Dr Ruth Lang
- Senior Tutor (Research)
- Architecture MA Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2)
Ruth is an architect, writer and curator, whose research explores alternative strategies and positions which can be adopted in pursuit of the practice of architecture.
As unit leader for Radical Practice, Ruth supports students in establishing their intentions as practitioners beyond the parameters of their academic experience, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to realise their work within the contemporary architectural context.
An integral part of this work is to establish links with – and to draw inferences from – creative and technical practices parallel to architectural design, in order to shift the future agenda on a personal and professional basis.
Alongside this, Ruth is currently the research lead for Low Carbon Housing at the Design Museum's Future Observatory, exploring the barriers to reducing embodied carbon in the housebuilding industry. The research will explore ways in which these can be overcome by using the Design Museum as a springboard for innovative practice.
Key details
School, Centre or Area
Gallery
More information
Research interests
Ruth’s research focuses upon the symbiotic tension between bureaucracy and creativity inherent to architectural practice. This is explored through graphical methodologies to understand the role of space, legislation, and both interpersonal and non-human relationships within the frameworks of architectural design.
Her work seeks to reveal otherwise obscured or overlooked processes and networks of practice, and the role of unrecognised architectural practitioners. Her aim is to better understand the context within which we currently practice, in order to empower practitioners to affect beneficial change in the future.
Practice
Ruth is an editor for Architectural Research Quarterly, and writes for a broad range of non-academic publications including Volume, Architectural Review, RIBA Journal, FRAME, and Modernist magazine (for which she guest edited the October 2019 issue on the ‘Invisible’).
As a curator and PhD supervisor, she works to enable non-architectural perspectives to permeate architectural subjects, to establish new territory for interdisciplinary collaboration.
In her architectural experience she has worked as part of the architectural team delivering London 2012 Olympic construction projects, masterplanning urban regeneration of residential schemes, working closely with multiple stakeholders on BSF brief development, guiding high-end housing design proposals through difficult and sensitive planning processes for greenbelt sites, and administering site operations on complex, short-timescale, high-spec commercial interior design projects. She currently specialises in bid development and interdisciplinary team coordination.
Awards
Scott Opler Emerging Scholar, SAH annual conference, 2016.
Aaron Memorial Travel Scholarship, Leeds Metropolitan University, 2001.
Current and research projects
Ruth is currently writing two forthcoming books, highlighting the opportunities for responding to issues of inequality and the Climate Emergency within contemporary practice.
Publications, exhibitions, other outcomes
Exhibitions
As curator:
(2018) ♀Architects. The Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, UK. In collaboration with Ivan Jones (Photographer) and Patrick Myles (Art Director).
(2016-17) Lansbury MicroMuseum: Neighbourhood Number Nine, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
As contributor:
(2018) Conversation Pieces. Tenderbooks, London. Curated by Caroline Stevenson and Ruby Hoette.
Books
Lang, R (2021) Orchestration of an Organisation: the bureaucratic frameworks of the London County Council Architect’s Department In: Ciccarelli, L. Lombardi, S and Mingardi, L. Largest Architectural Firms. Design Authorship and Organization Management. Edifir-Edizioni, Firenze, Italy., pp.70-81.
Lang, R (2020) Schools of Wandsworth. In Hatherley, O, ed., An Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs Open House., pp.200-206.
External collaborations and activities
(2019–22) External Examiner, Oxford Brookes University, MArchD Applied Design in Architecture.
(2021-25) External Examiner, University of the Creative Arts, BA Architecture.