Neil Leach is a British architect and theorist.MIT Press
retrieved 14 May 2011 He is also a licensed architect, registered to practice in the United Kingdom.

Education

Leach holds a Master of Arts degree and a Diploma of Architecture degree from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

Academic history

He is Professor at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

, the

European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, ...

and

Tongji University Tongji University is a public university located in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Tongji is one of the ...

. He has also taught at the

Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, academic conference, symposia and publications. Histo ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

SCI-Arc Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde. It consists of ...

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based in Brighton on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieved university status in 1992. T ...

, Dessau Institute of Architecture,

Royal Danish Academy of Art The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

, and Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. He is currently the Director of the

Doctor of Design Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded ...

program at

. He is an academician within the Academy of Europe, and has also been a

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), formerly NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), is a NASA program for development of far reaching, long term advanced concepts by "creating breakthroughs, radically better or entirely new aerospa ...

Fellow. He is co-founder of DigitalFUTURES.

Academic interests

Leach's initial research interests focused on the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

. His first publication was a translation from the Latin of

de re aedificatoria (''On the Art of Building'') is a classic architectural treatise written by Leon Battista Alberti between 1443 and 1452. Although largely dependent on Vitruvius's , it was the first theoretical book on the subject written in the Italian Renais ...

, the fifteenth century treatise on architecture written by Italian humanist,

Leon Battista Alberti Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, Catholic priest, priest, linguistics, linguist, philosopher, and cryptography, cryptographer; he epitomised the natu ...

. The translation was undertaken under the supervision of

Joseph Rykwert Joseph Rykwert (5 April 1926 – 17 or 18 October 2024) was a British architectural historian and writer. He was the Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the foremost architectural historia ...

. Subsequently, his interests shifted into the realm of contemporary architectural theory, and he developed a particular interest in

Continental Philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

and its potential impact on architectural thinking. Leach's position in regards to architectural theory was first set out in the "cultural reader" he edited, ''Rethinking Architecture'' (1997). The book contained a selection of well-known writings about architecture written by thinkers within

, ranging from

Hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication. ...

and

Phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

Structuralism Structuralism is an intellectual current and methodological approach, primarily in the social sciences, that interprets elements of human culture by way of their relationship to a broader system. It works to uncover the structural patterns t ...

and

Deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

, prefaced by Leach's own introductions. Among the authors included were:

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard (, ; ; – 6 March 2007) was a French sociology, sociologist and philosopher with an interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as hi ...

and

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

. What the selection set out to represent was a rethinking of architectural practice; making it a critical activity, not simply accepting the given

paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm ( ) is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. The word ''paradigm'' is Ancient ...

, while at the same time placing architecture within the realm of

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

. He subsequently published a series of edited volumes and monographs based on material from that book. His work then developed in the direction of materialism and computation, inspired in part by the work of

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

and

Manuel DeLanda Manuel DeLanda (born 1952) is a Mexican- American writer, artist and philosopher who has lived in New York since 1975. He is a lecturer in architecture at the Princeton University School of Architecture and the University of Pennsylvania Scho ...

but also by new scientific thinking. This informs his curatorial work and design teaching which engage extensively with scripting and digital fabrication. He is the co-recipient of two

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

grants to explore the potential use of the robotic fabrication technology, Contour Crafting, for building structures on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. Currently, he is working in the field of architecture and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, where he has published two books, ''Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to AI for Architects'' and ''Machine Hallucinations: Architecture and AI'', and has contracts to publish three more. He also engages with the field of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

Activities in China

Leach has been involved extensively in China, where he directed the American Academy in China for several years. He was the co-curator (with Xu Weiguo) of the A2 Exhibition of Avant-Garde Architecture at the Architecture Biennial Beijing 2004, the Emerging Talents, Emerging Technologies Exhibition at the Architecture Biennial Beijing 2006, the (Im)material Processes Exhibition at the Architecture Biennial Beijing 2008, and the Machinic Processes Exhibition at the Architecture Biennial Beijing 2010. He was also the co-curator (with Roland Snooks) of the Swarm Intelligence: Architectures of Multi-Agent Systems Exhibition in Shanghai in 2010, and (with Philip Yuan) of the DigitalFUTURES Exhibition in Shanghai in 2011 (with Philip Yuan) of the Interactive Shanghai Exhibition in Shanghai in 2013, and (with Xu Weiguo) of the Design Intelligence: Advanced Computational Research Exhibition in Beijing in 2013, and the Digital Factory: Advanced Computational Research Exhibition in Shanghai in 2015. Since 2011 he has co-curated (with Philip Yuan) the annual DigitalFUTURES exhibitions in Shanghai. He currently holds a Professorship at Tongji University, where he is a PhD supervisor.

Publications

*''On the Art of Building in Ten Books'' with Joseph Rykwert (1988, 1991) *''Rethinking Architecture'' - editor (1997) *''Millennium Culture'' (1999) *''The Anaesthetics of Architecture'' (1999) *''Architecture and Revolution'' - editor (1999) *''Mars Pants'' with Oliver Froome-Lewis et al. (2000) *''Designing for a Digital World'' - editor (2002) *''The Hieroglyphics of Space'' - editor (2002) *''China'' (2004) *''Fast Forward>>, Hot Spots, Brain Cells'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2004) *''Digital Tectonics'' - co-editor with David Turnbull and Chris Williams (2004) *''Emerging Talents, Emerging Technologies: Architects'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2006) *''Emerging Talents, Emerging Technologies: Students'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2006) *''Forget Heidegger'' (2006) *''Camouflage'' (2006) *''(Im)material Processes: Architects'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2008) *''(Im)material Processes: Students'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2008) *''Digital Cities'' - editor (2009) *''Machinic Processes: Architects'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2010) *''Machinic Processes: Students'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2010) *''Swarm Intelligence: Architectures of Multi-Agent Systems'' - co-editor with Roland Snooks (2017) *''Fabricating the Future'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan (2012) *''Scripting the Future'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan (2012) *''Digital Workshop in China'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan (2013) *''Design Intelligence: New Computational Research'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2013) *''Space Architecture: The New Frontier for Design Research'' - editor (2014) *''Robotic Futures'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan and Achim Menges (2015) *''Digital Factory: New Computational Research'' - co-editor with Xu Weiguo (2015) *''Swarm Intelligence: Architectures of Multi-Agent Systems'' - co-editor with Roland Snooks (2017) *''3D Printed Body Architecture'' - co-editor with Behnaz Farahi (2017) *''Computational Design'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan (2017) *''Digital Fabrication'' - co-editor with Achim Menges and Philip Yuan (2017) *''Architectural Intelligence'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan, Neil Leach, Mike Xie, Jiawei Yao (2020) *''Proceedings of the 2020 DigitalFUTURES'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan, Jiawei Yao, Chao Yan, Xiang Wang (2021) *''Proceedings of the 2021 DigitalFUTURES'' - co-editor with Philip Yuan, Jiawei Yao, Chao Yan, Xiang Wang (2021) *''Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to AI for Architects'' (2022) *''Machine Hallucinations: Architecture and AI'' - co-editor with Matias del Campo (2022) His books have been translated into eight different languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Romanian, Portuguese, Korean, Polish,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Macedonian.

References

External links

Neil Leach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leach, Neil 21st-century British architects Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Academics of the University of Bath Academic staff of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Nottingham British architectural historians British architecture writers Historians of the Renaissance