London Festival of Architecture (LFA)

Festival, 23 Haziran - 8 Temmuz 2012 tarihleri arasında Londra'da gerçekleşiyor.

London’s intense summer of sport and culture is set to be complemented by this year’s London Festival of Architecture (23rd June – 8th July), a three-weekend programme of activities, installations and attractions organised by The Architecture Foundation, The British Council, New London Architecture and RIBA London. Hundreds of designers and architects will also be staging their own dynamic events over the course of the Festival.

Adopting the theme “The Playful City”, the Festival will propose ways in which both Londoners and visitors can use the city and its buildings in a more creative, interactive way and the individual organisers have explored the theme in diverse ways and developed a myriad of different attractions. Festival participants will be encouraged to play in and play with the city around them.

Focused on understanding and appreciating architecture, and the design of the places we inhabit, the city-wide Festival will focus on three London areas over three weekends:

· City of London, Southwark and Royal Docks (23-24 June)

· Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury (30 June-1 July)

· King’s Cross and Hoxton (7-8 July)

Over the three weekends, the Festival will see a range of events organised, from urban interventions to create new community green spaces, to specially designed follies and curiosities to engage interest in architecture and fuel imagination. Meanwhile, international country showcases of exemplar architectural projects from around the world will inspire, while an exhibition painting a vivid picture of the City of London stretching back 2,000 years – and forward to the year 2050 – will educate and entertain. The Festival will also feature a wide array of talks, lectures, exhibitions, installations, walking tours, cycle rides, participatory sport, performance, dance, music, food and drink, and much more.

Peter Murray, Chairman of NLA and Festival Founding Director commented:

“In the build up to the Olympics, when the world’s eyes are on London it is entirely appropriate that we focus on the richness of the architecture – both historic and modern – that London has to offer. This year we have added a pineapple to our logo because it has traditionally been a symbol of welcome and hospitality and can be found on buildings throughout the capital from St Paul’s Cathedral to Ham House. To welcome our visitors for 2012, London’s architectural community has got together to produce a particularly rich and diverse programme of events, aimed at both tourists and locals, young and old – all of whom will surely find something to delight, challenge and entertain in this most fascinating of cities.”

With hundreds of events and a quarter million visitors expected, the programme is guaranteed to deliver something of interest to everyone.

Among the many highlights being organised for this year’s Festival are:

· London Pleasure Gardens: a series of follies and features in London’s purpose built venue for music and celebration (RIBA London)

· The Developing City: an interactive exhibition charting the City’s history from the Romans through to the future (New London Architecture)

· Gibbon’s Rent: The participatory creation of a new pocket park, reclaiming a forgotten cut through in Southwark featuring stunning views of the Shard (The Architecture Foundation)

· The British Council’s International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012 will see more than 50 embassies and national cultural institutes across London display the work of emerging and innovative designers and architects from their countries.

· King’s Cross: A trail of “urban actions”—including an “imagination playground” and architecturally-inspired dance performance—running through this rapidly changing area (The Architecture Foundation)

· Hoxton Square: playful interactive parasols and a graphic display of “yesterday’s weather” will encourage visitors to stop and chat (RIBA London)

The opening weekend – 22nd to 24th June – will see a wealth of activity taking place, including the LFA’s launch event at the London Pleasure Gardens (featuring structures and installations commissioned by RIBA London) and the opening of the British Council’s International Architecture and Design Showcase. The first weekend will also see the London Velonotte nocturnal bike ride, The Architecture Foundation’s launch of the Gibbon’s Rent urban intervention, and the opening of NLA’s The Developing City.

There will also be an official London Festival of Architecture photography competition organised by public realm design advisers Space Syntax Limited and Communications agency Hype! In which the public will be invited to submit their unique take on London’s public live during the Olympic year. Continuing the Playful City theme and in the LFA’s spirit of engaging a wider audience with the built environment, all participants will be able to rate each other’s interpretations of London’s dynamic nature.

In addition, throughout the three weekends of the Festival individuals and organisations are hosting a wealth of additional events, forming a varied and highly original programme ranging from a planning meeting held in a Vauxhall roller disco to a talk on the history of railway architecture.

Full details of every event are available from the www.lfa2012.org website.

The LFA 2012 is curated by The Architecture Foundation, British Council, New London Architecture and RIBA London. The Festival is sponsored by Land Securities and Berkeley Group, and is supported by Mayor of London and through public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

For further information please contact:
Tony Nokling at FTI Consulting: +44 (0)20 7269 9359 / Tony.Nokling@fticonsulting.com

Philip Sorensen at FTI Consulting: +44 (0)20 7269 7218 / Philip.Sorensen@fticonsulting.com