Architecture – Past forward: progress, identity and civic spaces

For this De Ruyter event focusing on architecture we are joined by Edward Marchand. Edward Marchand is Associate Director of Architecture firm Bennetts Associates. In London they are probably best known for many of the iconic developments in the King’s Cross area.

Edward will present some of Bennetts Associates’ recent projects, focusing on the King’s Cross area with its unique history and characterful legacy of industrial heritage. Framed within his personal interests he’ll share his views on how renovation can drive progress, how the hybrid of old and new can generate a sense of place, of belonging and identity, and give us a new range of civic spaces that will attract new users and promote the exchange of ideas.

Edward gained a Masters in Architecture and Structural Engineering at the University of Ghent in Belgium before embarking on a Post-Graduate in Architecture and Urban Design at The Berlage in Amsterdam. In 2006 he moved to London and joined Bennetts Associates Architects, designing cultural projects for universities, local authorities and a national media organisation. Over the past few years he has been leading the transformation of two Grade II listed buildings, belonging to the industrial heritage forming the heart of the King’s Cross regeneration area and the surrounding Knowledge Quarter.