On 19 September 2024, the Royal Institute of British Architects hosted a Decolonising Architecture Symposium at 66 Portland Place in London.
The day-long symposium offered a dynamic programme ranging from multidisciplinary conversations to reflections and insights on the commissions and work featured in the exhibition Raise the Roof: Building for Change. Beyond the exhibition, the symposium offered a more dynamic format to scope and reflect on the broader themes of decolonisation. The diversity of the programme suggested ways in which decolonising our world has the potential to expand our understanding, and for new histories and people to emerge.
This rich and multicultural insight into colonial legacies within different cultural contexts provided a framework to explore various themes including:
- colonialism and its continuities
- unpacking ways to make change
- how to create meaningful work
- moving towards a more equitable profession
The symposium offered a mixture of programming that directly engaged with 66 Portland Place, with interactive sessions, panel discussions, presentations, and material tours throughout the building.
Reclaiming Colonial Architecture: Critical practices of lands, cities, buildings and things with Dr Tania Sengupta and Stuart King
Dr Tania Sengupta and Dr Stuart King are the co-editors and authors of the forthcoming RIBA Publishing book, Reclaiming Colonial Architecture (launching end of 2024).
In their first public engagement talking about the book, Tania and Stuart introduce the book's content which features present-day responses to the material inheritances of colonialism in the built environment - written in accessible way to reach new interested audiences.
As the authors point out in their presentation, many of us live in environments that are residues of colonial times and processes. Reclaiming Colonial Architecture features over 30 global contributions of purposeful initiatives and everyday practices that challenge the continuing course of colonialism and imperialism. Stuart also highlights how decolonisation and decarbonisation cannot be disassociated, especially in the built environment.
For Tania and Stuart, business as usual is no longer possible and institutions must start to look at their decolonising practices. The presentation highlights how present-day justice is coming in different forms of reparations and recognition of land. This cannot be purely symbolic acts but acknowledging the impact on communities especially with climate change as Stuart points the strong relationship between decolonisation and decarbonisation.
In conclusion, Tania and Stuart explore how dealing with the colonial past in the form of a material present recognises architecture as an expanding field of practice. The speakers call for architecture as an active form of critique when addressing these topics.
Designing spaces for colonial conversations with Bushra Mohamed
Bushra Mohamed is an architect and the director of Msoma Architects, a London and Nairobi-based practice.
Working mainly in housing, the public realm and urban planning, Bushra talks about the origins of Msoma after identifying a gap in architectural practice relating to colonial history and colonial heritage. Originally from Kenya, a former British colony, Bushra discusses how the practice was formed from an interest in the histories of migration and diaspora/dispersed identities which set the foundation for their practice.
Bushra shared upon how their research influenced the design for the Raise the Roof exhibition itself, working with Neal Shasore and RIBA Curator Margaret Cubbage to develop a brief that directly responded to the context and complicated history of 66 Portland Place with something that inspires hope going forward.
This included looking at the journey from the pavement to the gallery and how the exterior of the building is often seen as difficult to approach or uninviting – especially for more marginalised communities. Within the exhibition design, the theme of hybridity and patchwork references the fragmentation of the colonial imagery and materials in the rest of the building. This included a new patchwork style typeface created for the exhibition by underrepresented type designers.
As a model for sustainability, Bushra also talked about new ways of making exhibitions going forward with much of the Raise the Roof materials being biodegradable or recycled from previous exhibitions.
In conclusion, Bushra highlights how the aim of decolonisation is not to undo or get rid of history but to talk about the legacy of colonialism and how the structures continue to disenfranchise communities today.
Raise the Roof commissioned creatives: The Vanishment with Esi Eshun
Esi Eshun is a multidisciplinary artist and Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins.
In this presentation, Esi elaborates on the narratives in their commissioned work The Vanishment which offers a 'tour' through 66 Portland Place as a creative response to the Jarvis Mural. The film explores the key buildings at the centre of the Jarvis Mural and delves into the colonial history of the Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India) - showing how they are presented by peoples along the periphery looking towards “the mastery of RIBA gentlemen’s selected works” in the centre.
The Vanishment presents two characters: the first is an unseen narrator and the second is a figure who leads the narrator around the building and recounts stories from the mural as if from memory, representing the spirits of those excluded from architectural hierarchies.
