London School of Architecture

The London School of Architecture, known as the LSA, is a small independent higher education provider based in London.[1] It is England's first independent school of architecture since the Architectural Association opened in 1847.[2]

London School of Architecture
TypeIndependent
Established2015
FounderWill Hunter
Academic affiliation
London Metropolitan University
ChairpersonCrispin Kelly
Postgraduates108
Location
London
Websitethe-lsa.org

History

In the October 2011 edition of The Architectural Review, a new think tank called Alternative Routes for Architecture[3] launched which sought to create ‘a 21st-century apprenticeship, with a reciprocal relationship between practices and students’[4] to tackle a growing crisis in the funding of architectural education.[5] A year later the London School of Architecture emerged from this think tank.[6]

Founded by Will Hunter, the LSA's start-up faculty has been called ‘a Who’s Who of the respected London architecture world’[7] and includes Deborah Saunt, Clive Sall (co-founder of Fashion Architecture Taste), James Soane (Project Orange), Tom Holbrook, Alan Powers and Peter Buchanan. The Academic Court comprises Nigel Coates, Farshid Moussavi and Leslie Lokko.[8][9]

Constituted as a charity in 2015,[10] the LSA is supported by philanthropists including Nadja Swarovski, Sir Terry Leahy and Sir Peter Mason and foundations including the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Schroder Foundation.[11] The initial governing board included Crispin Kelly, Sarah Ichioka, Elsie Owusu and Niall Hobhouse.[12]

Education

The LSA offers a two-year postgraduate programme that is validated by London Metropolitan University and supported by a network of architecture practices based in London.[13] The programme is recognised at Part 2 level by the Royal Institute of British Architects[14] and the Architects Registration Board.[15]

The school opened what it termed a ‘cost-neutral’ education where tuition fees are balanced with placement salaries.[16] The first year of the programme is ‘divided between study and work, with students spending two days a week on academic projects and the remaining three at an architecture practice, before undertaking a thesis in their final year.’[17]

The programme operates ‘Design Think Tanks’, where groups of practices and students collaborate on 'speculative design/research around a shared agenda'.[18] In 2015, one devised a ‘new mode of practice for the sharing economy era’,[19][20] while another proposed housing solutions for millennials.[21][22]

The LSA held its first two graduation shows at Somerset House[23][24] and published associated magazines: Change[25] in 2017 and Connect[26] in 2018.[27][28][29] Student projects engage with political challenges[30][31] and the urban-scale issues, such as how to deal with waste in the city.[32][33] In 2019 the LSA launched Citizen magazine[34] with Isabel Allen as its Editor-in-Chief and graphic designer Simon Esterson as Art Director. The magazine engages social, political, urban and architectural subjects and disseminates student work and research. Citizen has been described as the 'natural descendent of The Architectural Review and the Real Review: slightly left-field, not afraid to delve into theory or tangential subject matter yet will be interesting to a wider audience.'[35]

Campus

The LSA uses ‘the city as the campus’.[27][9][36] With the majority of England's architecture schools being based in a university, the LSA has been called ‘radical’ for ‘sidestep[ping] the notion of the bastion of the university campus [and operating] peripatetically to engage directly with the city’.[37]

In its first year, the LSA was based at Second Home[38] and taught at the Design Museum.[39] The school was based at Somerset House in its second and third years and is currently in Hackney.[40] The school sites its design projects in a different London borough each year,[41] starting with Soho in 2015.[42]

Much of the programme is taught in architecture practices around London.[43] For events, the LSA has formed partnerships with leading cultural institutions including the Architecture Foundation,[44] the Design Museum,[45][46][47] the London School of Economics,[48] and the Royal Academy of Arts.[49]

Reputation

Described internationally as ‘possibly the most ambitious’[50] of alternative educational models, the LSA has been connected with ‘radical’[51] forms of architectural teaching and been said to show how ‘innovation and high standards are perfectly compatible’ and how ‘beneficial change can be achieved within existing institutional frameworks’.[52]

The programme has been credited for influencing the introduction of architecture apprenticeships,[53] and commended for the ‘level of engagement with the profession in the design of a sustainable and innovative programme’[54] and ‘the sense of empowerment and independence that the students demonstrate’.[14]

One critic found the architecture ‘a bit prosaic’ but ‘the students are evidently taught to consider the big picture and how the city works’ while another said ‘the founding principles of the LSA are quite revolutionary – but as with all pioneering ideas, only time will prove whether or not it is successful.’[29]

The LSA has been linked to other innovative models in arts education, such as Open School East, Islington Mill Academy, Arts Emergency, the School of the Damned and the Silent University.[55][56][57][58]

Notable members

Academic Court

Faculty

Practice network

Partners
  • Savills
  • Stanhope
  • Drawing Matter
  • Caro Communications
  • Kingspan Insulation
gollark: You can compare things without it also implying "we should immediately do whatever the 'better' thing does".
gollark: That isn't actually the implication.
gollark: https://ourworldindata.org/ has *great* comparison things. You should try it.
gollark: A lot of the time they even have properties you can plot on graphs, which is really fun.
gollark: Some of them have the same properties as each other, so you can compare them.

References
  1. "REVIEW FOR SPECIFIC COURSE DESIGNATION: THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, MONITORING VISIT REPORT, OCTOBER 2018". Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  2. Hopkirk, Elizabeth (8 December 2015). "UK's first private school of architecture since AA opens doors". BD Online. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  3. Hunter, Will (29 November 2012). "Alternative Routes for Architecture". The Architectural Review. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  4. Wainwright, Oliver (30 May 2013). "Towering folly: why architectural education in Britain is in need of repair". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  5. Hunter, Will (2 February 2014). "We 'cling-ons' see our profession as a calling". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  6. Hunter, Will (1 October 2013). "New School of Architecture Launched". The Architectural Review. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  7. Bevan, Robert (17 March 2015). "Architects, assemble! How the London School of Architecture hopes to transform training in the capital". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  8. Taylor-Foster, James. "In Conversation With Will Hunter, Director Of The New London School Of Architecture". ArchDaily. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  9. Mark, Laura (24 July 2015). "Interview: Will Hunter, founder of the London School of Architecture". The Architects' Journal. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  10. Registered charities in England and Wales. "The London School Of Architecture". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  11. "The London School of Architecture Operating and Financial Review" (PDF). Charity Commission. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  12. Hopkirk, Elizabeth (3 October 2011). "New architecture school to offer cut-price part II". BD Online. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  13. Woodman, Ellis (3 October 2013). "LSA offers a radical solution". BD Online. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  14. RIBA. "Report of the RIBA visiting board to The London School of Architecture" (PDF). Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  15. ARB. "The London School of Architecture". Architects Registration Board. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  16. Mark, Laura (23 March 2015). "New London School of Architecture opens for applications". Architects Journal. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  17. Murphy, Douglas (2 April 2015). "London School of Architecture". Icon. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
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  20. Pearman, Hugh (11 July 2016). "Uber-inspired architecture". RIBA Journal. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
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  32. Stojakovic, Aleksandar. "Wasteminster". President's Medals. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  33. Richardson, Vicky; Studio, 8Fold. "A rubbish revolution:London must find new ways to deal with the waste crisis to meet 2026 recycling targets". 25 February 2018. The Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  34. "The LSA launches Citizen — a magazine for everybody engaged in the challenge of creating the future city". The London School of Architecture. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  35. "Citizen #1". magCulture. 2019-08-08. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
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