- Architectural Humanities
About me
Harry Charrington studied architecture at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1989. He was awarded his PhD at the LSE (London School of Economics & Political Science) in 2008. He was elected a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2011. He practiced architecture in Finland, working for Arkkitehtitoimisto Alvar Aalto and Studio Suonto Architects, and in the United Kingdom for Winskell Architects and Spence & Dower Architects in Newcastle-On-Tyne, as well as running his own practice. From 2000–04 he was a developer and designer of the multi-award winning Springhill CoHousing in Stroud, the UKs first new build CoHousing project.
He has lectured in Finland and the United Kingdom at the Universities of Manchester and Newcastle, Vaasa Institute of Technology, Helsinki University and Helsinki University of Technology. He was Programme Leader of the unique joint-validated Architecture & Planning Degree at UWE Bristol, where he also created the Master of Architecture programme. He was Director of Studies for the Master of Architecture at the University of Bath, before moving to the University of Westminster where he was Head of the Department of Architecture from 2014–2018, and Head of the School of Architecture + Cities from 2018-2024. He is currently Professor of Architecture and co-convenor of the Architectural Humanities research group.
I welcome PHD applications from students who have interests in design practices, histories of modernism, Scandinavian architecture, planning and design quality.
Teaching
Harry Charrington currently leads an MArch Dissertation seminar and teaches on the BA Urban Planning & Design and BSc Architecture & Environmental Design courses, as well as teaching Cultural Context. He previously led Design Studios from BA Year 1 to MArch in Finland and the United Kingdom, and has also taught History of Architecture, Construction History, and Architectural History and Theory.
Research
Current research is on the relationship of planning and design quality, standardisation and computation, and oral histories of practice.
Research outputs include conference papers, organising conferences, exhibitions, journal articles, book chapters and books on architectural practice, public space, and the relationship of design quality and planning systems.
Artek, Alvar and Aino Aalto; Modernity, Domesticity, and the Public Sphere was published by Yale University Press in November 2016, following an exhibition at Bard College in New York.
The book Alvar Aalto: the Mark of the Hand, (Helsinki: Rakennustieto, 2011) won the 2012 RIBA President’s Medal for Outstanding University-based Research.
The exhibition and book Alvar Aalto: Process & Culture was held at the RIBA Heinz Gallery in London and Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä was the first of his many studies of Alvar Aalto’s practice.
He has written for several journals including Architectural Research Quarterly (ARQ), Architectural Theory Review, The Architectural Review, Architect’s Journal and Building Design.
He was a Trustee of the British Chapter of the International Committee for the Restoration of the Viipuri Library, awarded the World Monuments Fund Knoll Modernism Prize 2014.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.