Projects Review, the annual end-of-year exhibition at the Architectural Association (AA), showcases work from each of the 993 students within the school’s 57 programmes, and celebrates achievements throughout the academic year.
The exhibition highlights what we have in common through the curation of five themed rooms, in which fields of drawings, films, models, images and books connect common themes and encourage visitors to explore the exhibition through the different media that we use to communicate architecture.
This curatorial approach represents a radical shift in scale from previous incarnations of the exhibition, and creates an opportunity to reflect the school’s priorities and to hear the diverse voices of the AA more clearly. The AA Book 2023 has been published to coincide with the opening of the exhibition and presents a synopsis of the 2022–23 academic year at the school.
The layout of its pages has been generated by the students and tutors of each unit or programme, and the middle of the book comprises a series of pull-out posters featuring highlights of the year from other facets of the AA.
Together, these elements reflect the way in which we navigate the academic year and how we face the urgent challenges of the present: as an association of voices talking loudly and together as one school. The exhibition is accompanied by a website which archives the scope of research and work undertaken within the school.
Projects on the site are organised in a way that reflects the curation of the exhibition, and visitors are encouraged to explore these digital spaces to discover the themes, agendas, ambitions, practices and actions that each unit and programme at the AA engaged with during the 2022–23 academic year.
The exhibition, book and website celebrate the plurality of ideas, media and ways of working that exist within the AA, and highlight how the things we share, and the ways in which we differ, all contribute to the spirit and character of the school.
The exhibition is on view at the AA’s Bedford Square buildings until Friday 14 July from Monday to Saturday, 11am–7pm BST, and tours are being held every Tuesday at 6pm and Friday at 1pm for the duration of the exhibition – book here. Source by Architectural Association and photos Courtesy of MINT LIST.
