Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Time: 1000 for 1030 – 1315
Venue: St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG
(free on-street parking, or E2/E9 bus stop in front)
Lecturer: Ian Swankie
Cost: £25 includes two 1-hour lectures with coffee, tea & biscuits
Contact: Susan Parsons – spsecretarytase@gmail.com for tickets and further details (booking is essential)
This a chance for us to explore old and new as we examine the very best of British architects from the 17th century to the present day. In these two one-hour lectures, we take an informative and lively examination of some brilliant British architects and their legacy. It is not a technical morning, but colourful and fun.
Lecture 1: the Gleaming Spires of London
London boasts a remarkable range of architecture and this talk reveals the evolution of the capital through its great buildings. We start with a brief look at the development of architecture in the capital and then focus on the modern. Whether we like it or not, there are currently well over 500 new buildings over twenty storeys high planned for London in the next few years, including dozens more than twice this height. This is in addition to those already completed. This talk looks at the best of these buildings including the cutting-edge designs of the latest towers such as the Shard, the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie, the Leadenhall Building, the Scalpel and 22 Bishopsgate. We will discover their amazing architectural and engineering challenges and also examine the controversies and difficult social decisions needed to manage this dramatically changing skyline.
Lecture 2: Thomas Heatherwick - a Modern Leonardo?
The past decade has seen the meteoric rise of this extraordinarily versatile British designer with his acclaimed Olympic cauldron, the iconic new London bus and designs for a spectacular new HQ building in King's Cross for Google. Over the last thirty years the Heatherwick Studio has used an intriguing combination of curiosity and experimentation to produce a vast range of solutions to design challenges around the world. This talk looks at the problems presented, and the wonderfully creative ways in which Heatherwick and his team have responded.
Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a contagious enthusiasm for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery, and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is also a freelance London tour guide. Since 2012 he has led a popular weekly independent art lecture group in his hometown of Richmond in West London. He is an accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Art Scholars, one of the City Livery Companies.