Festival History

Centred around the theme ‘In Common’, the LFA2023 programme powerfully captured the imagination of both the industry and the public and led to some of the most thought-provoking, creative and engaging events and interventions we’ve seen yet, including: interventions and activations that tackled issues around access, diversity and equity in our city, workshoppings of personal and shared histories and walks and tours engaging in practices around greening, permaculture and farming.

Amongst the events, the programme also saw an exciting series of built projects across London, inviting the public to engage with the streets and explore communality and community. Highlights included Seats at the Table – an intervention exploring how we can co-design equity in the public realm, the launch of Deaf Architecture Front, a playful intervention testing out ideas for the future of Edgware Town Centre and several greening interventions.

LFA2022 called for action from Londoners following a period of stasis during the Covid-19 pandemic. Centred around the theme of ‘act’ the programme examined how we can act for ourselves, each other, our cities and the environment. Following two years of digital-led content, organisers were encouraged to mobilise beyond conversations as well as re-think what architecture is, who it is for and how we interact with it. From poetry, dancing and communal dining on a pedestrianised stretch of road in Somers Town, promenade performances exploring Corbett Estate in South East to a day-long School of Activism in Hackney Wick and anything in between, the 2022 programme was experimental, daring and fresh. 

Highlights included a temporary pedestrianisation and activations in Somers Town, which tested out ideas for a safer and greener future and called for a permanent physical change of the public realm, and an exploration of pop up bike parking outside Victoria Station, connecting to the rise in cycling across the city.

Following our first ever digital festival in 2020, we were delighted to launch the LFA2021 in a new and exciting hybrid model. This hybrid model allowed us to celebrate the city and its architecture through number of physical and digital events, unveil many of the installations resulting from LFA Competitions launched earlier in the year and harness the best of real-world events with the accessibility of digital, allowing more people to participate in more ways and in more places. The programme navigated the theme of ‘care’ and examined how we can better care for ourselves, each other, our cities and the environment, and reflected on the role of the pandemic in pushing us to realise some of the areas we need to actively care about even more.

Highlights included a series of interventions exploring greater greening and biodiversity on Exhibition Road, the first ‘Showroom Showcase’ project, connecting emerging designers with leading showrooms, the testing of new ways to display information in train stations and a first ever Pride Pop Up.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 saw a transition of LFA to an online festival, known as ‘LFA Digital’, with a longer Festival Season across the Autumn period. Themed around ideas of ‘power’, the 2020 programme saw organisers examine where power lies, who has power and who should have more power, the role of ‘soft power’ in architecture, and what happens when people are disempowered – topics which were made ever-more pertinent during lockdown and mass public service strains.

Projects included the biggest online Architecture Bake Off, key public art and wayfinding installations such as ‘You are here’ in London Bridge and unique Digital content including the very first audio guides celebrating infrastructure projects in the Royal Docks and first 30 objects in 30 days video series running throughout June.

The 2019 edition of LFA interrogated the ‘boundaries’  that exist both between individuals and in the built environment and explored which boundaries actually need to be broken, pushed or made clearer to get us towards a better city and industry. Projects taking this theme forward, included the first ‘Manifestos’ collaboration between the Design Museum and LFA – later to become an annual part of the programme – the second edition of the Dulwich Pavilion,  ‘Colour Palace’, breaking boundaries of who is welcome into spaces of art and culture and the transformation of parking bays in the City of London exploring how these bays can work better for people and places in the city.

A key year for testing ideas and pushing boundaries, 2019 saw the permanent intervention ‘Happy Street’ overhaul a gloomy underpass in Wandsworth into a space which the local community could be proud of, and have a deeper sense of safety and joy, alongside temporary interventions in Westminster which tested out ideas for the future of Harrow Road Canal in Westminster.

Focusing on the theme ‘identity’ and questions of what makes a Londoner, what defines the city and therefore the identity of those who live in it, the LFA2018 programme saw the delivery of a programme by more than 300 separate organisations and individuals – helping us reach an audience over well over 600,000 people.

Highlights for the year included the first ever Pride Float, LFA symposium and City Benches – which would become a repeated fixture in the LFA programme, alongside the launch of the Festivals first Architecture Masters podcast – which expanded the Festival’s reach beyond the boundaries of June. This year also saw the launch of the #SeeTheElephant campaign, aiming to tackle discriminatory behaviour in the built environment and encourage industry leaders to commit to positive change.

The 10th edition of the Festival broke records to become the largest festival to date with over 600 events. The theme of ‘memory’ acknowledged London as a city of myriad layers of memories: of people, buildings, places and experiences and extended through projects such as a world premiere of new choral work in a disused Royal Docks warehouse, exclusive tours of Battersea Power Station, and the UK’s first ever ‘live listing’ with Historic England.

2017 also marked the year of the award-winning Dulwich Pavilion by IF_DO, a project which explored how the public space at the gallery could be rethought to increase access to cultural spaces for all. The same year saw the launch of ground-breaking new research by LFA, revealing the huge economic value of London’s architecture sector for the first time, at MIPIM 2017.

With a full-time Festival team in place for the first time, LFA2016 was the biggest to date with 350+ events across 23 London boroughs, celebrating the theme “community” and covering a huge range of issues, from housing to community cohesion. Coinciding with a divisive Brexit referendum campaign and outcome, the programme explored architecture’s power to bring people and communities together, ideas of green and new communities, the power of community effort and creative workspaces.

Highlights included a festival of refugee art and culture, a very popular Pride breakfast, an extraordinarily competitive Lego Challenge at the Royal Academy and an experimental dance exploring our sense of place in the Cressingham Estate in Tulse Hill.

