Renowned British architect, critic, historian and Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Kenneth Frampton, the Honorary Member of WAC, has been awarded the 2019 Soane Medal presented by Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. 

Awarded annually, the Soane Medal recognises architects and critics who have made a major contribution to their field through practice, education, history or theory, and in doing so have furthered and enriched the public understanding of architecture.

"Kenneth Frampton occupies a unique position in architectural culture. His work as an architect, writer, critic, educator and academic over the last fifty years has shaped and informed the outlook of countless students and architects," read the statement by Sir John Soane’s Museum. 

"Few architects practising today can claim not to have influenced by his thinking and ideas, notably around issues of context and culture, as articulated in his seminal and still powerfully contemporary text ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism’ (1983)." 

"Other works such as Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995) and the many editions of Modern Architecture: A Critical History have driven the ways that we see, think about and understand modern architecture and its role in society."

Frampton, 89, was trained as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. He has worked as an architect and as an architectural historian and critic, and is now Ware Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, Columbia University, New York. 

He has taught at a number of leading institutions in the field, including the Royal College of Art in London, the ETH in Zurich, the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam, EPFL in Lausanne and the Academia di Architettura in Mendrisio. 

He is the author of numerous essays on modern and contemporary architecture, and has served on many international juries for architectural awards and building commissions. His writings include Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995), Le Corbusier in the World of Art series (2001) and a collection of essays entitled Labour, Work and Architecture (2005).

In recognition of his award, Kenneth Frampton will deliver the Soane Medal Lecture at a special event on Monday, November 11 held at LSE’s New Academic Building on Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. The event will also mark the publication of Frampton’s lecture by Sir John Soane’s Museum.

The Soane Medal was established by Sir John Soane’s Museum in 2017 and continues the mission of the museum’s founder to encourage a better understanding of the central importance of architecture in culture and society. 

Kenneth Frampton was selected for the award by the following jury: Bruce Boucher, Sir David Chipperfield, Paul Goldberger, Owen Hopkins, Farshid Moussavi, Eric Parry, Alice Rawsthorn, Oliver Wainwright and Thomas Weaver.

The recipient of the inaugural Soane Medal in 2017 was the Spanish architect, Rafael Moneo. American architect, planner and theorist, Denise Scott Brown was awarded the second Soane Medal in 2018.

Top image © Alex Fradkin

> via Sir John Soane’s Museum