The latest news and comment on the Royal Institute of British Architects
August 2024
Labour’s ‘grey belt’ plans could result in isolated communities, warns leading architect
Exclusive: Muyiwa Oki, president of the RIBA, says new estates must be high quality and have access to shops, schools, transport and green space
July 2024
Britain’s best new building: can a tiny dairy farm beat the epic Elizabeth line?
From increasing the National Portrait Gallery’s wall space to revitalising a notorious estate, this year’s finalists for the RIBA Stirling architecture prize couldn’t be more different
April 2024
‘One of the most racist things I’ve ever seen’: how RIBA is decolonising its HQ
The Royal Institute of British Architects has been taking stock of the disturbingly imperial decoration of its palatial home – with a new show telling a larger, more unsettling story
January 2024
Sex scenes and feasibility studies: architect and racy novelist Lesley Lokko wins RIBA gold medal
The unstoppable Ghanaian Scot, who shook up the Venice Biennale with a focus on the scars of postcolonial Africa, has now made history by winning architecture’s prestigious award
October 2023
Managers and leaders only: Britain’s best new building is a retirement home with entry requirements
With a verdant courtyard at its heart, the John Morden Centre in London is a touchy-feely place for a certain type of retiree – and is a very deserving winner of the RIBA’s Stirling prize
September 2023
‘A polite beige consensus’: are these really Britain’s best new buildings?
The six nominees for the 2023 RIBA Stirling prize shortlist are tasteful and well made – but a great many quirky buildings with a sense of fun have been overlooked
August 2023
Architect Muyiwa Oki: ‘We need a diversity of people to solve the big issues of the day’
The youngest, and first black president of the RIBA wants to rebuild the profession with an accent on workers’ rights, the community and sustainability
July 2023
‘This will not be swept away’: the bamboo homes helping Pakistan’s post-flood rebuild
Riba launches Reinvention prize to encourage refurbishment over demolition
May 2023
Architect Yasmeen Lari: ‘The international colonial charity model will never work’
The winner of this year’s royal gold medal for architecture has gone from designing corporate buildings to self-build shelters. She talks about shedding her ego, and empowering people to rebuild in the climate emergency
February 2023
Victorian architecture’s lost giant, Decimus Burton, finally regains recognition
The designer of the glasshouses at Kew Gardens fell out of favour – but supporters of a new museum hope to change all that
November 2022
National Gallery entrance revamp row recalls King Charles’ ‘carbuncle’
Architects’ society forced to defend scheme to remodel entrance from ‘unjustified’ criticism
October 2022
Cosy nooks in a thicket of books: time-straddling library is Britain’s best new building
‘Our time has come’ – Muyiwa Oki, first black president of RIBA, reveals his shakeup plans
June 2022
Architect Nigel Coates: ‘I like spaces that made you wonder. I was trying to softly seduce people’
The architect says his struggles as a gay man armed him with a courage to break all the rules
May 2022
Radical Rooms: Power of the Plan review – the house that Bess built
A playful exhibition puts three British buildings co-created by women centre stage, complete with dancing floor plans
April 2022
Body set up to police UK housebuilding not representative, say critics
New Home Quality Board lacks representation from architects, ordinary homeowners and BAME communities, experts warn
January 2022
World’s best building award won by rainwater-harvesting hospital in rural Bangladesh
RIBA’s international prize 2021 has been won by Kashef Chowdhury’s $2m Friendship hospital in a water-logged part of Bengal, beating competition from David Chipperfield and Wilkinson Eyre
December 2021
‘I’m overwhelmed’ – Balkrishna Doshi, India’s most celebrated living architect, wins top UK honour
The defining architect of post-independence India, who worked with the likes of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, has been awarded RIBA’s royal gold medal for his ‘delightfully purposeful’ buildings
July 2021
Notebook
It’s a pity not everyone can access the memorial to a struggle for equality
Rowan Moore
The stone mound to the Peterloo massacre invites people to step up to say their piece, but overlooks wheelchair users
