Author-itative? A Venture in Decentring Master Narratives and Master Pieces

This event marks the launch of A Practical Guide to Architectural Drawing (RIBA Publishing, 2024), by Guang Yu Ren, Director of History and Theory, and Edward Denison, Professor of Architecture and Global Modernities at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Researched and sourced exclusively from the RIBA Drawings Collection, the world’s largest and most prestigious archive of architectural drawings, this book is designed to encourage students to engage with the collection, physically, intellectually, and critically.

The event will comprise a short presentation by the authors, reflecting on their decentred approach to the subject not only as an archive of coloniality, but also as a means of constructing and sustaining an authoritative voice for the discipline of architecture that privileges western (invariably British) perspectives, experiences and values. This will be followed by responses from Fiona Orsini, Curator of the RIBA Drawings Collection and co-author of The Architecture Drawing Book (RIBA Publishing, 2023), and Neal Shasore, Director of the London School of Architecture and author of a forthcoming book (also by RIBA Publishers) on the RIBA Headquarters.

This talk will be followed by a drinks reception and the opportunity to purchase the book. 

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Speaker Biographies:

Guang Yu Ren is an architect, researcher, and Director of Architectural History and Theory at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Over the past two decades she has worked on diverse projects confronting coloniality and modernity in different global contexts, as well as contemporary Chinese urbanity. Widely published globally, her research on Japanese-occupied Manchuria and coloniality in Eritrea, recognised by the RIBA President’s Medal for Research (2016 & 2017), draws attention to the fields of art, architecture, and representation in the making of not only the built environment, but also through identities and structures of power. 

Edward Denison is an educator and an independent practitioner with over 25 years’ professional experience in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America, and has twice been awarded the RIBA President’s Medal for Research. Edward is Professor of Architecture and Global Modernities at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. He has published over 20 books, produced three exhibitions, and his written and photographic work features regularly in print and online media internationally. In 2020, he cofounded the global collaborative, MoHoA (Modern Heritage of Africa / Modern Heritage in the Anthropocene). His research is motivated by historical inequity and its future effects. 

Fiona Orsini is Curator at the RIBA Drawings & Archives Collections, based at the Victoria & Albert Museum. She has worked for the Royal Institute of British Architects since 2006 and has curated five exhibitions for the V&A+RIBA Architecture Partnership at the V&A. Fiona is co-author of ‘The Architecture Drawing Book’ (RIBA Publishing, 2023), written with fellow RIBA curators, Susan Pugh and Charles Hind. Her main areas of interest are early 20th century and mid-century architecture and design. Prior to joining the RIBA, she worked at the Museum of London and London’s Transport Museum.

Dr Neal Shasore is Head of School and Chief Executive of the London School of Architecture. He took up his role in June 2021 having joined the LSA Faculty as Design History Tutor in 2019. Neal is particularly passionate about diversifying architectural education, heritage and practice. An architectural historian by training, his research and writing has primarily focussed on architectural culture in Britain and the Empire in the first half of the twentieth century and this critical perspective informs his own pedagogy and practice. He is a Trustee of the Architectural Heritage Fund and a member of Historic England’s London Advisory Committee. Neal currently leads the Design Think Tank module with Daniel Ovalle Costal.

More information

• A Practical Guide to Architectural Drawing: RIBA Collections

Image: Detail from a coastal housing scheme (1985) by Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, The RIBA Drawings Collection