Levete trained at the Architectural Association and worked for Richard Rogers before joining Future Systems as a partner in 1989, where she realized ground-breaking buildings including the Media Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground and Selfridges department store in Birmingham. In 2009 Levete founded her London-based practice AL_A. She frequently contributes to radio and television programs and writes for major publications, and has lectured around the world. For over a decade she served as a trustee for influential London nonprofits the Young Foundation and Artangel. A Stirling Prize winner, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.

In this Current Work lecture, Levete will cover two prominent cultural projects, the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum Exhibition Road Quarter and the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon. For the V&A in London, AL_A created a new entrance, a public space, and gallery— the museum’s largest building initiative in more than a century. Awarded through a competition, the project features the world’s first porcelain courtyard. MAAT is a low-slung, tile-clad building that invites visitors onto its roof, creating a major new public amenity on the banks of Lisbon’s Tagus River. 

Current AL_A projects include Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Wadham College in Oxford, UK and The Courtyard in Moscow. 

1.5 AIA and New York State CEUs

This lecture is co-sponsored with The Architectural League of New York.

Tickets are free for Cooper Union students and faculty with valid ID, and League members. For ticket inquiries, please refer to The Architectural League of New York website.