Royal Academy Of Arts

The idea of a maverick in architecture – and arguably in art, literature and even science – is inextricably associated with the myth of the creative genius. From perhaps Leonardo da Vinci onwards, creative genius has been popularly associated with disregard for social conventions, isolation, and of the individual overcoming adversity – traits that are often understood in masculine terms. In architecture, the creative genius trope has helped give rise to the ‘starchitect’, the name given to an almost exclusively male group of celebrity architects, whose work is defined by its avant-gardist novelty, and signature, iconic forms. As the gravitational pull of the ‘starchitect’ consumes media attention with ever increasing ferocity, our panel discusses its distorting effects and explores what might lie beyond it. To what degree is the ’starchitect’ a creation of the media? In what ways does the ‘starchitect’ system act to exclude women, if indeed it does? How might we begin to celebrate architectural achievements