Ellis Woodman has been appointed director of The Architecture Foundation, the London-based non-profit advocacy organisation. Woodman is the architecture critic of The Daily Telegraph and critic-at-large for The Architectural Review and The Architect’s Journal. A former editor of Building Design, he curated the British Pavilion at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale.
The organisation has been without a director since the departure of Noemi Blager last year, herself cover for Sarah Ichioka, who did not return from maternity leave having been director since 2008. The organisation downsized from six to two permanent staff in 2014, and quit its Tooley Street headquarters in Southwark, a space used for exhibitions and talks since the collapse seven years ago of plans for a £5 million Zaha Hadid-designed headquarters.
Woodman said in a statement, ‘I am thrilled and honoured to have been offered this position. Having followed the AF’s programme since I was a student, I appreciate what a fundamental role it has played in developing the architectural discourse in this country and beyond. The opportunity to build on that legacy and prove the AF’s continued relevance is extremely exciting.’ The last line may be of particular note to former chair of trustees, architect Will Alsop, who is quoted as saying of the organisation’s woes, ‘I’m not sure what it’s for. Maybe the time has passed for such an organisation.’
18 February 2015
