this event is now finished
The Subject of Style
Join Design Museum Director Deyan Sudjic as he discusses the subject of style with esteemed architectural theorist Charles Jencks and Farshid Moussavi, founder of Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Residential Complex, La Defense, Paris
Booking information
Tickets include entry to Designs of the Year before the talk begins. Doors will open at 18:30. The Designs of the Year exhibition will be open for ticket holders to view between 18.30 and 19:00, and will then close. The talk will start at 19:00 and last for 1 hour.
- £14 Adult, £10.50 Student, £7.50 member Buy tickets now
- Become a member
What role does style play in architecture today? If past styles could be characterised by a kind of uniformity, to what extent can fashion, technological innovation, sustainable building and globalisation be seen to have altered the landscape for architecture more recently? Indeed, in a networked world how can we define what ideas are new or recycled?
In a ground-breaking new book The Function of Style, acclaimed architect Farshid Moussavi has argued that this diversity should not be mistaken for an eclecticism that is driven by external forces but is in fact a responsive critical practice where style means far more than just the appearance of the building.
To take the debate a step further, Farshid will be joined by architectural theorist Charles Jencks and Museum Director Deyan Sudjic to debate the subject of style. The talk will conclude with a book signing.
More about the speakers
Farshid Moussavi
Farshid Moussavi is an internationally acclaimed architect and Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She was previously co-founder of the London-based Foreign Office Architects (FOA). Moussavi completed her first USA commission, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland in 2012, its installation at the 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice in the same year.
She recently designed the Victoria Beckham Flagship Store in London (2014) and is currently working on a wide range of prestigious international projects including residential complexes in the La Défense district of Paris and in Montpellier, as well as a department store in Paris, France; and an office complex in the City of London, UK.
Charles Jencks
Charles Jencks is one of the foremost architectural theorists of the last thirty years and is well known for his books questioning Modern architecture and defining its successors - Late, New and Post-Modern architecture. He is also the co-founder of Maggies Cancer Caring Centres and is an active designer of landscapes and sculpture. Taught by influential figures such as Sigfried Giedion and Reyner Banham, Jencks has now lectures extensively and has taught at over forty universities around the world.
Deyan Sudjic
Deyan Sudjic is Director of the Design Museum in London. His career has spanned journalism, teaching and writing. Deyan was director of Glasgow UK City of Architecture 1999 and in 2002 he was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale. He was Editor of Domus Magazine from 2000 to 2004, and was Founding Editor of Blueprint Magazine from 1983 to 1996.
Deyan has published many books on design and architecture, including The Edifice Complex (Penguin, 2006), The Language of Things (Penguin, 2008), Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture (Orion, 2010) and Shiro Kuramata (Phaidon, 2013). His most recent book, B is for Bauhaus, was published by Penguin in March 2014.
Deyan was made an OBE in 2000.