Royal Institute of British Architects

"RIBA" redirects here. For the recombinant immunoblot assay, see Western blot.

Royal Institute of British Architects
66 Portland Place
Abbreviation	RIBA
Motto	The RIBA champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members
Formation	1834
Type	Professional body
Legal status	Private company and registered charity
Purpose/focus	The architectural profession in the United Kingdom, and knowledge dissemination
Headquarters	66 Portland Place
Location	Marylebone, W1B 1AD
Region served	UK
Membership	c. 44,000 architects
Chief Executive	Harry Rich
President	Angela Brady (2011-2013)
Main organ	RIBA Council
Staff	c.200
Website	RIBA

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.

History

Originally named the Institute of British Architects in London, it was formed in 1834 by several prominent architects, including Philip Hardwick, Thomas Allom, William Donthorne, Thomas Leverton Donaldson, John Buonarotti Papworth, and Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey.

After the grant of the royal charter it had become known as the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, eventually dropping the reference to London in 1892. In 1934, it moved to its current headquarters on Portland Place, with the building being opened by King George V and Queen Mary.

Royal charter

It was granted its Royal Charter in 1837 under King William IV. Supplemental Charters of 1887, 1909 and 1925 were replaced by a single Charter in 1971, and there have been minor amendments since then.

The original Charter of 1837 set out the purpose of the Royal Institute to be: '… the general advancement of Civil Architecture, and for promoting and facilitating the acquirement of the knowledge of the various arts and sciences connected therewith…'

The operational framework is provided by the Byelaws provide, which are more frequently updated than the Charter. Any revisions to the Charter or Byelaws require the Privy Council's approval.

Structure

Architectural Aspiration, by Edward Bainbridge, above the main entrance, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London

The RIBA is a member organisation, with 44,000 members. Chartered Members are entitled to call themselves chartered architects and to append the post-nominals RIBA after their name; Student Members are not permitted to do so. Formerly, fellowships of the institute were granted, although no longer; those who continue to hold this title instead add FRIBA.

The RIBA has been recognised as a business Superbrand since 2008.

RIBA is based at 66 Portland Place, London—a 1930s Grade II* listed building designed by architect George Grey Wornum with sculptures by Edward Bainbridge Copnall and James Woodford. Parts of the London building are open to the public, including the exhibition galleries and Library. It has a large architectural bookshop, a café, restaurant and lecture theatres. Rooms are hired out for events.

Regions

The Institute also maintains a dozen regional offices around the United Kingdom, it opened its first regional office for the East of England at Cambridge in 1966.

• East – Great Shelford
• East Midlands – Art, Architecture and Design, University of Lincoln
• London – Portland Place
• North East – School of the Built Environment, Northumbria University
• North West – The Tea Factory, Liverpool
• South and South East – Building LO11, University of Reading
• South West and Wessex – Paintworks, Bristol
• West Midlands – Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham
• Yorkshire – 32 The Calls, Leeds
• Wales – Royal Society of Architects in Wales, 4 Cathedral Road, Cardiff
• Northern Ireland – Royal Society of Ulster Architects
• Scotland – Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• RIBA USA

RIBA Enterprises

RIBA Enterprises is the commercial arm of RIBA and is based at 15 Bonhill Street in London. It includes RIBA Insight, RIBA Appointments, and RIBA Publishing. It publishes the RIBA Product Selector and RIBA Journal. At Newcastle upon Tyne are RIBA Bookshops and the NBS, the National Building Specification, which itself has 130 staff and deals with the building regulations and the Construction Information Service.

British Architectural Library

Reading Room, British Architectural Library, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London

The British Architectural Library, sometimes referred to as the RIBA Library, was established in 1834 upon the founding of the institute with donations from members. Now, with over four million items, it is one of the three largest architectural libraries in the world and the largest in Europe. Some items from the collections are on permanent display at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in the V&A + RIBA Architecture Gallery and included in temporary exhibitions at the RIBA and across Europe and North America. Its collections include:

• Archives: 1.5 million items made up of architects' personal papers, correspondence, notebooks and diaries.
• Audiovisual materials: Talks held at the RIBA, including talks by winners of the Royal Gold Medal.
• Biographical files: 20,000 biographical files relating to a specific architect or firm. Files contain a mix of nomination papers for membership of the RIBA, obituaries, brochures, articles and letters.
• Books: 150,000 books and 20,000 pamphlets, with the earliest book dating from 1478. Amongst the items is a first edition of Andrea Palladio's I quattro libri dell'architettura from 1570 and John Tallis's Tallis's London street views from 1838-1840.
• Drawings: 1 million items are held. These predominantly cover British architects from the Renaissance to the present day, such as Ernö Goldfinger, Charles Holden and Edwin Lutyens. It holds the world's largest collection of drawings by Andrea Palladio.
• Models: Examples come from architects such as Denys Lasdun for his Keeling House and National Theatre, London.
• Periodicals: 2,000 architectural titles collected, with complete sets of Architectural Review, Architects Journal, and Country Life.
• Photographs: 1.5 million items, including the archive of the Architectural Press. Items date from the 19th century, but with major holdings of 20th-century photographers such as Eric de Maré, John Maltby, John Donat and Henk Snoek.

