IN MEMORIAM – PETER BUCHANAN

The LSA is deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of Peter Buchanan. Peter was a respected and learned member of the global architectural community. A founder of the LSA, he was our Reader in Architecture and Urbanism. 

Peter’s commitment to sharing his wealth of knowledge through teaching has made a profound impact on our school and community. Our Humanity and the Planet lecture series was pioneered and delivered by Peter until 2022 and leaves a legacy in its own right. His lectures set out powerful provocations for how we might approach the climate emergency. They serve as foundational thinking for the LSA and informed his development of the school’s magazine, Citizen, drawing on his many years of journalistic and editorial experience.

Peter also played a significant role in nurturing our Design Think Tanks, an innovative component of our teaching and programme that brings practice and students together to develop collaborative research projects. He held everyone to account equally, regardless of status or design preference, creating the level playing field required for effective collaborative working. His personal library was also generously shared with our students whilst he was teaching in the studio, providing the school with a truly unique resource in its early years.  

Our deepest sympathies go to Peter’s family, friends, former students and colleagues at this time.

Our Head of School Neal Shasore writes:

“Peter Buchanan was a vigorous and rigorous critic of architecture, but he also delighted in it, rhapsodising and roving across its terrain. He put the breadth of his intellect and skill in the service of humanity and the planet, seeing not just a climate or ecological emergency, but a more fundamental ontological crisis. As he once said, there is much of his DNA in the LSA – he was a fierce guardian of the project – and whilst future cohorts may be robbed of his engagement and collaboration, his legacy will nonetheless shape the next generation of innovators in design”. 

James Soane, LSA Critical Practice Fellow and member of founding faculty adds:

“Peter’s insight into the existential question of what makes a good life, and by extension how humanity constructs its world, has profoundly framed the teaching and learning at the LSA. His critical observations around the climate crisis reflect a lifelong belief in the power of the natural world. He taught us that in these uncertain times, we must bravely confront the subjectivism of modernist thinking and embrace a way of being that flourishes alongside nature in symbiosis. His writing speaks of an architecture that can co-evolve into our living home. He warns that there is little hope humanity can continue along the same track without radical change. We would do well to heed his words very carefully”.