RIBA President Muyiwa Oki pays tribute to Joseph Rykwert, who passed away in October 2024.
“I am saddened to learn of the passing of Joseph Rykwert, the architecture critic and historian, and globally renowned authority on art and architecture.
His writing and teaching provided inspiration to so many architects and students. Indeed, his gift was described by my predecessor, RIBA President Stephen Hodder, as ‘rare in that he can deliver the most profound thinking on architecture in an accessible way’. Over a long career, he taught at most major schools of architecture across the world.
His 1963 book The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World is rightly considered a pivotal text on the formation of cities.
In 1967, while professor of art at Essex University, he established a postgraduate seminar course on the history and theory of architecture that was the first of its kind. At the time, RIBA’s secretary of education attempted to suppress it – surprising as that seems today.
Born in Warsaw in 1926, he began his career as an architect before moving into writing and academia. His education included the Bartlett and the Architectural Association, and he worked in practice for Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, also spending time with Richard Sheppard and Ove Arup.
Joseph reframed the conversation about our environment, sense of place, and society not just once, but throughout his many decades of work. His other books, including The Necessity of Artifice (1982) and The Seduction of Place (2002), are also credited with changing the way architects and planners think about cities and buildings.
He received the 2014 RIBA Royal Gold Medal in recognition of the enormous and lasting impact of his groundbreaking ideas on architecture and design. As one of few non-practicing architects to receive the honour, it demonstrates the exceptional influence of these ideas, particularly on the role of architects, buildings and cities. I have no doubt they will remain relevant well into the future.
My thoughts are with his family and friends, and all those whose lives he enriched.”