The overcrowded conditions of the library was one of the reasons why the RIBA moved from 9 Conduit Street to larger premises at 66 Portland Place in 1934. The library remained open throughout World War Two and was able to shelter the archives of Modernist architect Adolf Loos during the war.

The library is based at two public sites: the Reading Room at the RIBA's headquarters, 66 Portland Place, London; and the RIBA Architecture Study Rooms in the Henry Cole Wing of the V&A. The Reading Room, designed by the building's architect George Grey Wornum and his wife Miriam, retains its original 1934 Art Deco interior with open bookshelves, original furniture and double-height central space. The study rooms, opened in 2004, were designed by Wright & Wright. The library is funded entirely by the RIBA but it is open to the public without charge. It operates a free education programme aimed at students, education groups and families, and an information service for RIBA members and the public through the RIBA Information Centre.

V&A + RIBA Architecture Partnership

V&A + RIBA Architecture Gallery, Room 128, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Since 2004, through the V&A + RIBA Architecture Partnership, the RIBA and V&A have worked together to promote the understanding and enjoyment of architecture.

In 2004, the two institutions created the Architecture Gallery (Room 128) at the V&A showing artefacts from the collections of both institutions, this was the first permanent gallery devoted to architecture in the UK. The adjacent Architecture Exhibition Space (Room 128a) is used for temporary displays related to architecture. Both spaces were designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects. At the same time the RIBA Library Drawing and Archives Collections moved from 21 Portman Place to new facilities in the Henry Cole Wing at the V&A. Under the Partnership new study rooms were opened where members of the public could view items from the RIBA and V&A architectural collections under the supervision of curatorial staff. These and the nearby education room were designed by Wright & Wright Architects.

RIBA Awards

Main article: Stirling Prize

Main article: Royal Gold Medal

RIBA runs many awards including the Stirling Prize for the best new building of the year, the Royal Gold Medal (first awarded in 1848), which honours a distinguished body of work, and the Stephen Lawrence Prize for projects with a construction budget of less than £500,000. The RIBA also awards the President's Medals for student work, and these are regarded as the most prestigious awards in architectural education. The RIBA European Award was inaugurated in 2005 for work in the European Union, outside the UK. The RIBA National Award and the RIBA International Award were established in 2007. Since 1966, the RIBA also judges regional awards which are presented locally in the UK regions (East, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South/South East, South West/Wessex, Wales, West Midlands and Yorkshire).

RIBA Competitions

Main article: RIBA Competitions

RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions.

Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or refurbish an existing building. They can be used for buildings, engineering work, structures, landscape design projects or public realm artworks. A competition typically asks for architects and/or designers to submit a design proposal in response to a given Brief. The winning design will then be selected by an independent jury panel of design professionals and client representatives. The independence of the jury is vital to the fair conduct of a competition.

Education

See also: Bachelor of Architecture

In addition to the Architects Registration Board, the RIBA provides accreditation to architecture schools in the UK under a course validation procedure. It also provides validation to international courses without input from the ARB.

The RIBA has three parts to the education process: Part I which is generally a three-year first degree, a year-out of at least one year work experience in an architectural practice precedes the Part II which is generally a two-year post graduate diploma or masters. A further year out must be taken before the RIBA Part III professional exams can be taken. Overall it takes a minimum of seven years before an architecture student can seek chartered status.

RIBA in the news

Royal Institute of British Architects building, Portland Place, London.

In 2007, RIBA called for minimum space standards in newly built British houses after research was published suggesting that British houses were falling behind other European countries. "The average new home sold to people today is significantly smaller than that built in the 1920s... We're way behind the rest of Europe—even densely populated Holland has better proportioned houses than are being built in the country. So let's see minimum space standards for all new homes," said RIBA president Jack Pringle.

In 2011, a further campaign called Homewise was launched.

Criticism

The RIBA has been criticised as London-centric organisation which does not reach out to all members in the United Kingdom and beyond.

Designation

• ARIBA: Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (no longer granted to new members)
• FRIBA: Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (now an honorary designation)
• RIBA: Chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects
• The Institute's president is designated PRIBA, past presidents use PPRIBA

Notable past presidents

Among deceased past presidents of the Institute widely known for their work as architects as well as in the profession have been:

• of 19c.

