NÍALL MCLAUGHLIN ARCHITECTS LECTURE, EXHIBITION AND BOOK LAUNCH AT THE RIBA
DECEMBER 2018
Níall McLaughlin has been invited by the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Ben Derbyshire, to exhibit the practices work from this year’s Venice Biennale at the RIBA building in London which will be on display in the RIBA’s Florence Hall from 10th – 28th January 2019. Niall will give a lecture on the work on the evening of the 15th January. The lecture will be followed by an event in the Florence Hall to celebrate the installation and its contributors, and to launch Twelve Halls, the book accompanying the exhibition.
AN OXFORD OUTING
DECEMBER 2017
Last month NMLA’s Balliol College team went on a celebratory excursion to Oxford to mark an important project milestone. We visited selected buildings by the office and by others, called at the site to observe demolition-in-progress, and finally hid from the rain for festive beverages.
All aboard the 9 o’clock train from London Marylebone. The sky is grey and the clouds are heavy.
One hour later, two taxis crawl up the hill to Ripon College. Ten excited people are deposited on its driveway.
We enter the chapel. Two people to pull the entrance door wide. Eyes up; iPhones out; pause to pose for photo.
Outside, driver’s thumbs drum-drumming against the steering wheel. Doors open; it’s time to go. Heart FM for the drive into town.
Students mill around Somerville College. Camouflaged amongst them we enter NMLA’s housing block. Up the stair tower, peeking into bedrooms and kitchens, we debate the merits of bathroom pods.
Herzog and de Meuron’s Blavatnik School of Government stands next to Somerville, glittering. Like magpies we are drawn through its doors.
On the roof terrace Oxford is laid out beneath us, dreaming spires etc., but next: lunch.
Heavier and happier, we walk to Worcester College’s Nazrin Shah Building. Heads pressed to the glass we stare greedily inside.
Later, eleven sets of PPE are donned and rainclouds assemble as we tour the site. Mud, glorious mud. Three years till ribbon-cutting.
The rain starts, the pub beckons. Cheers to Balliol!