In the film, Esi looks deeper into the geopolitical context from which the Jarvis Mural was created and what was happening globally at the time of Portland Place’s construction in 1934. She also highlights the different historical figures featured in the building's colonial context including Herbert Baker, Edward Lutyens, and Lord Leverhulme.
In conclusion, Esi discusses new research on the architecture of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, where her parents came from, showing juxtaposition within areas relevant to the previously mentioned geopolitical context of the British Empire and the creation of the Jarvis Mural.
Challenging practices and constructing coherent futures with Danah Abdulla and Neal Shasore
Danah Abdulla is a designer, educator, researcher and founding member of the Decolonising Design platform.
Dr Neal Shasore is Head of School and Chief Executive of the London School of Architecture.
In this discussion, Danah and Neal explore how material can be handled in a contested and progressive way through three key topics: fundamentals, experience of false starts in decolonial practice, and possible futures.
Fundamentals: Neil delves into how traditionally, design and architecture often like to have easy solutions but it’s important to engage with the theory as well and explore the relationship with coloniality. Danah also discusses shifting away from the standard belief that the Western secular view was not a point of view, but the only view. She also asks: How can we do this in a meaningful way and not just through mere inclusion?
Both speakers addressed not just looking at the past when we talk about coloniality when there are existing present-day examples shaped by this past. If something exists solely in the past it can easily become an abstract concept that doesn’t feel like it’s affecting us – using real world examples shown on the Dominion Screen and Jarvis Mural.
False starts: Danah talks about examples of false starts in decolonising design from the early days of the Decolonising Design platform. The platform itself was launched as a protest against the peer review process due to how things were unbalanced, upon realising that some people did not know how to engage with the topic. Danah also notes how a rise in the public protesting structural inequalities has shifted how we look at enacting change.
Possible futures: In conversation about next steps, Danah and Neal propose, through lessons learned, that a key step to decolonisation is to consider "what are the limits of what I can do in the existing context"? This could include shifting the language, where the knowledge comes from, and who are the dominant voices.
They also suggest looking at changing from a mindset of reform to holding tension and allowing conversations to happen. This is also more likely to create communities of practice where individuals can come together to think differently.
Unbuilding Empire with Reishin Kunishima Watabe
The next presentation was held in the Florence Hall and conducted by Reishin Kunishima Watabe. Through a visual essay, Reishin proposed ways of unbuilding and rebuilding to interpret and reveal the hidden narratives embedded within the building and create alternative futures.
Raise the Roof commissioned creatives: The Carnival of 66 Portland Place with Arinjoy Sen
Arinjoy Sen is an Architectural Assistant at Piercy & Company and was the RIBA Journal's first Eyeline winner of the student category in 2020.
In this talk with Neal Shasore, Arinjoy discusses their Venice Biennale work as a backdrop to their Raise the Roof commission, the Carnival of Portland Place, which is a re-imagining of the Jarvis Mural. The talk explores the history of the mural, its iconography, and how its motif was likely driven by the interior design of the Jarvis Hall during its installation.
In their response to the mural, Arinjoy highlights not only the scale of the original work and its ability to appear and disappear but also the depictions of power dynamics. The commission aims to unpack and reimagine every element of the building, including the relief of ‘architecture’ itself in a more positive way, challenging the foundations of architecture.
In conclusion, Arinjoy highlights how one of the first steps to decolonisation is learning our history properly to see how many things have roots in colonial extraction. The idea of architects as a storyteller is central to the discussion with emphasis on what the profession chooses to say is important for connecting history and the present.
Upon being asked what should happen to the Jarvis Mural, Arinjoy expresses that it should be critically challenged and widely engaged with rather than immediately taken down and hidden where discourse can be born out of that. It should not be a single person who makes the decision but many voices through public engagement and if deemed appropriate, slowly dismantled in a critical manner.
Poetry Vs Colonialism
Through active workshops, Poetry Vs Colonialism invited participants to craft poems based on materials extracted and used as part of the construction of RIBA's headquarters.
Read the poems created during the materials tour and workshop (Download ODT)
Whilst each session revealed the complexities and dark truths of the past, it was held together with an optimistic outlook. With a sense of hope and collaborative spirit in which to explore and find new inclusive and equitable ways of working, space was created to provide a sense of belonging and safety to explore these more complex and uncomfortable narratives, revealing how architecture can be used as a tool for interpretation. .
Find out more about our exhibitions, upcoming events and EDI (Equity, diversity and inclusion) resources.
