What to see at London Festival of Architecture 2024

Marking its 20^th year this June, London Festival of Architecture returns from 1-30 June for a month of conversations, installations and exhibitions on the theme of ‘reimagine’ – inviting visitors to rethink preconceptions, share knowledge and explore radical new solutions for designing and creating. Read on for our pick of over 450 events taking place across the next few weeks.

Reimagining Women’s Work

When: 12 June, 18:00 – 20:00
Where: fcb studios, 20 Tottenham Street, W1T 4RG

Reimagining Women’s Work is a chance to hear about Part W’s latest printed mapping project, celebrating women’s contributions to built environment. Part W develop and deliver public facing projects that embrace participatory activism, working to ensure the knowledge of women and girls is taken into account within design and architecture. Join them at Fielden Clegg Bradley’s London studio for a discussion on this award-winning, crowd-funnded project and how others can get involved.

Empowering Communities: Role of AI in Inclusive Engagement

When: 13 June, 18:30 – 20:00
Where: Gensler, Moretown (formerly Thomas More Square), E1W 1YW

One of the main challenges in the planning process is having truly inclusive community engagement: This panel discussion will consider how the use of AI may be the key to reimagine, shape and conduct engagement programmes better. An expert panel of experts from the built-environment gather to explore the challenges and benfits of the use of AI in community engagement, sharing examples of best practice from the private, public and third sectors.

Rising from the Water: Designing in a Climate Emergency

When: 01 June – 30 June, Thurs-Sat, 12:00 – 16:00
Where: A House for Artists, 36 Linton Rd, Barking, IG11 8SE

How can architecture and design respond to rising water levels? Create London is conducting a 7-day workshop led by Material Cultures and Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari. Recipient of the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal, in 2011 Lari created the Darya Khan Village Women’s Centre, a bamboo structure on raised stilts to avoid flooding in Pakistan. The workshop will involve the design and build of an experimental flood structure using nnatural materials found at Barking Riverside, exploring the potential of making buildings from plants that grow in wet and flooded areas. Presented at A House for Artists, the finished design can be visited throughout June as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

SQUIGGLE

When: 01 June – 20 September
Where: Citypoint, 1 Ropemaker Street, London, EC2Y 9HR

Commissioned by Brookfield Properties, NEON’s SQUIGGLE is a large installation crafted from flexible PVC construction ducting – reimagining everyday materials and enticing interactions from passersby. At the end of its time in the sun, the artwork will be recycled as piping for reuse.

Bio-Spaces: Regenerative, Resilient Futures

When: 01 June – 30 June, 09:00 – 17:30
Where: Roca London Gallery, Station Court, SW6 2PY

Curated by Planted and Oliver Heath Design, this exhibition will explore the concepts of biophilic design, biodiversity and biomimicry in design, investigating new bio-based and biogenerative materials and how our spaces can be designed with nature in mind.

Serpentine Pavilion 2024

When: 08 June – 27 October
Where: Serpentine, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA

Since 2000, Serpentine has invited internationally renowned and emerging architects to create their first completed structure in England. For the 23rd pavilion, Mass Studies’ Minsuk Cho looked to the past 23 years of pavilions, noticing that they often emerge as a singular structure situated at the centre of the Serpentine South lawn. To explore new possibilities and previously untold spatial narratives, Cho approaches the centre as an open space creating a void characterised by a constellation of smaller, adaptable structures each conceived as a ‘content machine’, serving a different purpose and individually named.

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