Edited by: Eugenia Gotti eugenia.gotti@positive-magazine.com Where: London Artworks: London Festival of Architecture www.lfa2012.org
Curated by RIBA London, the Architecture Foundation, New London Architecture and the British Council, LFA2012 takes place over three weekends across three London hubs: , City of London, Southwark and London Pleasure Gardens (23rd /24th June), Fitzrovia and Victoria (30th June / 1 July), King’s Cross and Hoxton (7th/8th July).
The theme for LFA 2012 will be ‘The Playful City’, proposing ways in which both Londoners and visitors can use the city and its buildings in a more creative, interactive and healthy way. The Festival started out in 2004 as the London Architecture Biennale (LAB) with a series of events focused on the Clerkenwell area because Clerkenwell is home to more architects per square metre than any other place in the world. LAB was set up as a contrast to the Venice Biennale, where the world’s architectural community congregate, but the event has very little relationship to the place or community of the city.
Peter Murray, Chairman of NLA and Festival Founding Director commented: “All eyes will be on London in 2012 and there is no better time to celebrate the city’s rich historical and contemporary architectural culture. This year’s ‘Playful City’ theme will seek to encourage thousands of people to develop a better appreciation of architectural design through a series of interactive and entertaining events all over the capital. Whether you’re a Londoner who has lived in the city for 50 years, or a visitor coming to the capital for the first time, this year’s Festival promises an abundance of fun for all.”
The four organising institutions are each involved with delivering a series of landmark events during the Festival: RIBA London is working with eventproducers Strong & Co to create 15 structures for the Royal Docks in East London. The NLA is producing a landmark public exhibition which will examine how the City’s buildings, streets and public spaces have defined it over the centuries and responded to the changing patterns of business.
The British Council is working with over 50 of London’s foreign embassies and cultural institutes to display innovative and thought-provoking architecture and design projects from their countries. The Architecture Foundation will deliver LFA programming across two geographic hubs. In addition to these core activities, The Festival’s directors are calling upon Londoners to organise their own activities.
This morning, the festival has begun proposing a Brutalist Cycle Tour organized by ARTouride that will propose 9 other routes in the next two weeks. The tour will depart from The Architecture Foundation and head over the river to the Barbican Centre and then head back across the river to the Hayward Gallery and South Bank. Lastly tonight The London Festival of Architecture has invited the team to propose Velonotte the event during the opening night. The East End will be transformed into an outdoor museum and some famous architects and art historians such as Peter Ackroyd, Richard Rogers, Ricky Burdett, Peter Murray and David Adjaye will guide you.