1835–1859 Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey

1873–1876 George Gilbert Scott

1881–1881 George Edmund Street (died in office)

1888–1890 Alfred Waterhouse

• of 20c.

1902–1904 Aston Webb

1912–1914 Reginald Blomfield

1931–1933 Raymond Unwin

1958–1960 Basil Spence.

Recent presidents

• 2013–2015 Stephen Hodder
• 2011–2013 Angela Brady
• 2009–2011 Ruth Reed
• 2007–2009 Sunand Prasad
• 2005–2007 Jack Pringle
• 2003–2005 George Ferguson
• 2001–2003 Paul Hyett

Past presidents

• 1999–2001 Marco Goldschmied
• 1997–1999 David Rock
• 1995–1997 Owen Luder
• 1993–1995 Frank Duffy
• 1991–1993 Richard MacCormac
• 1989–1991 Maxwell Hutchinson
• 1987–1989 Rod Hackney
• 1985–1987 Larry Rolland
• 1983–1985 Michael Manser
• 1981–1983 Owen Luder
• 1979–1981 John Brian Jefferson
• 1977–1979 Gordon Graham
• 1975–1977 Eric Lyons
• 1973–1975 Fred Pooley
• 1971–1973 Alexander Gordon
• 1969–1971 Peter Faulkner Shepheard
• 1967–1969 Hugh Wilson
• 1965–1967 Lionel Gordon Baliol Brett
• 1964–1965 Donald Evelyn Edward Gibson
• 1962–1964 Robert Hogg Matthew
• 1960–1962 William Holford
• 1958–1960 Basil Spence
• 1956–1958 Kenneth Cross
• 1954–1956 Charles Herbert Aslin
• 1952–1954 Howard Robertson
• 1950–1952 Andrew Graham Henderson
• 1948–1950 Michael T. Waterhouse
• 1946–1948 Lancelot Keay
• 1940–1943 William Henry Ansell
• 1937–1939 Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel
• 1935–1937 Percy Edward Thomas
• 1933–1935 Giles Gilbert Scott
• 1931–1933 Raymond Unwin
• 1929–1931 Banister Flight Fletcher
• 1927–1929 Walter Tapper
• 1925–1927 Edward Guy Dawber
• 1923–1925 John Alfred Gotch
• 1922–1923
• 1919–1921 John William Simpson
• 1917–1919 Henry Thomas Hare
• 1914–1917 Ernest Newton
• 1912–1914 Reginald Blomfield
• 1910–1912 Leonard Stokes
• 1908–1910 Ernest George
• 1906–1908 Thomas Edward Collcutt
• 1904–1906 John Belcher
• 1902–1904 Aston Webb
• 1899–1902 William Emerson
• 1896–1899 George Aitchison
• 1894–1896 Francis Cranmer Penrose
• 1891–1894 John Macvicar Anderson
• 1888–1890 Alfred Waterhouse
• 1886–1887 Edward I'Anson
• 1884–1886 Ewan Christian
• 1882–1884 Horace Jones
• 1881–1881 George Edmund Street (died in office)
• 1879–1881 John Whichcord Jr.
• 1876–1879 Charles Barry, Jr.
• 1873–1876 George Gilbert Scott
• 1870–1873 Thomas Henry Wyatt
• 1867–1870 William Tite
• 1865–1867 Alexander James Beresford-Hope
• 1863–1865 Thomas Leverton Donaldson
• 1861–1863 William Tite
• 1860–1861 Charles Robert Cockerell
• 1835–1859 Thomas Philip Earl de Grey

See also

• Architects Registration Board
• Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
• Chartered Institute of Building
• Construction Industry Council
• Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
• Royal Society of Ulster Architects
• RIBA Knowledge Communities

Bibliography

• H.M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 (1997) ISBN 0-300-07207-4
• Charles Read, "Earl de Grey" (2007)
• Angela Mace; Robert Thorne (1986). The Royal Institute of British Architects: a guide to its archive and history. Mansell Pub. ISBN 0-7201-1773-9. 
• Margaret Richardson (1984). 66 Portland Place: the London headquarters of the Royal Institute of British Architects. RIBA Publications. 

External links

• RIBA official website
• British Architectural Library The RIBA's books, journals, photographs, drawings and archives collections
• RIBA official architecture bookshop
• RIBA President's Medals Student Awards
• RIBApix Images from the RIBA's collections
• RIBA Competitions

Video clips

• RIBA Architecture YouTube channel
• RIBA International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change Talk series Video archive of the lectures
• NBS TV