano has joined Lord Foster, Lord Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw and now Chris Wilkinson in the list of major architects designing new towers for London.
Decency and dullness

22-Jun-2000
Building a Better Tomorrow: Architecture in Britain in the 1950sby Robert Elwall.Wiley-Academy, 2000. 128pp. £24.95
Emap launches 'Interchange' transport show and awards

18-May-2000
Major developments across Europe are almost invariably predicated on integrated transport these days. Now Emap Montgomery, the joint venture between the AJ's publisher and the Montgomery Group, is launching a combination of conference, exhibition and awards to reflect the growing importance of this development type. To be called 'Interchange', the show will take place next April at the new ExCel exhibition venue in London's Docklands, and will fly the flag for progressive planning and ...
Tales from Hellman

13-Apr-2000
If Archigram had not invented the name, it might have been snaffled by Louis Hellman, whose architectural telegrams have delighted and occasionally infuriated architects over four decades, mostly via the pages of the aj. The retrospective exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum, which starts today, provides a potted history of issues that seemed important to the architectural profession at one time - many of them still do. But the choice of material has been partly influenced by the non-architect
Mayoral candidates pick up speed for London walk

4-Nov-1999
More than a hundred hardy souls took part in last Sunday's symbolic London North City Walk, meeting in Regents Park, to push support for equal treatment for pedestrians in the future planning of the capital. Their reward was an introduction to the key mayoral candidates for Mayor of London, who appeared briefly to address the crowd, and to get large amounts of free publicity on itn news that evening. Organisers Tony Meats (Office of Urban Design) and Dan Bone (Civix) seemed quite happy ...
editorial

30-Sep-1999
Reflecting on sixteen years of weekly architecture
Towns deserve champions - just like projects

23-Sep-1999
editorial
Time - a missing element in our urban thinking

14-Sep-1999
editorial
Walsall's new character

14-Sep-1999
Adam Caruso and Peter St John, architects of the nearly-completed Walsall Art Gallery, find inspiration in buildings with a 'characterful ugliness'. The industrial warehouse, the unexpected curve of an otherwise ordinary exercise in brick, even disused and crumbling structures - they are preferable to the prettified (and anaesthetised) city centres so beloved of designers whose Letraset citizens inhabit a world of banners, pedestrianised precincts and Mediterranean weather.
editorial

9-Sep-1999
MPs have made fools of themselves over urban policy
editorial

2-Sep-1999
Blaming Prescott for transport problems misses the point
editorial

26-Aug-1999
Administration of the profession needs to be reported properly
Self-confidence is reflected in our new architecture

29-Jul-1999
editorial
Why can't we face the truth about regulation?

22-Jul-1999
editorial
A lost world - a case of baby and bathwater

15-Jul-1999
Editorial
Principles mean nothing unless you fight for them

8-Jul-1999
Editorial
Designing in the Task Force spirit

1-Jul-1999
Architect Andrew Wright, who provided design and environmental input for the Rogers Task Force, has coincidentally been working on major regeneration project for Bilston in the Black Country, where a brownfield sit is to be remediated and remodelled to accommodate housing and employment uses in the spirit of the Urban Renaissance model.
Trying to make sense of a new urban future

1-Jul-1999
Editorial
Happy end to an overlong unhappy saga

24-Jun-1999
editorial
The Establishment isn't what it used to be . . .

17-Jun-1999
Editorial
Fresh ideas on housing are now a necessity

10-Jun-1999
editorial
Editorial

3-Jun-1999
Making the most of the Glasgow design experience
Drawing a line between sense and extravagance

27-May-1999
editorial
editorial

13-May-1999
Treasury still has questions to answer over prime contracts
Optimism in the face of urban adversity

6-May-1999
editorial
Smart-assembly buildings are here to stay

29-Apr-1999
editorial
Demonstrating the many arts of architecture

22-Apr-1999
While the Reichstag building drew the world media to Berlin this week, in Britain we took another step along the road to an improved architecture of the everyday, under the influence of the Egan report. More information came out about the 'key performance indicators' by which demonstration projects, chosen to reflect the virtues of the Egan approach to building procurement, may be judged.
editorial

