Architecture in these times is an architecture at risk. I will argue here that the recent trajectory of the field has been a harbinger of the political populism that generated the Trump administration in the US, Brexit in the UK, the Swiss People's Party, Marine Le Pen's Front National, Germany's Alternative für Deutschland, Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, and other such inverse majority movements. What might be called an emerging architectural populism has led to a situation where our careful art is at risk of becoming its inverse: an architecture without architects. In response, I will argue that this is our moment – this is when we reclaim our field in the only way we can – this is when we create architecture.

The concepts of succession and duration are used to identify different temporal aspects of architecture. Typically architecture that is based on duration seeks to persist unchanged within time whilst that based on succession engages with change, transience and rhythm. The organisation of succession and duration, according to different temporal structures, is used to inform a series of design studies. Structures relating to the weather, programmed and unconsidered use, clock time, mechanical time, circadian rhythms, entropy and space-time are examined in a discussion on the architectural chronotope which ‘artistically connects temporal and spatial relationships’.

The Japanese architects Kengo Kuma and Toyo Ito work with the formation of mental processes, which include spatial perceptions, but also haptic experiences. In this regard, they both connect to the Japanese architectural tradition. Therefore, it is interesting to compare their work, especially since visually the architecture of these two architects differs. However, through staged, unexpected and changeable experiences of materiality and spatial organisation – interacting in dynamic flow with the surroundings – similar mental processes are evoked when conceiving and perceiving their architecture that are an integral part of the ongoing processes to transform their architecture into ‘abstractions’. The point of departure for being involved in these similar, processual stage-settings is the creation of uncompleted experiences of wonder; a void, which is recognised from the traditional Japanese expressions for beauty – shibui and yugen – and described by Soetsu Yanagi as a hidden, subjective beauty. This in turn leads to a new subjectivity in connection with traditional Japanese conceptions of space, where space is a subjective perception and a changeable process in the mind of the beholder, and not an outside object. The references to the architectural tradition include the villa and the garden of Katsura and the architect Kazuo Shinohara, who opposed and criticised Western Modernism with the basis in his own Japanese tradition.

Analyses of Platonic dialogues nearly always acknowledge the location of a given conversation. Modern scholarship, however, rarely ventures beyond supplying a passing reference to the setting of a dialogue. This is not surprising given that Plato – and anyone who wished to emulate him – was chiefly concerned with providing philosophical discourses, not architectural treatises. However, this analysis argues that in several dialectical encounters and conversations architecture is much more than a generic, mute background. By deliberately situating Socrates and his companions in and around significant buildings in the Athenian Agora, Plato and his imitators offer us important clues to how the Greeks perceived and understood their civic realm. Ultimately, this investigation shows, for the first time, how speech and its attendant gestures were instrumental to the urban order of the ancient city.

This paper sets out to investigate the origins and legacy of a significant 1960s modernist public housing estate in the North East of England. This estate at Kenton Bar remains virtually intact, and as such represents a unique example in Newcastle upon Tyne. Its architects, Ryder and Yates, had personal contact with Le Corbusier, Georges Braque, Berthold Lubetkin, Ove Arup and Clive Entwistle; and the influence and mentorship of these individuals is clearly evident in the design. Being selected to join the small team at Peterlee New Town in 1948, provided the opportunity for Ryder and Yates to work together for the first time. The experience enriched their architectural vocabulary and modernist values; and ultimately led to the establishment of their business partnership in 1953. By the time of Kenton Bar, it was by far the largest project that their architectural practice had undertaken. The office was greatly appreciative of Eric Lyons and Span Developments, and their work appears as a distinct precedent in the layout. With a pyramid in its central square, and an assortment of innovative design installations, the estate resonated strongly and immediately with residents.Today, even the pyramid that was removed some years ago, lives on in the collective memory of residents, past and present. Recently, weblogs have been established; and collages and models produced by artists, as well as adults and children from the Estate, in the style of the original design presentations. Fifty years after it was conceived, the interest of local artists and galleries, the tenants’ association, former residents, and pupils of the primary school specifically designed to be at the heart of the estate may not be unprecedented but it is certainly rare. Ryder and Yates have created a living monument to twentieth-century ideas.

