Author Description

Some of the most exciting and innovative work in architecture has been done - and continues to be done - by British architects working all over the world. Projects presented in the Architecture Room of the annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, over the past several years have covered the entire spectrum of contemporary architectural practice, from traditional styles to the most avant-garde proposals. Schemes for renovating existing buildings, including both private homes and public structures, have also been featured. This book presents a broad selection of built and proposed architectural projects, in the form of sketches, fully realized presentation drawings, models, paintings, and photographs, allowing the reader to survey work by many of Britain's important architects of the moment, along with several up-and-coming practitioners and artists who feature architecture in their work. Two illustrated essays introduce this panoply of approaches and treatments. Peter Murray chronicles the history of the teaching and presentation of architecture at the Royal Academy since its establishment in the 18th century, while Robert Maxwell analyzes differing attitudes towards the practice of architecture in Britain and America, in the process illuminating some of the unique qualities of British building and planning today. Contemporary British Architects is published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Arts and intended to travel throughout the United States, in order to convey the diversity and versatility of contemporary British architecture to an American audience.