Architectural Association School of Architecture

The Architectural Association School of Architecture stands in Bedford Square, a quiet Georgian square in central London. Founded in 1847, it is Britain’s oldest private school of architecture. The school occupies several London buildings, including a 350-acre woodland site at Hooke Park in Dorset. Its main premises sit behind plain façades, hiding studios and lecture halls within. The school hosts exhibitions, lectures and publications that shape architectural debate. Over the years it has moved from Conduit Street to Tufton Street and finally to Bedford Square in 1917. The AA’s history reflects wider changes in architectural education. In the 19th century John Ruskin and George Gilbert Scott addressed students here. Later figures such as Richard Rogers, Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas gave talks. Women were first admitted in 1917 after earlier refusals; the centenary was marked by a programme called AAXX and a book edited by Elizabeth Darling and Lynne Walker. The school’s independent status allows it to renew teaching staff annually, drawing practitioners from progressive international firms. Visitors to Bedford Square find a discreet entrance leading to studios where students work on projects. The AA Bookshop stocks architectural literature and the school’s own publications. AA Files and the annual Projects Review document student work from foundation to graduate levels. The Print Studio designs and edits these publications, continuing a tradition begun in 1971. Behind Bedford Square lies Morwell Street, where additional rooms house seminars and critiques. Hooke Park offers workshops in a woodland setting thirty-five kilometres from London.