Architecture Appoints Adrian Lahoud, Graeme Brooker and Harriet Harriss

Dr Lahoud currently heads the MArch in Urban Design at The Bartlett, University College London, and teaches into the Projective Cities MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design at the Architectural Association.

Previously he worked at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths. His work has been widely published, including in Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth, The Journal of Architecture, Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence, New Geographies 5: The Mediterranean and Performing Trauma. In 2010 he guest edited a special edition of Architectural Design called ‘Post-Traumatic Urbanism’. 

Dr Lahoud exhibits and lectures internationally, more recently at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Tate Britain, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Berlin and Storefront for Art and Architecture New York. He has been guest critic at the Royal College of Art, Columbia University, Angewandte Kunste Vienna and TU Vienna.

Graeme Brooker is currently head of the department of Fashion and Interiors and the convener of I:F (Interiors: Fashion) at Middlesex University, London. He has held numerous senior positions in institutions in the UK, most notably at the Universities of Cardiff, Manchester and Brighton, where he taught both studio and theory in interior architecture and design, and is currently visiting professor at Milan Polytechnic. Graeme Brooker’s research interests are focused on the cultural, historical and philosophical implications of the creation of the interior and the reuse of existing spaces and buildings.

He is a commissioning editor for Ashgate and he is also a member of the editorial advisory board of the magazine Interiors: Design: Architecture: Culture. Graeme Brooker is the founder of Interior Educators (IE), the national subject association for interiors courses in the UK. His recent publications include a reader on Interiors for Routledge (2012), an edition of commissioned essays on the interior, for Berg (2013) and a book on a History of Interiors, for Laurence King (2013).

Dr Harriet Harriss is a Principal Lecturer in Architecture at Oxford Brookes University and subject coordinator for the MArchD in Applied Architectural Design. She is also Tutor in Critical & Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art. Her doctoral research has been recognised for excellence in teaching by a Brookes Teaching Fellowship (2010–12), a Winston Churchill Fellowship (2011) a Higher Education Academy Internationalisation Fellowship (2012) and most recently two Santander Awards. 

Previously, in 2004 Harriet won a public funding commission (NESTA) to establish and co-direct Design Heroine Architecture (DHA). In 2007, Dr Harris was awarded a British Academy Rome Scholarship. In January 2013, she was selected as one of just 60 women nationally for the BBC Expert Women database project. Dr Harris’s most recent publications include: Architecture Live Projects: Pedagogy into Practice (Routledge 2014) and Radical Pedagogies; Architecture & the British Tradition (RIBA Publications). 

Dean of the School of Architecture Professor Alex de Rijke said: 'I’m delighted to be able to announce these appointments. All three being outstanding candidates, the School of Architecture is clearly set to play a leading role internationally in teaching, research and knowledge exchange.' 

'Adrian and Graeme are accomplished leaders, with extensive experience in both practice and higher education. Harriet’s work in increasing public participation in shaping the build environment will add a new dimension to the work of both students and fellow academics. Together they bring exceptional experience to the School of Architecture programme, and will, I’m confident, push knowledge forward within their disciplines.' 

Dr Lahoud said: 'It is an honour to be asked to shape the next phase of this rich programme and to work alongside the talented students and staff at the RCA.’ 

Graeme Brooker said: ‘While a relatively new programme, Interior Design has a long history at the RCA, one that stretches back to Environmental Design. It is therefore a privilege to have the opportunity to undertake this role and build upon the work that has been achieved on the subject previously at the school. The RCA has always produced work of the highest calibre, challenging the boundaries of what practice is or can be. I very much look forward to working with excellent new colleagues and the great students that the school attracts, in order to carry on this tradition.’

Dr Adrian Lahoud and Graeme Brooker will take up their posts on 14 September. Dr Harriet Harriss joins the programme on 10 August 2015.