About

I am a cultural leader, curator and writer. I am currently Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University. Previously I was Senior Curator of Exhibitions and Education at Sir John Soane’s Museum and before that I was Architecture Programme Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA).

Over my time at the Farrell Centre, I’ve acted as client for the £4.6 million building project to transform a late Victorian building into the centre’s new home, while formulating the vision for the centre, establishing its brand, visual identity, and website, and, more recently, developing its programming and building the team to deliver it. This culminated with the centre’s opening to widespread public and critical attention in April 2023.

I am curator of numerous exhibitions, including the Farrell Centre’s inaugural exhibition, More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World (2023). At the Soane Museum, I curated the major exhibitions, Langlands & Bell: Degrees of Truth (2020), Eric Parry: Drawing (2019) and The Return of the Past: Postmodernism in British Architecture (2018), as well as numerous small projects. My previous exhibitions and displays at the RA include Origins: A Project by Ordinary Architecture (2016), Urban Jigsaw (2016) and Nicholas Hawksmoor: Architect of the Imagination (2012).

Alongside my curatorial activities, I am author of eight books and editor of a further eight books / journals / essay series. More information about all of these projects can be found via the links at the top of this page.

I write widely on architecture and its intersections with technology, politics and society for a wide variety of publications, while my work, both as a curator and author, is regularly reviewed and featured in the trade, national and international press.

An experienced public speaker, I have lectured internationally at a number of prestigious universities and institutions. I am frequently invited to act as a guest critic at leading architecture schools and as a judge for various architecture awards. I am regular a commentator on architecture in the broadcast media, having appeared on BBC2 Newsnight, BBC Look North, ARTE, the European culture TV channel, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio London, among others.