ARCHIVE:
Tom Ravenscroft
Tom Ravenscroft is an architectural journalist and historian who is the editor of Dezeen. He recently co-wrote the 100 Women Architects book, which was published by RIBA.
With summer finally threatening to appear, May is the perfect time to take to the streets and see some architecture with a multitude of walking tours happening throughout the month. While Wren (16 May), the Olympics (4 May) and Canary Wharf (29 May) are all blockbuster offerings, my pick would be an exploration of Woolwich (25 May) to learn about an area I know almost nothing about!
Of course one of Open City’s architectural pub tours – informed by its Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub book are also a good shout.
Luckily, if summer doesn’t arrive, there are also a host of more sheltered architecture events, kicking off with a celebration of Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko at RIBA on May 2. This year’s RIBA Gold Medal winner will be awarded her medal and deliver a speech titled Architecture: A Love Letter.
Other arch-talks taking place this month include Brussels-based studio Dogma – the recipients of the 2023 Charles Jencks Award – giving a lecture on the relationship between architecture and the city at RIBA on 16 May, while Studio Mumbai founder Bijoy Jain will deliver the Royal Academy annual architecture lecture on 9 May.
There are back-to-back, book-based events to catch this month at the AA. The launch of curator Brendan Cormier’s Pandemic Objects book takes place one the 1 May while Hélène Binet will be in conversation with Marco Iuliano and AA Director Ingrid Schroder about a recent book featuring her work on the 2nd.
Finally, it’s worth heading to the Shoreditch Arts Club on 22 May to find out the winners of this year’s Archiboo Awards, I’m particularly interested in finding out the winner of the Activism Award.
Finally, finally, two major architecture-adjacent events are taking place in London this month – Clerkenwell Design Week from 21 -23 May and London Craft Week from 13-19 May.
