Alexander Griffin

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Last updated 17th March 2023

My research interests focus on architectural education; specifically, how historical practices in architectural education can positively impact current progressive pedagogy. Aligned with this is a conviction that architectural education should be available to all who wish to study it (especially the financially disadvantaged and those with other life responsibilities that demand time) and that there is a greater need today than ever before to discover new ways to deliver and experience architectural education for a more diverse society.

I am the sole author of The Rise of Architectural Education: The Origins and Enduring Influence of the Académie Royale d’Architecture, which emerged from my PhD at the University of Sheffield. The book traces the previously neglected history of the Académie’s development and its enduring influence on subsequent architectural schools throughout the following centuries to the present day. Providing a valuable context for current discussions in architectural education, the book acts as a catalyst for my ongoing research in ‘socially-wide’ architectural pedagogy.

I question the notion that history is a subservient component of architectural education – merely a supportive supplement to the core tenant of design. Our understanding of history is forever developing; therefore, its place in current architectural education and practice should be actively re-evaluated and its contribution reimagined, especially given the rapidly evolving challenges that face humanity and the planet.

• RIBA award-winning Architect
• Founder of Oblong Architecture
• Senior Lecturer at Huddersfield University School of Architecture
• Author of the forthcoming The Rise of Academic Architectural Education: The Origins and Enduring Influence of the Académie Royale d'Architecture, Published by Routledge
• Senior Pastor of Sheffield Vineyard Church.