15-Apr-1999
Foster's success brings benefits to all architects
Searching for meaning in uncertain times

8-Apr-1999
editorial
Editorial

1-Apr-1999
Coping with the surreal world of architecture
Editorial

25-Mar-1999
Mike Davies of the Richard Rogers Partnership lifted the spirits with a first-rate lecture on the Millennium Dome at the Royal Society of Arts this week. There is nothing to beat hearing a story straight from the horse's mouth, and this is a remarkable one, with a cast list of hundreds, intense co-operative working, technical innovation, political and funding dramas galore - it would make a great film. In the week that Shakespeare in Love deservedly won its clutch of Oscars, the comparison ...
Let's stop being snooty about shopping centres

18-Mar-1999
Editorial
Perfect contracts must include design quality

11-Mar-1999
This government, like others before it, has fallen in love with the idea of the perfect building contract. And the inescapable logic of the Egan report, encompassed in the unstated sub-text of the Construction Best Practice Programme, is that the perfect contract is one made between client and contractor. Architecture comes in somewhere else along the contractual food chain; the professions make way for business. It is such a neat idea: the prime contract with single-point responsibility ...
editorial

4-Mar-1999
Buildings tell us what we really are
Six make Manchester competition shortlist

4-Mar-1999
Urban Splash, the North-west development company with a reputation for commissioning good architects, must be pleased with its first venture into the world of the open design competition. When it launched the Britannia Basin competition, for a derelict site in the St George's area by the Bridgwater Canal, it could scarcely have expected to receive 400-plus registrations and more than 130 entries.
Housing choice is a good idea - but don't mistreat tenants

25-Feb-1999
editorial
editorial

18-Feb-1999
Designers shouldn't dumb down
Are we eager for Egan? Architects have been accused of not becoming sufficiently involved in discussions about the implications and possibilities of the Egan report. To remedy this, British Steel, par

11-Feb-1999
news extra
Density key to the city - and suburbs

11-Feb-1999
editorial
Cities mean opportunity, not problems

4-Feb-1999
editorial
Editorial

28-Jan-1999
Judging by the reaction so far (deafening silence), the Stansfield Smith review of architectural education might be thought to be just what everybody always wanted, too difficult to comprehend, or of little interest outside the academic world. The truth probably lies somewhere in between, but it is surely significant that the review has not aroused the howls of protest that might have been expected, given the strong views within the profession on a subject of consuming interest to people ...
London authority building grabs wrong headlines . . .

28-Jan-1999
news
Commission should have new roles

21-Jan-1999
Editorial
Glasgow fulfils high expectations

14-Jan-1999
Editorial
Demolition tales of the South Bank

7-Jan-1999
Should the Hayward Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Hall complex on the South Bank of the Thames be demolished? The proposal comes from the South Bank Board and its chairman, Elliott Bernerd, in response to the inevitable abandonment of the Richard Rogers 'glass wave' scheme once the Arts Lottery decided against funding what would have been a costly project. Prior to the appointment of a masterplanner for the site, the chairman and a 'kitchen cabinet' undertook the tough task of supplying ...
Standing the conventional shopping centre on its head

7-Jan-1999
News in pictures
BOOKS: Getting to grips with a pluralist world

17-Dec-1998
Contemporary World Architecture by Hugh Pearman. Phaidon, 1998. 511pp. £59.95
Some things work out for the best

17-Dec-1998
Editorial
Editorial

3-Dec-1998
Everyone involved was a bit hesitant: should we be involving trendy design firms in a competition to grapple with the problems of the single homeless, and the temporary shelters which are provided in the winter months? Would it just be a piece of radical chic? The project was devised by Crash, the construction industry charity which for many years has built temporary shelters as well as undertaking more long-term work; the aj and our parent company Emap Construct are among its many ...
News: Ritchie's monument winner reaches for the Dublin sky

