London Architecture Biennale

2004 June in St John Street, Clerkenwell EC1

For information on the first Architecture Biennale and Architecture Biennale 2006 please go to http://www.londonbiennale.org.uk
The first London Architecture Biennale took place in June over several venues in Clerkenwell, the area of London with the densest population of architect’s practices anywhere in Europe.

Designersblock managed the design and production at the Farmiloes building the principal venue for the Biennale.

15,000 people crowded into St John Street in Clerkenwell to see longhorn cows recreate the historic route to Smithfield Market. 25,000 people visited over ten days. They came to picnic on the turfed streets and to enjoy the fantastic Farmiloes Building which, became the centre of a network of exhibitions, lectures, seminars, open practices and parties in the Clerkenwell area.

Nearly ten per cent of the UK’s practising architects work in the Clerkenwell area. Zaha Hadid’s lecture in the Barbican, with 1200 people, was probably the largest architecture lecture ever given in this country. Peter Ackroyd, Janet Street-Porter, Harry Handelsman, Peter York, Piers Gough and Chris Wilkinson also drew in the crowds. The success of the Biennale reflected a high degree of interest in architecture and the environment among people in London today. Visitors came from all parts of the capital not just from the immediate area. But the fact that the events often had a specific relevance to the area, that the future was seen in the context of its history and its development, was an important factor in forming the character of the event.



Graphics - London Architecture Biennale
Photography - Designersblock

Exhibitors