Vicky Richardson

Vicky Richardson is Director of Architecture, Design and Fashion at the British Council

Vicky Richardson is a writer, curator and consultant specialising in architecture and design. In 2016 she was Commissioner for the British Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale, presenting the exhibition Home Economics, curated by Shumi Bose, Jack Self and Finn Williams.

Richardson was Director of Architecture, Design and Fashion at the British Council, UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations from 2010-2016.

She studied architecture at the University of Westminster after a foundation in art at Central St Martins. She was Deputy Editor at the RIBA Journal before becoming Editor of leading design magazine Blueprint, from 2004 to 2010.

Richardson is Honorary Treasurer of the Architectural Association and a member of the Advisory panel of the V&A Dundee.

She was previously a Co-Director of the London Festival of Architecture and a member of the London Mayor’s Cultural Strategy Group, which advised on the British capital’s culture policy. She is regularly a member design juries including the RIBA Architecture Awards; the D&AD Awards and the Architect of the Year Awards.

She is a visiting critic at design and architecture schools, and writes about architecture and design for a variety of publications. While at the British Council she established the design blog, Back of the Envelope. Richardson's books include New Vernacular Architecture^[1] (Laurence King, 2002) and In Defence of the Dome (ASI, 1999). In 2015 Richardson completed an MA in Early Modern History at King’s College London. Her dissertation focused on the English publication and censorship of Common Sense, the first pamphlet by Thomas Paine, in 1776.

In 2014 she was nominated as one of Debrett’s 500, as one of 20 most influential people in British architecture; and in 2015 she was named a 'Woman of the Year'.

Vicky’s role at the British Council included overseeing projects in London and around the world. She was also responsible for commissioning the British Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The 2014 exhibition, curated by Sam Jacob, from UK architecture practice FAT and Wouter Vanstiphout, from Crimson Architectural Historians, was entitled A Clockwork Jerusalem and explored the culture and products of British modernity as an architectural project and as a wider cultural experience.

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