What is radical today? 40 positions on architecture

The 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous decades of political unsettlement and social upheaval. From the construction of the Berlin Wall and the French students’ riots of May 1968, to the Vietnam War and anti-nuclear protests, these years occupy a remarkable place in recent history. Radical ideas set out to unseat existing conventions and practices in various spheres of life, including architecture.

Over this period, a number of architecture practices and collectives emerged and challenged the visions established by modernist architects reclaiming, through their radical ideas, the transformative power of architecture to change lives, cities and thinking. Today it could be said we are living in a similarly turbulent period, with global challenges posed by climate change, escalating geo-political tensions and technological advances. But, how do architects conceive their roles in relation to current global affairs? What do they define as radical today?

This new free display in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Architecture Studio presents the visions of 40 emerging and established architects, artists and thinkers about what is most radical in architecture today. From legendary names involved fifty years ago in the radical movements such as Archizoom and Archigram, to new and emerging practitioners, this display presents bespoke contributions by  international participants, all listed below. The 40 works on display range from drawings to manifestos, photographs and collages, all questioning how architecture’s agenda is responding to today’s rapidly changing world and how the discipline is being reframed. 

Participants
Aaron Betsky and Jan Sobotka, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Alberte Lauridsen (EDIT), Andrea Branzi, Anna Heringer, Ateliermob, Bernard Khoury, Céline Baumann, Counterspace, Denise Scott Brown, Dong-Ping Wong with Virgil Abloh, Francis Kéré, Gaetano Pesce, Giorgia Scognamiglio and Lorenzo Zandri (Unsent Postcard), Guillermo López (MAIO), Ian Ritchie RA, Izaskun Chinchilla, Jack Self (REAL), Janette Kim (Urban Works Agency), Kate Macintosh, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Liza Fior (muf architecture/art), Lucy McRae, Maria Smith (Interrobang), Mark Foster Gage, Matilde Cassani, Matthias Kohler (Gramazio Kohler Research), Nic Clear, Patrik Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects), Paul Allen and CJ Lim (Studio 8 Architects), Peter Cook RA, Phineas Harper, public works, Sam Jacob, Sevince Bayrak and Oral Goktas (SO?), Stephanie Macdonald and Tom Emerson (6a architects), Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman, Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael, We Made That, and Xu Tiantian (DnA Design and Architecture).

A display designed by How About Studio and EACH, and curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, Architecture Programme Curator, Royal Academy of Arts.

Supported by FINSA and part of the Future Architecture Platform programme.