Letter from London

摘要

A two-part event at the Architectural Association examined how (and whether) the way a practice is structured and organised makes a difference to the architecture it generates. This is not much discussed - surprisingly, given the options available and areas it can cover, from ownership policies to office layout. We heard about a small practice (Studio Weave), small but growing (Duggan Morris, Phil Coffey), an 'author' practice (Tony Fretton's), and larger offices at home and abroad (Wilkinson Eyre, AHMM). In all cases we were listening to success stories, but the general conclusion from the two evenings seemed to be that the design output of the practices was more about architectural ambition than structure or facilities management.