AA tutor Nana Biamah Ofosu has published an article in Architecture Today exploring the work of Peter Barber, a London-based architect, commenting on the importance of the street-scape and historical precedent in his work.

'These projects share more than a common brief; they explore a mode of practice, key themes and overarching concerns which we discuss in Barber’s office workshop, a space that is itself an expression of the architect’s preoccupations. Much like his architecture, Barber’s office – a shopfront and rooms above in a small Victorian terrace in King’s Cross – embodies a spirit of performance, theatre and a celebration of the everyday. It also alludes to architecture’s obligations to the city, and Barber references Lina Bo Bardi’s ‘Stones Against Diamonds’, in which she reflects on the responsibility that comes with owning a shop window.'

'The proliferation of historic precedents, references and first-hand observation in Barber’s work owes something to his work as a teacher, which has always run concurrently with practice. The scope for speculation afforded in architectural education has informed the characterful nature of the built work and provides a kind of exercise that preserves mental agility, says Barber.'

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Image: Morley von Sternberg