The International Committee of Architectural Critics, CICA, the Architectural Association and the Victoria and Albert Museum will organise events to mark the occasion of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal awarded to CICA President Joseph Rykwert on 21-22 February 2014.

Joseph Rykwert, President of CICA, and Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the most important critics and historians of architecture alive today. His work has influenced generations of architects, and his achievements are recognized this year in the RIBA’s decision to award him the Royal Gold Medal. To commemorate his work, CICA, the V&A and the AA will host a gathering of architecture critics and historians from around the world to reflect on the enduring importance of his books and journalistic criticism.

The symposium about Rykwert’s work will be chaired on behalf of the V&A by senior curator Kieran Long and on behalf of CICA by the Mexican critic Louise Noelle. Speakers include Kenneth Frampton, Vittorio Gregotti, David Leatherbarrow, Phyllis Lambert, Luis Fernández-Galiano and many more.

Critical Juncture is curated by Trevor Boddy, Manuel Cuadra and Yasmin Shariff.

Friday, 21 February 15:30-18:00: Architectural Association School

This first London CICA Session is dedicated to the current state of architectural criticism. While it has a long and noble tradition, the published criticism of architecture is in a perilous condition today. Outlets for independent criticism in the mass and professional media are shrinking; architects increasingly self-publish monographs without independent critical commentary; the informed criticism of buildings and cities has a marginal existence on television and online, and so on. Is it ‘condition critical’ for those who write on the built environment?

15.30 Michael Sorkin, New York: Architectural Criticism Now (plenary talk)

16:30 Panel
Trevor Boddy, Vancouver: Introduction / The Decline of Newspaper and Magazine Criticism in North America Rowan Moore, London: The Current State of Architectural Criticism in London Danny Wicaksono, Jakarta: Digital Criticism in an Emerging Architectural Culture Rafael Gómez-Moriana, Barcelona: ‘Blogs and Other New Outlets for Architectural Reporting/Debate’

Saturday, 22 February 10.00-17.30: Victoria and Albert Museum

This second London CICA Session is dedicated to the work of Joseph Rykwert.

10:00 Registration

10:30 Welcome and Introductions
Martin Roth, Director, V&A
Kieran Long, Senior curator, V&A
Louise Noelle, CICA

10:45 Adam’s House in Paradise
Session chair Louise Noelle, Mexico
Suha Ozkan, Istanbul
Michelangelo Sabatino, Houston
Carlos Eduardo Comas, Porto Alegre
Richard Wesley, Philadelphia

11:45 Break

12:00 The Idea of a Town / The Seduction of Place
Session chair George Baird, Toronto
Phyllis Lambert, Montreal
Luis Fernández-Galiano, Madrid
Czeslaw Bielecki, Warsaw

1:00 Break

2:00 Critique of Buildings
Session chair: Manuel Cuadra, Kassel
David Leatherbarrow, Philadelphia
Pippo Ciorra, Rome
Desmond Hui, Hong Kong
Vittorio Gregotti, Venice

3:00 Break

3:15 Critical Juncture
Session chair: Trevor Boddy, Vancouver
Robert Tavernor, London
Patrick Lynch, London
George Baird, Toronto
Kenneth Frampton, New York

4:15 Concluding remarks
Yasmin Shariff, London