Architecture as Material Culture : The Work of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp

A place acquires meaning through human intervention and transformation. Raised to the level of architecture these transformations interpret and represent society’s values and aspirations. FJMT has a reputation as an ideas-driven practice with an agenda for strong public engagement and resolution of tectonics. Form Material Assembly documents this ability to uncover the real and often contradictory issues and potentials of a project through a very careful analysis of purpose and place.

Kenneth Frampton is Ware professor of Architecture. He has earned Dipl. Arch., Dipl. Trop., Architectural Association (London) in 1956; A.R.I.B.A., 1957; and an Honorary Doctorate in Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, 1995. He is recipient of Medaille d’Or, Academie d’Architecture Paris and ACSA Topaz Medal for excellence in architectural education, 1990. He is also Associate of the A.I.A., 1993, and a member of the Russian Academy of the Constructional Science, 1995. He teaches the course "Comparative Critical Analysis of Built Form", and is author of Modern Architecture: A Critical History (Thames & Hudson, 2000). Richard Francis-Jones is fjmt’s design director and is responsible for the design of some of Australia’s most acclaimed buildings. Recent fjmt projects designed by Richard have received Australia’s highest architectural awards including the Sir Zelman Cowan, Sulman, Lloyd Rees and Greenway Awards. Francis-Jones graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) in 1981 and a Bachelor of Architecture with First Class Honours and the University Medal in 1985. He attended Columbia University on an ITT Fellowship, where he studied under Kenneth Frampton, completing a Master of Science in Architecture and Building Design in 1987. He subsequently taught at Columbia University as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture. In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales. Francis-Jones was the creative director of the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2008 National Conference, Critical Visions: Form Representation and the Culture of Globalisation, and is an editor of Skyplane and Content: a journal of architecture. Francis-Jones was President of the RAIA (NSW Chapter) from 2001–2002 and was a member of the NSW Architects Registration Board from 2001-2004. (FJMT has studios in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; and Oxford, UK. Richard Francis-Jones is based in Sydney, Australia)