AJ 16.12.21: Liverpool

At the end of 2021 – which AJ Editor Emily Booth writes 'hasn’t been an easy year, but the creativity and resilience of the profession continue to shine through' – we devote a special issue ot focus on Liverpool, featuring building studies on The Lexington by Falconer Chester Hall and The Alder Centre by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. Our news features ask if Liverpool can bounce back from a scandal-hit year and investigate housing in Liverpool: ‘We’ve had no strategy for a shrinking city’.

Also in this issue, all the shortlisted entries in our AJ Retrofit Awards 2022, which celebrate design that prolongs and improves the life of buildings as well as all longlisted and shortlisted designs for Pavilion for All, a competition run by the AJ, Argent Related and Barnet Council.

PLUS: Kunle Barker argues we should 'blame the game, not the player – it’s the planning system that’s broken', David Grandorge reports from COP26, Lubaina Himid at Tate Modern, AJ Sketchbook entry from Hamza Shaikh, The Coach, letters, competitions and Louis Hellman's monthly cartoon.

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AJ 17.07.25: The summer issue

Buildings nestled in burgeoning landscapes, productive gardens providing a community focal point, nature offering sanctuary and solace: the lush abundance of the summer months is on bright display in our July issue.

Four building studies are presented within these pages. For 16 years Barefoot Architects and Bridport Cohousing CLT battled to plan Hazelmead, the largest community housing project in the country. We discover that the effort put in has been rewarded, with the residents feeling a deep connection to their homes, community – and shared vegetable beds.

Feilden Fowles’ work on the Natural History Museum’s formerly underused gardens has created an engaging landscape of outdoor living galleries. The project includes a welcoming garden kitchen and nature activity centre, the latter sporting a sculptural gutter that deposits water into open channels so children can learn about the water cycle.

Our other studies are of Allies and Morrison’s dockside leisure centre and workspace at Canada Water, and FCBS’s Lambeth office block, which has pioneered innovative circular solutions in mass timber construction.

In News, it’s all change at Liverpool Street Station, as original architect Herzog & de Meuron bids to be reappointed to the high-profile job – it’s rumoured that towers on stilts are involved... We also publish all 20 projects receiving RIBA National Awards this year, along with the shortlist for the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards.

Elsewhere in the issue, Chris Simmons writes a column on redundancy entitled What to do if you’re chewed up and spat out by architecture, while the Secret Architect is lost in an obstinacy of project managers. And this month we have a bumper Sketchbook section, showcasing the best sketches from attendees at the AJ100 Awards in June.

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AJ 18.06.20: Climate change

As the AJ submits its RetroFirst campaign to government, our climate change issue features building studies of an ultra-low embodied carbon building by Practice Architecture and La Borda social housing complex by Lacol arquitectura cooperativa; results of a new in-depth survey by the AJ on what Architects Declare has achieved; the shortlists for AJ100 2020 are revealed and Paul Finch uses his column to argue that solar farms need much better design input than Cleve Hill. 

PLUS AJ Sketchbook continues with new work from ACME's Catherine Hennessy; Heatherwick Studio's recently completely all-timber Maggie's Centre in Leeds; and a competition to reinstate the oldest and largest public space in the City of London at Finsbury Circus Gardens and Pavilion.

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AJ 18.12.25: Homelessness

In our final issue of 2025 we’re focusing on homelessness as an important part of our housing drive. The causes of homelessness are many and varied, and architects and good design cannot solve them alone. But architects can contribute to positive change: they can bring a strategic and practical approach – and support targeted, proven steps.

Three building studies explore the topic from different angles. Reed Watts Architects has created a life-changing sanctuary for rough sleepers tucked away in London’s Square Mile. In a Revisit feature, the AJ accompanies architects from Peter Barber and Holland Harvey as they assess homeless support spaces they designed. Also profiled is shedkm’s transformation of a worn-out concrete 1960s complex into 73 homes for families at risk in Croydon.

Our news feature, Beyond Container Logic, investigates the role architects are playing in providing well-designed temporary housing for those most in need. An accompanying essay by RCKa’s Russell Curtis explores how homes can be delivered both at speed and at scale, and what factors are needed to bring this about.

