Arch2O.com

Arch2O.com - Architecture & Design Magazine
Observers, like Joseph Rykwert, have declared their dismay after the AA School announced its intention to lay off 16 of its employees in addition to the cancellation of the whole exhibitions and publications departments. The Architectural Association is the oldest private school of architecture in the United Kingdom, and it is one of the most eminent across the globe.
A week ago, the laid-off employees have received letters from the school to notify them that they might be disposed of and that a period of consultation has just started. The redundant staff includes six from the department of publications which is the department responsible for the production of the school’s prominent journal of records AA Files. The termination also includes two members from HR department, two from the department of exhibitions, two from membership, and four from development. Temporary director of the AA, Samantha Hardingham, was the one behind the termination idea. She was appointed to her current position at the AA last August after her predecessor, director Brett Steele, had left the educational facility for a university position in the United States.
Although the school is reassuring the staff that the final call has not been made yet, the architectural society regards this move as an endangerment to the prestigious status and the cultural role of the facility.
Joseph Rykwert, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania...