Amanda Levete

Amanda Levete
CBE
Born (1955-11-17) 17 November 1955
Bridgend, Wales
Nationality British
Alma mater Architectural Association
Occupation Architect
Spouse(s)
Awards RIBA Stirling Prize
Practice AL A
Buildings

Amanda Jane Levete, CBE (born 17 November 1955) is a Stirling Prize-winning British architect,[2] and principal of AL A.

Career

Levete was born in Bridgend, south Wales. She was a student at St Paul's Girls' School, London, and the Hammersmith School of Art before enrolling at the Architectural Association. Afterwards she was a trainee at Alsop & Lyall and an architect at the Richard Rogers Partnership.[3] As co-founder of the firm Powis & Levete, she was nominated for the RIBA's '40 under 40' exhibition in 1985.[4] Levete joined Jan Kaplický at Future Systems as a partner in 1989.[5]

Levete is credited with making Future Systems' organic and conceptual designs a reality.[6] Recognised as one of the UK's most innovative practices, Future Systems completed works include the Selfridges department store in Birmingham and the Lord's Media Centre, which won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize in 1999.[7]

Levete formed AL A in 2009, and in 2011 the practice won the international competition to design a new entrance, courtyard and gallery for London's Victoria and Albert Museum.[8] AL_A's projects include the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) project in Lisbon for the EDP Foundation,[9] the Central Embassy project in Bangkok[10] and the pop-up restaurant Tincan.[11]

In 2014 it was announced that AL_A had been chosen to design the second M-Pavilion for the Naomi Milgrom Foundation in Melbourne, the first to be designed by an international architect.[12] The M-Pavilion, made from fibreglass overlapping petals, opened to the public in October 2015.[13]

The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon opened on 5 October 2016 with a site-specific work from Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. The €20m museum sits on the River Tagus (Rio Tejo) to the west of the city centre and was described as "sinuous" [14] and "one of Europe’s most lyrical new museums".[15]

Levete is a trustee of the Young Foundation, and served as a trustee of the arts organisation Artangel from 2000 to 2013.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to architecture.[16]

Personal life

Levete met the Czech architect Jan Kaplický in the 1980s. They married in 1991, had a son, Josef, in 1995 and divorced in 2006. Levete and Kaplický worked professionally together from 1989 to 2009.[6] Since 2007 Levete is married to Ben Evans, director of the London Design Festival.[8]

On 19 March 2017, Amanda Levete appeared as a castaway on the Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Absent friends", Building, 12 October 2007, (Subscription required (help))
  2. ↑ Nonie Niesewand (March 2015). "Through the Glass Ceiling". Architectural Digest.
  3. ↑ "Amanda Levete: the social networker", Architects' Journal, 25 September 2014, retrieved 15 October 2015, (Subscription required (help))
  4. ↑ "Out of time: Amanda Levete", Building Design, 1 April 2011, retrieved 15 October 2015, (Subscription required (help))
  5. ↑ Booth, Robert (17 October 2008), "From a shining future to a bitter end as 'blob' architecture pioneers part company", The Guardian, retrieved 15 October 2015
  6. 1 2 Grice, Elizabeth (11 March 2009), "'My greatest regret is that I didn't make peace with him in life'", Daily Telegraph, retrieved 24 October 2011
  7. ↑ "Jan Kaplicky, a visionary, dies", Architectural Record, p. 27, March 2009
  8. 1 2 Jeffries, Stuart (9 April 2011), "The Saturday interview: architect Amanda Levete", The Guardian, retrieved 15 October 2015
  9. ↑ Amanda Levete puts on a show in Lisbon, Phaidon, retrieved 15 October 2015
  10. ↑ "Central Embassy by Amanda Levete Architects", de zeen, 26 March 2009, retrieved 15 October 2015
  11. ↑ Haldane, James (18 September 2014), "Does what it says on the tin: Amanda Levete's Tincan Restaurant", The Architectural Review, retrieved 15 October 2015, (Subscription required (help))
  12. ↑ "Amanda Levete unveils forest canopy design for second Melbourne MPavilion", de zeen, 10 July 2015, retrieved 15 October 2015
  13. ↑ de zeen, 5 October 2015 https://www.dezeen.com/2015/10/05/amanda-levete-architects-mpavilion-queen-victoria-gardens-melbourne-australia-fibreglass-forest-petals/ Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ Wainwright, Oliver (2016-10-06). "'The hotspot of hotspots': Amanda Levete's €20m Lisbon museum opens with a sinuous swoosh". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  15. ↑ Glancey, Jonathan (2016-09-22). "A NEW MUSEUM IN LISBON PUSHES THE BARRIERS OF ART, ARCHITECTURE AND LIGHT". Newsweek.
  16. ↑ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B9.
  17. ↑ "Amanda Levete, Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
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