Also in News is a must-read feature on salaries which lays bare by just how much we are all under-paid, and you can find out whether you’ve been paying enough attention this year with our Buildings quiz – 24 points and bragging rights are up for grabs.

Meanwhile in the Culture section, we curate your winter reading with a round-up of the latest architecture books, and there is a review of an exhibition at the Sir John Soane’s Museum exploring Egypt’s influence on British design.

This month’s opinion columns are by Kunle Barker, who asks whether London is dying, and Aga Szedzianis argues we should look to the Netherlands when designing the next generation of New towns.

Other contributors to the issue include David Grandorge, Hellman and Amy Leung, who shares her sketches.

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AJ 19.10.17: RIBA Stirling Prize

AJ 19.12.19 Community

The AJ looks at community architecture with a building study on Croydon Youth Zone by John Puttick Associates; five case studies of community-led schemes – from cooking and teaching facilities in London to affordable homes on micro-sites in Bristol; a small architectural intervention to create a social space in Glasgow; and filmmaker-turned-architect Clare Richards talks about her mission to reset the profession’s social agenda.

PLUS Should the UK adopt the Australian NABERS method of assessing building energy efficiency? The events in the world of architecture to look out for in 2020; and our Christmas Quiz tests your recall of another momentous year in architecture. 

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AJ 20.03.25: Natural Materials

This month's issue demonstrates how building more with natural materials promotes sustainability, circularity- and joyful architecture.

We highlight three projects with natural materials at their core, including Hugh Strange Architects' House on a Hill; David Kohn Architects' sinuous expansion of one of the University of Oxford's oldest colleges; and a community food market in Ilford designed for disassembly by Clark Architecture and Webb Yates.

For further inspiration, a feature ‘Natural materials on site’ showcases five new projects including a rammed earth house by Tuckey Design Studio and a 'net zero' welcome centre built with straw bales by Citizens Design Bureau.

In News, Richard Waite examines how Lina Ghotmeh beat big-name practices to land the British Museum job, while Martha Dillon uncovers the lessons to be learnt from a new 'biophilic' school. As Biodiversity Net Gain passes its first birthday, Anna Highfield looks at how architects are finding the new legislation and asks: is Labour as committed to nature recovery as the Tories?

In Culture, Ellen Peirson visits SOIL at Somerset House, sharing how the exhibition opens our eyes to the world at our feet. Meanwhile, an interview with Mio Tsuneyama spotlights the radical approaches to domesticity by Japanese architects, challenging Tokyo's 'scrap and build' new homes culture.

Also in the issue, The Coach shares how to find recognition at your new practice, Rory Chisholm shares his sketches, and a work by Hellman, A Monument For A Monarch, closes the issue.

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AJ 20.06.24: AJ100

The AJ100 is back, and this year our award-winners are pushing at the boundaries and encouraging a better way of doing things.

As part of our drive to support and celebrate positive change, new this year is AJ100 Champions, a group of practices moving the dial either in their own projects and working practices, in the wider industry and beyond. The cohort forms our supercharged shortlist for the Practice of the Year award.

In the issue we reveal all the victors of the AJ100 Awards, including Contribution to the Profession winner Kate Macintosh, as well as new categories that celebrate emerging talent within the UK’s largest practices. Our New Talent cohort – celebrating Part 1 and Part 2 architectural assistants and newly qualified architects – inspires and challenges in equal measure.

The latest AJ100 data shows a mixed picture of the sector and, since it was collected, we know several practices have struggled. Architectural fee income is well up, and there are encouraging signs of increased diversity. But there is a slight fall in the numbers of architectural staff, including, most noticeably, architectural assistants.

In Culture, we review a new photographic project pairing every Car of the Year with a building completed in the same year. Opinion pieces by Toko Andrews and Tim O’Callaghan also feature in the issue, as does the monthly competitions round-up, and Hellman’s cartoon on the forthcoming general election.

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AJ 21.03.24: AI

A detailed look at how architects are using AI: is it a game-changer or a threat?