Examining contemporary architectural developments in the city, the LFA2015 programme looked at the city as a work in progress, exploring ideas of change and regeneration.  Highlights included debates around how policy and design can encourage creative pace to thrive in cities and how technology has changed the way we view the built environment, the RA Lego Architecture Challenge and a ‘Brutalist Playground’ at RIBA.

LFA2015 also saw the first ever LFA focus country – Ireland. The focus country programme formed part of Irish Design 2015, a year-long international celebration of Irish Design, and included the installation of two pavilions in Lewis Cubitt Square, King’s Cross, an installation called ‘Nine Lives’ in the Tank at the Design Museum and a series of talks, tours and workshops.

Marking 10 years of the Festival, the LFA2014 programme combined celebration and critical reflection around the theme of “Capital”, through a series of debates and discussions, as well as cycling, walking and jogging tours around the city’s historical landmarks and new developments. Exploring issues affecting the city, its inhabitants and the role of architecture, topics included the recent boom in the construction of tall buildings, alternative modes of transport, the housing crisis and what is meant by ‘good design’.

Once again, the Festival acted as a platform for international dialogues and showcase, with highlights including two pavilions organised with the Irish Architecture Foundation, the International Architectural Showcase, a Goldfinger’s bus tour by the and the kick off of the Royal Academy of Arts Looking at London programme with Yinka Shonibare discussing his Fourth Plinth commission, Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle.

The first annual edition of the Festival, the 2013 programme took a large step towards how we know the Festival today – with a diverse series of events delivered by a range of practices and individuals across the whole city. Amongst the events was an exhibition of architectural models from around the world, a reconstructed Victorian terrace façade and suspended mirror playing optical tricks on participants and passers-by.

Harnessing the excitement leading up to 2012 Olympics Games and encouraging Londoners to take to the streets, the Festival animated the city with a series of participatory workshops and events. Over the course of three weekends, the programme harnessed the excitement leading up to the Olympics, and explored how the games were changing the city.

Concentrated around the neighbourhoods of the City of London; Southwark; Fitzrovia and Victoria and Kings Cross and Hoxton, key installations included the first edition of ‘Pews and Perches’ benches, exhibitions exploring the concept of “The Developing City” and highlighting the relationship between the architecture of the City of London and its success as a global trading centre and a night of live broadcasting and performances. This sat alongside a ‘fringe’ Festival, which span across a host of inspiring activities and programming and was once again a testament to the energy and creativity within London’s architectural scene.

Exploring the idea of ‘The Welcoming City’ the 2010 edition of the Festival travelled across three key areas of London over three weeks-  the Nash Ramblas – connecting Regent’s Park and St James’s Park, Aldgate to Stratford and Bankside – and expanded the role of the Festival position to open up the city to more people and activities.

Key projects included the Union Street Orchard, the flagship event for the greening of Southwark which highlighted plans for the Bankside Urban Forest and transformed a derelict site into a thriving community orchard during June 2010, the Water/Solar lift exploring how the Duke of York Steps could be more accessible and playful space for all, the first ‘Architecture for Dogs’ exhibition and launch of the Regent Street Windows.

Returning for a third edition of the Festival, and this time with a programme spanning a whole month,  the 2008 programme explored ideas of “fresh thinking, ideas, talent, collaborations and cultures”. Londoners and visitors alike and included street installations, exhibitions, guided walks, cycle rides, boat tours of the city’s river and canals, parties, design workshops, debates, breakfast talks, and weekend street markets. Introducing the idea of Festival ‘hubs’, each with a focus weekend curated by a built environment professional, key locations included: Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge; Canary Wharf, Southwark and Southbank; Stratford and Greenwich Peninsula; Kings Cross, Clerkenwell and City of London and Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia.

Highlight projects included two temporary road closures – one being Exhibition Road, the other Montague Place – which provided a unique opportunity to activate the areas, and rethink how they could work better for the city. 2008 also saw sell-out talks from a series of international architects, installations exploring the reinvention of the Bikeshed and providing spaces for rest and play, and a first ever Architectural Jelly competition!

For the second edition of the Festival, the 8 day programme explored the notion of ‘change’, celebrating both the transience and consistency of London life, and examining the junction of rural and urban. Moving from one hub in Clerkenwell to include ‘routes’ across the city (with Clerkenwell still as the epicentre), central London was animated with events including  the famous 60 sheep drive across Millennium Bridge into the heart of the City of London, surrounded by over 15,000 Londoners.

The very first London Festival of Architecture – then known as the London Architecture Biennale – lasted ten days. With a hyperlocal focus on Clerkenwell and the people in it, the programme sought to illustrate how the past determines the future. The theme of the Biennale was ‘access (intellectual and physical’), with key aims being to provide access to the world of architecture for a range of different audiences and communities, bring together people from the world of architecture to network, share, debate, argue and to profile architecture as an enjoyable, uplifting and relevant part of our lives.

The Festival kicked off with a weekend architectural fair, which saw the greening over of St John Street to create a new village green’ for Clerkenwell, filled with stalls and activities,  kids model competitions, architecture books
and prints and a multitude of architectural organisations. The project sought to explore the potential of the area to become a new green, public space. Why Clerkenwell? The venue for the Biennale was the streets, places and spaces of Clerkenwell, providing an opportunity to celebrate the role of Clerkenwell as a leading cultural and creative quarter and reveal the history, stories and industries gathered in this area – creating a unique architectural event.