The Royal Academy of Arts recently released plans to do more to celebrate the culture of architecture. The commitment will see them offer a dedicated space for exhibiting architectural work. The Senate Room at Burlington Gardens will be transformed to create this space. The studio will become a permanent space for the work of architects, inviting the audience to interact with the work and learn more. It will be free to enter, making it accessible to all.

Alongside the new home for exhibitions the RA will host a new major exhibition every year, making numerous galleries available to display work. The first of these is expected to be revealed in autumn 2018.

A third and final thing the Academy will do to boost the field is offer two new international awards for architecture. One of the awards rewards an inspiring contribution to the culture of the profession. The second will reward a new talent, promoting their talent and boosting their reputation.

The new awards, The Royal Academy Architecture Prize and the Royal Academy Dorfman Award, will also launch in 2018. The winners will be nominated and selected by academicians, international architecture curators, and critics.

It is fantastic that the RA is choosing to do more to promote and celebrate architecture, particularly with next year marking their 250th anniversary. Hopefully it gets more people interested in the field and learning more about the buildings around them.

At Coffey Architects we are excited to see how the new exhibition space takes shape and what the programme of events will be when the conversion work is finished. It will also be interesting to find out more about the major exhibition and the new awards in the future.

As one of the most passion architects London has to offer we couldn’t be more pleased to see our field getting more attention and backing from the largest arts body in the world.