‘It’s not hyperbole to state that the physical environment of our future cities will be moulded largely by the work of computer scientists ... architects and place-makers must be more than part of the new conversation, they must also become active in the development of this consequential, software-driven shift.’

So says Keir Regan-Alexander in our special issue devoted to how architects are (or aren’t) using artificial intelligence. Also in this must-read edition you can read the results of the AJ’s AI survey, and find out what these new technologies could mean for the future of the profession. Alongside early adopter Keir’s top tips for starting to use AI, there is a round-up of how practices big and small are using it practically, including Child Graddon Lewis and K Bava Architects.

The more ethical aspects of AI are under the spotlight in an essay by Cristina Monteiro on what William Morris would have thought of it (this is also the inspiration for the cover image). And we’ve let ChatGPT write a building study for us on how Foster + Partners’ City Hall could be transformed into social housing, with visuals ‘created’ by Shutterstock AI and muse.ai.

In Culture, senior lecturer Stephen Parnell reveals how his students used Generative AI to resurrect an unpublished Manplan issue of The Architectural Review. There is also an exhibition review of Albert Frey: Inventive Modernist at Palm Springs Art Museum.

The Secret Architect enjoys a think-piece on AI written by an ingratiating colleague, while Martha Dillon opines that real estate AI is a threat to architects.

In non-AI news, we present two building studies: the multi-use Storyteller building in Sidcup by DRDH Architects, and Alma-nac’s orange- and yellow-hued community and co-working space in Tooting.

This month’s Sketchbook showcases the illustrations of Agustin Coll, and we also publish David Grandorge’s take on AI and Hellman’s on the BT Tower’s imminent conversion into a hotel.

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AJ 21.06.18: RIBA National Awards

The latest AJ features all 49 winners of this year’s RIBA National Awards, ordered into nine sector categories with cultural and higher-education projects particularly plentiful; and we speculate as to which schemes could feature in this year’s Stirling Prize shortlist. PLUS A year after the Grenfell Tower fire, architects discuss why the profession has struggled to find its voice on the disaster; Lendlease chief Jonathan Emery talks about the developer’s roles on controversial estate regeneration projects; and Ellis Woodman on the Sh***y Architecture Men list. 

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AJ 21.10.21: Climate Crisis

Architects’ actions matter. We need to do more to tackle climate change and less waste and greenwash, exhorts the AJ editor Emily Booth as she introduces our Climate Crisis issue. Will Ing and Ella Jessel investigate the green building boom and Committee on Climate Change chief John Gummer slams Eric Parry's Fleet Street demolition proposal.

Fran Williams talks to White Arkitekter about their 20-storey timber culture centre in Sweden. Building studies examine Arup's retrofit of 1 Triton Square and Dow Jones' No 3 Boase Street. We look at this year's RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist through a green lens and Hattie Hartman and Kunle Barker's columns address what architects can do to help in a climate crisis.

PLUS: Tribute to twice RIBA President Owen Luder on his passing aged 93, David Grandorge on Passivhaus, Charles Jenck's Cosmic House opens to the public, AJ Sketchbook entry from Maurice Shapero, letters, competitions and Louis Hellman's monthly cartoon.

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AJ 22.02.18: New town

The latest AJ focuses on the North West Cambridge development, a £1 billion city extension backed by the university. We look at AECOM’s masterplan and have building studies on MUMA’s community centre and nursery school; Lot 8 housing by Maccreanor Lavington and Witherford Watson Mann; and WilkinsonEyre and Mole Architects’ Lot 1, which includes housing, a supermarket, doctors surgery and energy centre.

PLUS Custom-build housing in Cornwall meets with buyer caution; how people power marks a shift for estate regeneration; and the 39 longlisted entries in the Old Street Roundabout competition.

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AJ 22.04.21: Tall Buildings

The AJ editor asks Who wants or needs shiny new glass and steel towers? Meanwhile results from NLA’s annual tall building survey reveal the pandemic has not led to a London tower downturn. This issue features building studies of three recent tall buildings; Allies and Morrison‘s 100 Bishopsgate tower, David Chipperfield Architects‘ NYC project The Bryant and The Water Tower by Tonkin Liu.

