london festival of architecture

The biennial celebration of all things architectural returns.

The London Festival of Architecture finished this weekend, but in one part of south London its legacy will linger into late summer. The Union Street Urban Orchard opened two weeks ago, and will welcome the green-fingered until mid-September. A disused spot of land beside a …

The London Festival of Architecture has, in many ways, been underwhelming thus far. One strand that doesn’t disappoint, however, is this smashing architectural exhibition at the Mall Galleries (next to the ICA). The whole venue is crammed to bursting with huge images of landmark buildings …

Keep an eye out for these yellow discs, currently decorating the lamp posts of Southwark. Each is a sign that something noteworthy happened nearby, and will point you to a mobile web page where you can read all about it. The idea comes from a …

A shortlist of designs for a ‘New Aldgate’, a temporary landmark that will be built for 2012 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the destruction of the City gates, has been drawn up by the Architecture Foundation. The five presented above were whittled down from …

Tired of (in the words of curator Abraham Thomas) architectural shows that feature little more than inscrutable computer renders and whistful scale models, the V&A tried something new: they invited seven international architects to design and build small yet ambitious full-scale structures around the museum’s …

Photo / Shutterbuguy For anybody who has ever sauntered across Waterloo Bridge of a Sunday evening sunset, gazed eastwards at the piecemeal cluster of domes, glazed towers, organic extrusions and steel spires that make up the city’s silhouette, and thought, “I could do better”, here’s …

Photo: Heygate Estate and Strata by gazkinz Architecture is an issue that seems to exercise the opinions of most people in London, whether they’re deploring the latest carbunkle to blemish the skyline, or vexed that obstinate traditionalists have stymied another modern scheme. The biennial* London …

We’ve had a taste of village life on South Bank recently and enjoyed the Alternative Village Fete’s knitting, vegetables, simple but mesmerising games and the home-made cakes that were part of the National Theatre’s Watch This Space offering. And this weekend, we can expect more… …

Whilst everyone seems keen to spend £80 to attend some festival or other at the moment, don’t be fooled: there’s just as much free-to-cheap fun to be had around the city as ever this week. Here too the theme seems to be big, crowded, and …