Chris Foges

London

Contributing Editor at The RIBA Journal

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

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Articles

Making Buildings: Lambeth Palace retrofit by Wright & Wright

3 days ago | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

Wright & Wright is retrofitting the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 800-year-old Thameside home. Practice partner Stephen Smith showed Chris Foges how the work is progressingHeritage buildings pose a particular challenge in meeting national net zero commitments. England has around 400,000 listed buildings, where retrofit options are limited, so it is essential to develop workable, high-performance solutions.
Highlighting Jeddah’s overlooked modernist heritage

1 week ago | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

A new book by the co‑founders of Jeddah-based practice Bricklab looks to revive the reputation of the Saudi city’s architecture between 1938 and 1964While architects marvel over the historic heart of Jeddah, the city’s equally impressive modernist heritage has been overlooked. That could change with the publication of a hefty new book, edited by brothers Abdulrahman and Turki Gazzaz, co‑founders of Jeddah-based practice Bricklab.
Design Vanguard 2025: Sala Hars

1 week ago | architecturalrecord.com | Chris Foges

ExclusivesDesign VanguardFirm Profiles Architects & Firms The founders of Sala Hars like to joke that their base in Mexico City is a natural midpoint between their hometowns—though it is hardly convenient for either. Juan Sala grew up 2,000 miles away in Colombia, while Douglas Harsevoort hails from distant Wisconsin. Nevertheless, the pair found more significant advantages in their adopted home, where they have worked since graduating.
Selldorf's Controversial Renovation of the Sainsbury Wing Reopens to the Public

3 weeks ago | architecturalrecord.com | Chris Foges

ProjectsBuildings by TypeAdaptive Reuse and RenovationMuseums & Art Centers Annabelle Selldorf will be happy if no one remembers the changes that her three-year renovation has brought to the Sainsbury Wing of London’s National Gallery. That will show that the museum has achieved its main goal—to bring millions of visitors through its new front door in an easy, intuitive way.
Rambling Houses: 'honouring the hands of people who make things'

1 month ago | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

How did this project evolve? Traditional Irish settlements had ‘rambling houses’ whose door was always open. Harpists, fiddlers and singers would turn up on a rainy night and need to be put up somewhere. Our experimental Rambling Houses are for the encouragement of gathering and conversation. I’d met the furniture maker Joseph Walsh at a crafts exhibition. Having asked us to design a test piece, he spotted a sketch in my notebook of a conceptual ‘vessel’ for zenithal light, and offered to make it.
Redevelopment Plan for London’s Famed Saville Theatre Gains Approval

1 month ago | architecturalrecord.com | Chris Foges

Architecture News London’s West End is to gain a high-profile performance venue after architect SPPARC won consent to renovate the former Saville Theatre as a home for contemporary circus producer Cirque du Soleil. The city’s “Theatreland” is big business, bringing in over $1 billion annually, but the approved scheme creates additional value for the site’s developer, Yoo Capital, by incorporating a 65,600-square-foot CitizenM hotel in a five-story rooftop extension.
Squire & Partners Revitalizes London's Midcentury Office Complex Space House through ‘Investigative Archeology’

1 month ago | architecturalrecord.com | Chris Foges

Architects & Firms Squire & Partners’ renovation of Richard Seifert & Partners’ Space House gives new luster to one of the most distinctive Modernist office buildings in central London. Stylish and energy-efficient interventions demonstrate that a sensitive approach to recent heritage can deliver what’s valued by today’s tenants, while at the same time aiding the reappraisal of the tower’s architect.
Artefact: practice widens its scope after impressing with home extensions

2 months ago | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

Since setting up almost impulsively during the pandemic, Artefact's founders Daniel Marmot and Benedetta Rogers have purposefully focused on the craft of constructionArtefact was born on a beach, and in a hurry. Founders Daniel Marmot and Benedetta Rogers were working at the same London practice, and taking on small side projects, when the opportunity arose to do a new build house together. With some family and friends in tow, they took a trip to Southend to consider their options.
New College Oxford: university campus rethinks the quadrangle

Mar 19, 2025 | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

Quadrangles at Oxford University have one thing in common: they are, as the name suggests, at least roughly rectilinear. Or at least they have been until now, with the arrival of curved quads at the Gradel Quadrangles designed by David Kohn Architects for New College. Bends and bulges abound in every detail of an ensemble comprising 94 student bedrooms and ancillary facilities, offices, a concert hall, and a classroom wing for a prep school attached to the college.
St Pancras Campus, London, by Caruso St John

Mar 11, 2025 | ribaj.com | Chris Foges

Architect Peter St John does not mince words about the standard of commercial development in London: ‘unsophisticated’ and ‘depressing’ are among the printable judgements. Offices tend either to glassy banality or gauche attention-seeking, and have a deadening effect on public space. ‘There aren’t many commercial buildings one can really admire,’ he says.