PLUS We reveal the winner of this year’s AJ Small Projects Award; a news feature on unpicking the London Plan: what you need to know about housing, the circular economy and tall buildings; Penny Lewis reviews Reinier de Graaf‘s debut novel The Masterplan; AJ Sketchbook, and opinion columns from Hattie Hartman on COP26 and Kunle Barker on sustainable best practice.

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AJ 22.06.23: AJ100

AJ100 is back! Our annual deep dive into how the UK’s biggest practices are faring reveals that between them, they employ more architects than ever before. We drill down into the data to see how salaries and fees have changed since last year, what progress has been made on sustainability and the impact of rising energy costs on business performance.

You can read profiles and data for all of the AJ100 practices, and we reveal the winners of AJ100 awards in 2023. Pooja Agrawal, the recipient of the Contribution to the Profession award, talks to the AJ about her life in architecture and her pioneering work at Public Practice.

In the Culture section, we review Norman Foster’s retrospective at the Pompidou Centre (his sketches are also featured in our regular Sketchbook column), as well as the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Also in the issue is our monthly competitions round-up, columns by the Secret Architect, the Coach and David Grandorge, and cartoonist Hellman takes aim at The Line.

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AJ 22.08.24: Light, craft, space

 Lynch Architects’ Westminster Coroner’s Court is one of three building studies to be found in this month’s issue, with our critic declaring it to ‘invoke something of the “secular sacred” that’s rarely found these days’.

Also presented are AOC’s storage facility for the National Railway Museum in County Durham – which has delicate touches reminiscent of a white cube gallery – and Cooke Fawcett’s Deptford office rework for arts incubator Cockpit.

In the News section you can find out who’s odds on to win this year’s Stirling Prize, and read a profile of Jane Darke, whose 1976 examination of six London council estates highlighted a gulf between architects’ preconceptions and tenants’ reality.

The humble brick takes centre stage at an exhibition mounted jointly by Tate Liverpool and RIBA North, which is reviewed in the Culture section. Opinion pieces are authored by the Secret Architect on the Stirling, and Cristina Monteiro on Colin Ward: ‘We need his values to guide planning reforms’.

The Grenfell Tower Memorial is featured in Competitions, while David Grandorge’s column focuses on electricity, Tesla and Belgrade. At-risk cinemas are the hot topic in our Letters pages, and this month’s Sketchbook drawings are courtesy of Dom Walker.

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AJ 23.01.25: Housing

The AJ is kicking off the new year with a focus on what architects can do to help solve the housing crisis.

The government has set a target to build 1.5 million new homes within the next five years; at the AJ we believe they should be decent, well-built and supported by proper, sustainable infrastructure. There is a need – and an opportunity – for good architecture here, prioritising retrofit and reuse techniques and sustainable M&E wherever possible.

In our four building studies we present successful schemes in which their architects have played crucial roles: Collective Architecture’s Govan regeneration, a pioneering urban district designed by dRMM, Pitman Tozer Architects’ Lea Valley mansion block, and Agar Grove estate by Hawkins\Brown and Mae.

There are also three news features on the topic of housing, looking at pattern books (historic and new) and 3D-printed council housing in Ireland.

Within the Culture section there is a review of an exhibition on William Morris and the Middle East, and this month’s sketches are by JaeHyun Byeon.

Lastly, in Opinion, Martha Dillon writes a column on housing delivery and climate change, while Toko Andrews makes a new year’s resolution to network more.

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AJ 23.03.17: New Scotland Yard

The latest AJ focuses on civic and community buildings, with studies of AHMM’s reworking of New Scotland Yard; Tony Fretton’s major new town hall in the Belgian city of Deinze; and Page\Park’s refurbishment of Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall.

PLUS Bell Phillips’ public housing developments in the deprived Essex borough of Thurrock; as the government plans a series of new garden villages and towns, Colin Marrs examines BDP’s revamp of postwar new town Bracknell; how British tenacity vanquished Brexit blues at this year’s MIPIM property fair; and the AJ’s coach advises an architect who fears a junior they manage is being led astray.

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