To celebrate five years since the Garden Museum’s redevelopment, architects Dow Jones were joined in conversation with journalist Evan Davis.
Discover how Dow Jones Architects conceived designs which included the Garden Cafe and learning spaces centred around a courtyard garden designed by Dan Pearson, as well as reimagining the galleries inside the original medieval church building. The design was picked by The Observer’s Rowan Moore as one of his top five projects of 2017, and awarded the Architects Journal Retrofit Award for Museums & Galleries in 2018.
Biba and Alun discuss their design for the Garden Museum five years on, and other projects including Maggie’s Centre in Cardiff, the redevelopment of Bevis Marks Synagogue, Britain’s oldest synagogue, and their new building for the Leach Pottery in St Ives. They explore ideas around the relationship between architecture and landscape, what guides them in shaping their practice, and urban values in the public realm.
And finally, with Evan Davis, host of BBC Radio 4’s The Bottom Line, they discuss being a husband and wife team – and what it takes to feel good about being an architect in a competitive, commercial environment.
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Evan Davis
Bio »Evan Davis
Evan Davis is an economist, journalist, and BBC presenter. He presents the daily news show on Radio 4, PM. He also presents the popular BBC2 business reality show, Dragon’s Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme, The Bottom Line.
Previously, he was the BBC’s economics editor, then a presenter on the Radio 4 Today programme and for four years was the main presenter of Newsnight on BBC2. He has written several books, the latest of which is called “Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do About It.” -
Biba Dow
Bio »Biba Dow
MA Dip.Arch (Cantab) ARB
Biba was born in London and studied architecture at the University of Cambridge. She founded Dow Jones Architects in 2000 with Alun Jones.She has let many projects including Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene, Bevis Marks Synagogue and the crypt at Christ Church Spitalfields.
Biba was short-listed for Architect of the Year for the Women in Architecture Award 2018. She is an architectural assessor, writes about architecture and culture, has lectured widely on the work of her practice and of architecture and design.
She is a member of the Cathedral Fabric Committee at Coventry Cathedral, the Old Oak and Park Royal Place Review Panel and the Kensington and Chelsea Quality Review Panel.
She is an external examiner at the Cass, and has been involved with teaching architecture at a number of UK universities, teaching a diploma unit at the Cass and as a visiting critic at Cambridge University, Kingston School of Architecture, and other schools.
She is a governor of a primary school in Brixton.
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Alun Jones
Bio »Alun Jones
BSc MPhil. Dip.Arch (Cantab) RIBA
Alun was born in Caerphilly and studied architecture at the University of Bath, and at the University of Cambridge. In 1994, he wrote an MPhil on reconstruction of Alberti’s Church of San Sebastiano in Mantua, which formed part of a research project on Alberti’s work at the Palazzo Te in Mantua led by Robet Travernor and Joseph Rykwert.After graduating, he worked for Caruso St John Architects as project architect for the New Art Gallery, Walsall, before establishing Dow Jones Architects in 2000 with Biba Dow.
He has led many projects including Maggie’s Cancer Care, the Garden Museum and Peter von Kant Gallery in Deptford.
Alun has taught extensively at schools of architecture, including fifteen years teaching a diploma unit at the Cass and at Kingston School of Architecture. He has been a visiting critic and lecturer at numerous universities including the University of Bath, Queen’s University Belfast, DIT and the University of Cambridge. He is currently an RIBA external examiner at Dublin School of Architecture
Alun is a Civic Trust Award assessor and sits on the South Downs National Parks Design Review Committee.