My research, writing and educational practice crosses architecture, art, feminism, history and psychoanalysis. I have introduced concepts of ‘critical spatial practice’ and ‘site-writing’ through my authored books: The Architecture of Psychoanalysis (2017), Silver (2016), Site-Writing (2010), Art and Architecture (2006), and The Pursuit of Pleasure (2002). My co-edited collections include Reactivating the Social Condenser (2017), Critical Architecture (2007), Spatial Imagination (2005), The Unknown City (2001), Intersections (2000), A Place Between (1999), Gender, Space, Architecture (1999) and Strangely Familiar (1995).
I am Professor of Critical Spatial Practice at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where I co-initiated and teach on the new MA Situated Practice, as well as the MA Architectural History. I have first supervised 24 PhDs to completion in architecture, art, urbanism and experimental writing, including Anna Andersen, Nick Beech, Joanne Bristol, Willem de Bruijn, Lilian Chee, Polly Gould, Mohamed Hafeda, Sophie Handler, Teresa Hoskyns, Kristen Kreider, Torsten Lange, Thandi Loewenson, Sophie Read, David Roberts, Sant Suwatcharapinun, Aslihan Senel, Juliet Sprake, Ivana Wingham, Robin Wilson, Alex Zambelli. Recent PhD graduates include Sol Perez Martinez and Carlo Menon. Some of their ground-breaking work is included here.
At UCL, I have been Director of Architectural Research (2004-11), Vice Dean of Research (2010-13) and Director of Architectural History and Theory (2015-8). Currently, as Director of the Bartlett’s Ethics Commission, we curate an online open access education tool-kit called practisingethics.org, which supports ethical practice in architectural and urban research. This was conceived, designed and produced by Dr David Roberts, Bartlett Ethics Fellow, with content input from Dr Yael Padan. Yael is the Research Associate for ‘The Ethics of Research Practice’, a research project which explores the ethics of research relations at the global north-south intersection, as part of KNOW (Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality), an ESRC-funded project based at the Development Planning Unit, led by PI Prof Caren Levy. The research has received three awards: A UCL Provost’s Award for Education in 2018, a commendation in the category of Ethics and Sustainability in the RIBA President’s Awards for Research in 2018, and in 2022 a RIBA President’s Award for Research in the category Ethics and Education. In 2021 we published a co-authored paper, and a new collaborative paper, led by David Roberts, has just been published in the Journal of Architecture.
I am on the Editorial Board for GeoHumanities, Architectural Theory Review, ARQ (Architectural Research Quarterly), The Happy Hypocrite, and the Journal of Visual Culture in Britain. I was a member of the AHRC Peer Review College (2004–2008) and inaugural chair of the RIBA President’s Awards for Research (2005–2007). In 2006 I was a research fellow at CRASSH (Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) at the University of Cambridge and received an honorary degree from the University College of the Creative Arts. In 2008 I was awarded Research Leave from the AHRC to complete my site-writing book, which received a commendation in the 2011 RIBA President’s Awards for Outstanding University-located Research. In 2018, I received the RIBA Research Award for History and Theory, for May Mo(u)rn, exploring links between housing, architecture and psychoanalysis.
Currently, I am interested in creating space for sharing work, so I curate three project websites: www.criticalspatialpractice.co.uk, www.site-writing.co.uk, and www.site-readingwritingquarterly.co.uk which issues new pairs of dialogic and situated reviews four times a year.