3-Dec-1998
Ian Ritchie Architects has won the international competition to design a replacement for Dublin's Nelson monument, which was blown up in 1966. The 120m light-tipped replacement, in O'Connell Street, is seen as a symbol of the new future for Ireland, and has won a warm reception in the republic (plus ribald names for it) following announcement of the decision last week.
Kensington's stimulating new context

26-Nov-1998
editorial
Influence takes time to prove

19-Nov-1998
editorial
Taking stock as Rock starts RIBA presidency last lap

19-Nov-1998
news
Professional life facing a big challenge

12-Nov-1998
editorial
Limits on creativity must end

22-Oct-1998
editorial
Limits on creativity must end

22-Oct-1998
editorial
Architecture can create an identity

15-Oct-1998
editorial
Modernity scales the heights Two of the world's top 20 tallest buildings are under construction in Dubai. What is the connection with a company that sells water to the Welsh? ; letter from dubai

15-Oct-1998
It is as hot and humid as everyone said it would be. Arriving in Dubai City in the early hours of the morning, you get the momentary false impression on leaving the plane that the heat is coming from the aircraft engines. At least the time difference pretty much eliminates jet lag. The usual bliss to arrive at an air-conditioned hotel, however much one is supposed to argue for stack-effect ventilation. Everything here seems to be a/c with a vengeance: cars, restaurants, offices, hotels. ...
Government, architecture and regions

24-Sep-1998
Editorial
Heat is on over searchfor London headquarters

24-Sep-1998
News
In the news: riba presidential hopefuls

24-Sep-1998
People
Demolition is no easy way out

17-Sep-1998
editorial
Raynsford leads search for London headquarters

17-Sep-1998
news
Seeking an ideal option for government architecture

17-Sep-1998
news
Responsibility and power are different

10-Sep-1998
editorial
Coincidence can raise suspicions

3-Sep-1998
editorial
Hopkins wins public support for revised Norwich design

3-Sep-1998
news
Matching Egan to real life

13-Aug-1998
editorial
Matching Egan to real life

13-Aug-1998
editorial
aj/velux 'lifetime housing' competition

30-Jul-1998
WC SPECIAL
Getting to grips with government

30-Jul-1998
editorial
Holloway Road and its lessons

23-Jul-1998
editorial
Culture of blame has no benefit

16-Jul-1998
editorial
Making the most ofsystem benefits . . .

16-Jul-1998
news in pictures
Context is what you make of it

9-Jul-1998
editorial
What a difference a council meeting can make

9-Jul-1998
news
High-Tech - the beauty and the myth

18-Jun-1998
editorial
Development joins world of new ideas

11-Jun-1998
editorial
Elegant crossing for Dublin's fair city

11-Jun-1998
news in pictures
Fellowship takes a leap backwards

4-Jun-1998
editorial
A woman's place

28-May-1998
BUILDING STUDY; SOCIAL HOUSING IN JAPAN
Usefulness is a test for conservation

28-May-1998
editorial
Usefulness is a test for conservation

28-May-1998
editorial
Rethinking the role of countryside

21-May-1998
editorial
Rethinking the role of countryside

21-May-1998
editorial
Engineering reassumes a proper role

14-May-1998
editorial
'Streamlined institute shouldfocus on policy action'

14-May-1998
news
Federalism takes on a new purpose

7-May-1998
editorial
Historical perspective is essential

30-Apr-1998
editorial
Rogers lines up names for urban task force

30-Apr-1998
news
Winning ways in the Dutch landscape

30-Apr-1998
news in pictures
Fighting a cult of the confidential

16-Apr-1998
editorial
Fighting a cult of the confidential

16-Apr-1998
editorial
Enjoy being cool as long as it lasts

9-Apr-1998
editorial
Enjoy being cool as long as it lasts

9-Apr-1998
editorial
Heritage also means the future

2-Apr-1998
editorial
Muf 'still on board Dome project', says organiser

2-Apr-1998
All-women architect group Muf is still working on the Millennium Dome project, said the organiser, despite rumours that the firm may quit the job.
Fred Pooley - quiet-voiced pragmatist - dies aged 81

