United KingdomIn 1841, UCL became the first British university to appoint a chair of architecture, Thomas Leverton Donaldson, a founding member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The faculty was later named after its benefactor, engineer and contractor Sir Herbert Bartlett. Our alumni have made waves in the worlds of architecture, design, manufacturing, education and research, curating, urban planning, governance and policymaking, filmmaking and more. The school’s world-renowned professors include architectural historian Reyner Banham and Archigram co-founder Sir Peter Cook. Guest lecturers have ranged from Ron Arad to Alain de Botton, Daniel Libeskind to Grayson Perry.
Originally based in the UCL Quadrangle, the school moved to its 22 Gordon Street location in 1974. The building’s refurbishment was completed in 2016 and we expanded to premises in East London in 2018.
You can read more about our history and alumni in a special publication produced in 2016 for our 175th anniversary.
