Failed Architecture (FA) reconnects architecture with the real world. By opening up new perspectives on the built environment, we seek to explore the meaning of architecture in contemporary society. Since 2011, we have been providing an inclusive platform for critical urban discourse, fueled by unconventional narratives from an international network of contributors.
Architecture continues to fail because we are stuck in a global economic system which puts profit above everything else, reproducing social and political conditions that undermine people’s control over their built environment. Meanwhile, the (architectural) media reduces the design of society to a spectacular image. As a result, the public is left with a shallow understanding of what architecture is and what it can be.
FA challenges dominant spatial fashions and explores alternative realities, reaching far beyond the architectural community. We combine personal stories with research and reflection, always remaining committed to the idea that architecture is about social justice and climate justice, pop culture and subculture, representation and imagination, and everything that happens after the building’s been built.
FA is an independent foundation, operating from five bases around the world. It is an horizontal organisation facilitated by three, often rotating organisers.
Amsterdam/Rotterdam
Ameneh Solati (organiser)
Charlie Clemoes (organiser)
Chiara Dorbolò
Daphne Bakker
Dirim Dinçer
María Mazzanti
Mark Minkjan
René Boer (organiser)
Sophia Seawell
Beirut
Abbas Sbeity
Bassem Saad
Bogotá
Juan Sebastián Sepúlveda
Juana Salcedo
Laura Buitrago
Istanbul
Çiğdem Yılmazer
Eda Hisarlioglu
Öykü Önal
Mert Ceylan
New York
Anny Li
Christin Hu
Dina Taha
Joshua McWhirter
Kevin Rogan
Michael Nicholas
Copy editors
Emma Khan
Eve Murchison
Jim Clemoes
Katherine Tanner
Martha Mingay
Former editors
Jan Loerakker
Ljubo Georgiev
Maja Popovic
Michiel van Iersel (founding editor)
Tim Verlaan
Graphic design
Kees de Klein
Development
Tom Laan
Address
Stichting Failed Architecture Foundation
Oudekerksplein 9
1012 GX Amsterdam
Email
info@failedarchitecture.com
Company registration
Chamber of Commerce Amsterdam under number 60042036
Failed Architecture would not have been possible without the endless commitment of our team in Amsterdam and beyond, and our contributors from around the world. Failed Architecture is supported financially by the FA supporters (donate now!), and received a design criticism grant from the Creative Industries Fund NL in 2017 and 2019.