The Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London today announced Dr Ingrid Schroder will lead the strategic direction of one of the world's foremost architecture schools as its new Director. Architect and educator Dr Schroder is currently Director of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Cambridge and will take up the role of Director of the AA in August 2022, in time for the next academic year.
President of the AA Council Victoria Thornton said: “As an architect, teacher and leader Dr Schroder brings decades of experience and a compelling perspective on the future of architectural education and practice to the role of Director. During the process of selection, she demonstrated a clear vision to preserve the independence and spirit of the school, to facilitate innovation and nurture new talent. I am delighted to welcome Ingrid to the Architectural Association, and on behalf of the AA Council thank the other candidates and the wider school community for contributing with integrity to the process.”
Of the appointment, Dr Ingrid Schroder said: “The AA is a nimble place of debate – it is a unique environment in which to wrestle with the implications of what lies ahead. Architecture and architectural education produce the extraordinary places, spaces and settings, that frame our everyday – both real and speculative. It is a unique and varied language and a complex discipline. It is a great privilege to be in a position to help tune the AA’s voice within this conversation and to facilitate the collective endeavours that can provoke a better understanding and considered architectural approaches to the near and distant future.”
Dr Ingrid Schroder is a British-American architect and academic and Head of Design Teaching and Director of the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (MAUD) at the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture. She has taught in Cambridge for over 20 years and is a University Lecturer in Architectural History, and Urban and Landscape Theory. She has served as a Supervisor, Lecturer, Studio Master, Professional Practice Co-ordinator, Academic Exchange co-ordinator and Research Group co-ordinator in Cambridge.
Dr Schroder has taught in a number of institutions, including roles as a Studio Master at the AA, a Studio Master at the ETH Zurich, a visiting lecturer at Central St Martins and a visiting critic at the Royal College of Art, EPFL Lausanne, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and CEPT in Ahmedabad. During this time she has developed broad international networks to inform pedagogy and development at Cambridge. She established the MAUD programme (RIBA Part 2) in 2012 as a graduate degree that could draw on the academic community of the wider university to establish a template for research-intense design teaching in architecture. Her ongoing research beyond new pedagogical models is concerned with shifting perceptions of nature and landscape in the face of climate change, and the architecture and urbanism of liberation from the American Revolutionary period through the late 20th Century.
She is the co-author of African Modernism (2014), which documents the architecture of the independence movements in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia and Kenya.
The announcement follows a vote by students, faculty and Council members in line with the school’s constitution. The outcome of the vote was advisory to the Council, and the final decision was today announced to the students, staff and the public.
The oldest independent school of architecture in the UK, the AA is internationally recognised as a global leader in architectural education. Democratically organised, it has an international community of around 1,000 students, 350 academics and 140 administrative staff. The application process to choose the new Director began in December 2021, with the initial call for application gathering just under 50 Candidates, narrowed down to 14 for the interview process.
The shortlist for the role included candidates Professor Andrew Clancy, Dr Mark Morris, John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog (Joint Candidacy) and Professor Jill Stoner.
President of the AA Council Victoria Thornton said “The AA would like to extend a special thanks to Dr Mark Morris for outstanding service to the school in these exceptional times, and to acknowledge his excellent leadership as Chief Accountable Officer since 2020.”
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Notes for Editors:
About the Architectural Association:The Architectural Association is one of the foremost schools of architecture in the world. Founded in 1847, the Architectural Association (AA) is a registered charity with the object of ‘promoting and affording facilities for the study of architecture for the public benefit’. Its principal activity is the operation of a school of architecture, promoting the most experimental, radical and forward-thinking standpoint in the field. The AA is a global institution with an international assembly consisting of around 1000 students, 350 academics and 140 administrative staff. It is a learned society (the ‘Association’) comprising members and alumni.
Being democratically organised, the AA is an institution of cultural, social and racial diversity where all may speak freely, equally and be heard. Supported by tutors who set their own agendas, students develop their own positions on research and design experimentation. This work is undertaken out of a personal enthusiasm that ultimately informs their professional careers. Questioning and redefining the nature of future practice is an integral part of the school.
The School Community is essential to the democratic mission of the school. It includes all registered full-time students, contracted staff (both academic and administrative) and all Council members, but not the Director. It is a forum for discussion across the AA and a voting body, and makes recommendations to the AA Council on matters regarding the school’s future.
The main premises of the AA have been in Bedford Square since 1917. Uniquely, a rural campus, Hooke Park in Dorset, was added in 2002, which houses the residential Design and Make postgraduate programme and the Wood Lab research group. The AA’s reach extends beyond these physical campuses through its international programme of Visiting Schools – short courses and workshops open to individuals worldwide – and with global networks of alumni, visiting lecturers and consultants; the School’s location in the heart of London offers connections to world-renowned academic and cultural institutions.
Photograph by Sue Barr.