The Korean Pavilions for the 1964 New York World's Fair and the 1967 Montreal International Exposition were designed by Chung-Up Kim (1922-88) and Swoo-Geun Kim (1931-86) respectively, two pioneers of modern architecture in Korea. Both pavilions’ designs raise a widespread architectural question about the modern representation of tradition. In contrast to earlier pavilions in Chicago (1893) and Paris (1900) that replicated poorly supposedly ‘authentic’ Korean architecture, these 1960s entries modernised traditional architecture from their architect's creative viewpoint. While Chung-Up Kim noted the formal qualities of the Korean sloped roof, especially its curvilinearity, Swoo-Geun Kim emphasised the traditional timber structure underneath the roof, exaggerating its horizontal layers. In other words, the former's pavilion was more expressive and sculptural, which reflected the architect's Corbusian and even Aaltoesque tendencies. Conversely, the latter pavilion was more logical and systematic. However, Swoo-Geun Kim's interpretation of tradition was also ultimately about the form, though he soon became more interested in space. With regard to the form, the two Kims shared the fundamental idea that the past must not be imitated as it was, but re-created in a modern sense. This underlying argument is reflected in the contemporary ‘debate on tradition’ ignited by the design competition for the National Museum of Korea in 1966. It also relates to to the ‘Japanese-Style Scandal’ of 1967 in which Swoo-Geun Kim suffered for his design of the Buyeo National Museum, 1965-68, due to the inclusion of Japanese nuances in the design of the Montreal Pavilion. Swoo-Geun Kim's later high-tech style pavilion for the 1970 Osaka Expo, alongside recent projects by Minsuk Cho in Yeosu (2010) and Venice (2014) has more recently suggested alternative ways to represent Korea in architecture. Therefore, these two pavilions from the 1960s can be understood as unique inflection points in Korean architectural history.

That architects leave the profession is something that seems ‘known’. In addition, there has been continuous concern that women in particular leave. However, the extent of departure is unclear. Much of the information around these observations come from surveys, is anecdotal or study women in isolation from men. This paper provides some firmer data on the movement of men and women into and out of the profession using Australia as a case study. It collates and analyses historical and contemporary data to delineate the complex patterns of participation in and leaving of architecture.

While the sources of data are often limited and approximate, this analysis nonetheless highlights a number of factors affecting the tenure of architects in their profession. The economy is an obvious factor and the data mirrors the economic fate of the country. The paper firmly demonstrates that gender is a factor with a strong impact on leaving the profession – a movement that clearly adversely affects the diversity of the profession. A further factor in leaving is age, which interacts with gender: women begin to leave when young and men when older. Diversity is increasingly proving to be an important factor in the ability of an organisation or a profession to survive, let alone meet, the challenges and opportunities of the globalised twenty-first century.

The paper concludes with a plea for better data sources to better clarify how, and to what extent, biases nudge many architects out of the profession. Understanding the extent and nature of these biases helps the formulation of tactics to foster greater diversity to engender a more resilient profession.

This paper investigates the interaction between reality and imagination in the architectural design process. It engages with four inter-related inquiries. First, the interplay between reality and imagination in the architectural design process in student design-build live projects. Second, the interplay of reality and imagination for different agents in the architectural design process. Third, how the work of John Hejduk (1929-2000) enables a reappraisal of conceptions of reality and imagination in architectural design. Fourth, we address a live project for The Story Museum in Oxford, UK – a physical architectural space concerned with imaginary spaces – that suggests how an understanding of reality and imagination might be deepened in the architectural design process.

The text reappraises the interplay of reality and imagination in architectural design as a cognitive process. There are two aims: to reassess empirical responses and received wisdom about what is real and what is imagined in architectural design; and to reassess the perception of differences between imagination and reality occurring across education and practice. ‘Thing Theory’ is proposed as a conceptual framework which allows us to improve our understanding of how architectural designs emerge, are transformed in the designer's mind, how architects communicate them to others and how they are understood and shared by others. Reference is also made to interviews with prominent architects. The term ‘thing’ was repeatedly used by these architects to describe moments in the design process when a break from reality had occurred. In these moments, subject and object seemed at their most intertwined. This moment is strong because it is so flexible in responding to change and managing complexity. It is also weak because it is a time when the designer tends to neglect vital everyday constraints such as occupation and ethics. However, this is a key moment because it allows possible future realities to emerge.