26-Mar-1998
Former RIBA president Fred Pooley - who concluded his career heading architecture, planning and transport at the GLC - has died aged 81. Born in West Ham in London's East End, he qualified as an architect, planner and surveyor before serving with the Royal Engineers during the war. He also qualified as a structural engineer and arbitrator.
Professional competence is priceless

26-Mar-1998
editorial
Cranked stress ribbon design to span Medway

19-Mar-1998
London-based Studio E Architects are set to build the first three 'cranked stress ribbon' bridges in the world. They are part of a consortium led by Will Williams of Williams Environmental Design, who designed a scheme linking Whatmas Field with the rest of a £4 million river park, funded by the Millennium Commission. The field is currently cut off between the railway line and the river.
When seeing comes close to believing

19-Mar-1998
editorial
Vagueness can prove beneficial

12-Mar-1998
'The 1970s saw an explosion of interest in vagueness, ' says an intriguing note on the dustjacket of one of my favourite reads (or attempted reads) of recent months. Vagueness: A Reader (MIT, £24.95) contains too much mathematics for my old-style two-cultures brain, but provides fascinating insights into the philosophy of logic and language. Different groups of vagueness theorists each have an interpretation of a key vagueness touchstone, the sorites paradox.
Religion and the secular Millennium

5-Mar-1998
editorial
Survival of the fittest

5-Mar-1998
For a practice launched at the height of the 1980s boom, the last decade has been a period of fighting against the odds. For Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, the struggle has been worth it
Inspirational design gives housing clue

26-Feb-1998
Dennis Crompton, speaking at the recent Archigram symposium in Manchester, reminded the audience that the group's approach to housing and urban regeneration/ intensification was to add rather than replace, hence clip-on design; if only that approach had been adopted. Equally inspirational is a new model of how we might address housing provision in urban areas, in the form of the Hunt Thompson/Ralph Erskine proposals which have won the Millennium Village competition. One encouraging ...
Erskine and Hunt Thompson scoop Millennium Village

19-Feb-1998
Hunt Thompson and Ralph Erskine have won the Millennium Village competition, to design a landmark housing scheme for the twenty-first century, next to the Millennium Dome site in Greenwich.
Vetting the future for architects

19-Feb-1998
The surreal nature of educational pigeon-holing was revealed in all its glory last month. Education minister Kim Howells drew an important distinction between students training to be dentists and doctors, and those seeking to become vets and architects. The former category should have their fifth-year tuition fees paid by the taxpayer because they are entering the public sector (allegedly). The latter, by contrast, are going into wicked private practice, and therefore the capitalist ...
Dumbing down does not work

12-Feb-1998
editorial
Government scraps five-year funding for architect students

12-Feb-1998
news
revising pevsner's london

12-Feb-1998
The latest revisions in the 'Buildings of England' series' coverage of London are both exceptionally useful, as they cover a more defined area than in the original Pevsner arrangement. London 1: The City Of London was published last autumn with support from the City Corporation. The second, about to be published, is a paperback on London Docklands, which had help from the London Docklands Development Corporation. This serves as an introduction to a larger volume, London 5: East and ...
A policy on tall buildings is just that

5-Feb-1998
editorial
High buildings policy in search of sites

5-Feb-1998
Months of work by the London Planning Advisory Committee and its consultants on a strategic policy for high buildings in the capital have defined the problems and opportunities - all that is missing is some lines on the map.
Offices designed to the planners' brief

5-Feb-1998
news in pictures
Editorial

29-Jan-1998
Improving our cities is top priority
Partial leaking of educationplan no help to anyone

29-Jan-1998
News
'Brownfield' housing sites get new political impetus . . .

22-Jan-1998
News
Charles lost, but had his good times

22-Jan-1998
Editorial
Shambles hits Prince ofWales architecture team

22-Jan-1998
NEWS
Is it time for the RIBA to name-swap?

15-Jan-1998
editorial
Surrealism is alive at Heathrow

8-Jan-1998
Editorial
A bone to pick over rib of beef

18-Dec-1997
editorial
Registration body headsfor trouble with institute

18-Dec-1997
news

Architects JournalPaul Finch

Architects Journal
Paul Finch