CRUNCH: The Imminent Practitioner

About

What connects building to the education of architects? In this seminar, award-winning architect Níall McLaughlin examines the essential relationship between design and building, arguing that the acquisition of craft skills directly shapes architectural values.

Drawing from projects including the Stirling Prize-winning Magdalene College Library and the Bishop Edward King Chapel, Níall demonstrates how building culture remains central to architectural education. Through built and unbuilt projects, he illustrates why the connection between education, design and making remains relevant and urgent for the future of architecture.

Chaired by school director Professor Amy Kulper, with responses from architect and educator Professor Izaskun Chinchilla.

This event is part of the flagship CRUNCH Series at The Bartlett School of Architecture.

Please note this event has limited capacity and operates on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors close at 18:40.

Speaker biographies

Níall McLaughlin is the Principal of Níall McLaughlin Architects which was established in London in 1990. His practice designs buildings for education, culture, health, worship and housing. Níall won Young British Architect of the Year in 1998 and the RIBA Charles Jencks Award in 2016 for his contribution to theory and practice. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2019 and awarded an Honorary MBE in 2020. He was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013, 2015 and 2018, winning in 2022 for the New Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge. Níall is Professor of Architectural Practice at The Bartlett School of Architecture and has held visiting professorships at UCLA and Yale University.

Izaskun Chinchilla is an architect with a Madrid-based practice and Professor of Architectural Practice at The Bartlett School of Architecture. She combines design, research and education with a focus on sustainability and civic engagement. She is the author of La Ciudad de los Cuidados (Catarata, 2020); English translation The Caring City (Actar Publishers, 2022), which challenges conventional models of urban and architectural design. Her work integrates ecological concerns with civic participation, and she has taught widely at international institutions including the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris and HEAD University in Geneva.

Amy Kulper is Professor of Architecture and Director of The Bartlett School of Architecture. An architect, theorist and curator, her teaching and research examine the intersections of history, theory and criticism with design. Before joining UCL in 2022, she was Department Head at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Her writing has appeared in Log, The Journal of Architecture, arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, Candide and the Journal of Architectural Education, where she served as Design Editor and received the ACSA Distinguished Service Award.

Image: Magdalene College Library by Níall McLaughlin Architects. Photography by Nick Kane

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/events/2025/nov/crunch-imminent-practitioner