Neighbours in Space and Time: Grafton Architects at Sir John Soanes Museum

Grafton's recently completed Marshall Building for LSE, sits across Lincoln's Inn Fields from Sir John Soane's Museum, the home of leading Georgian architect John Soane. This new neighbour was deeply inspired by the architecture of the Museum, in particular Soane's atmospheric use of light, as well as other historic buildings in the area. The result is an elegant, expressive and democratic new space. Like the Museum, it fosters learning, debate and creativity. This relationship will be celebrated in an exhibition at Sir John Soane's Museum from October 2022-January 2023. Contributing authors explore the architecture of Grafton's Marshall Building and the Soane Museum, pairing Soane drawings from the Museum's collection with Grafton's own drawings and in-progress photographs of the Marshall Building which are published for the first time. This approach highlights architecture as a craft shared across the centuries. This innovative publication also functions as a sketch-book, with printed sections interleaved with 16 pages of high-quality drawing paper and a pocket at the back for collected materials.

About the Author :
Yvonne Farrell is a founding Director of Grafton Architects, an international architecture studio based in Dublin, Ireland. Grafton Architects have been awarded the Pritzker Prize, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, the RIAI Grandon Prize, the RIAI Gold Medal and the RIBA international prize, amongst other accolades. Kenneth Frampton is an architect and historian and is Ware Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. Deborah Saunt is an architect and one of the founding directors of DSDHA. She has held academic appointments at Yale School of Architecture, Universidad de Navarra, ...cole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and the University of Cambridge. Marina Tabassum is Founder and Principal Architect of Marina Tabassum Architects in Dhaka and is a pioneer of what she describes as 'the architecture of relevance'. She is Visiting Professor at BRAC University in Dhaka and Director of Academic Program at Bengal Institute for Architecture. Tabassum was awarded the Soane Medal in 2021. Kenneth Frampton occupies a unique position in architectural culture. His work as an architect, writer, critic, educator and academic over the last fifty years has shaped and informed the outlook of countless students and architects. Few architects practising today can claim not to have influenced by his thinking and ideas, notably around issues of context and culture, as articulated in his seminal and still powerfully contemporary text 'Towards a Critical Regionalism' (1983). Other works such as Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995) and the many editions of Modern Architecture: A Critical History have driven the ways that we see, think about and understand modern architecture and its role in society. Born in 1930, Frampton trained as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. He has worked as an architect and as an architectural historian and critic, and is now Ware Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, Columbia University, New York. He has taught at a number of leading institutions in the field, including the Royal College of Art in London, the ETH in Zurich, the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam, EPFL in Lausanne and the Academia di Architettura in Mendrisio. He is the author of numerous essays on modern and contemporary architecture, and has served on many international juries for architectural awards and building commissions. His writings include Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995), Le Corbusier in the World of Art series (2001) and a collection of essays entitled Labour, Work and Architecture (2005). Marina Tabassum was born, lives and works in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is Founder and Principal Architect of Marina Tabassum Architects MTA in Dhaka, and is a pioneer of what she describes as"the architecture of relevance". Her practice focuses on designing buildings in tune with their natural environments (in particular, working with local materials and communities) while also embraing the design challenges of sustainability, environment, and our collective impact on the planet. She is currently working in the Rohingya refugee camps Cox's Bazar in south-east Bangladesh, and designing mobile modular houses for ultra-low-income people in the country's coastal areas. She is visiting professor at the BRAC University in Dhaka. Yvonne Farrell is a founding Director of Grafton Architects, an international architecture studio based in Dublin, Ireland. Grafton Architects have been awarded the Pritzker Prize, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, the RIAI Grandon Prize, the RIAI Gold Medal and the RIBA international prize, amongst other accolades. Kenneth Frampton is an architect and historian and is Ware Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. Deborah Saunt is an architect and one of the founding directors of DSDHA. She has held academic appointments at Yale School of Architecture, Universidad de Navarra, ...cole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the University of Cambridge. Marina Tabassum is Founder and Principal Architect of Marina Tabassum Architects in Dhaka and is a pioneer of what she describes as 'the architecture of relevance'. She is Visiting Professor at BRAC University in Dhaka and Director of Academic Program at Bengal Institute for Architecture. Tabassum was awarded the Soane Medal in 2021. Dr Bruce Boucher is Deborah Loeb Brice Director of Sir John Soaneís Museum. He taught for over twenty years at University College London and is the author of books on Palladio, and on Italian Sculpture. He is a corresponding member of the Ateneo Veneto in Venice and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.