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Draft:Clare Wright

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Clare Wright MBE RSA

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Clare Wright MBE RSA (born 1955 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British architect, educator and co-founder of Wright & Wright Architects, a London-based architecture firm with a diverse portfolio of projects in the culture and higher education sectors extending over three decades.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

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Clare Wright was born in 1955 in Glasgow and educated at the city’s Notre Dame High School. From an early age, she attended Saturday art classes at the Glasgow School of Art. She studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, part of the Glasgow School of Art, under the tutelage of Isi Metzstein [1] and Andy MacMillan[2], obtaining a first class degree in architecture.

CAREER

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In 1978 Wright moved to London, where she worked for architects Rock Townsend and then joined Howell Killick Partridge and Amis. She subsequently established a solo practice and taught part-time at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College, London, and North London Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University). In 1990 she assumed responsibility for the £45 million annual development programme for Circle 33 Housing Trust (now part of Clarion Housing). She designed housing schemes that focused on the creation of safe neighbourhoods, accessibility and zero carbon homes.

In 1994 she co-founded Wright & Wright with Sandy Wright. Early projects included the remodelling of the library at the Royal College of Art, the design of the Women’s Library in a former Victorian wash house in London’s East End, and Hull Truck Theatre, for playwright John Godber. Establishing a reputation for flair and sensitivity in combining historic and new elements, the practice has designed several galleries, libraries and archives for high profile institutions in the culture and higher education sectors, such as the British Museum, National Gallery, V&A Museum, British Academy, Church of England and many Oxford colleges. Recent projects include a new Library and Archive for the Church of England at Lambeth Palace, a new Library and Study centre for St John’s College, Oxford, and a transformative remodelling of the Museum of the Home in London’s Hoxton.

In tandem with her practice, Clare Wright has sat on the English Heritage Urban Advisory Panel (now the Historic Places Panel)[3] dedicated to shaping policy in sensitive planning locales and advising executive bodies on approaches to regeneration and development in historic settings.   She was also a member of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (now the Building Safety Regulator)[4] working on provisions for the disabled and the elderly as well as sustainability. She is a regular assessor for architectural awards programmes run by the RIBA, RIAS, Civic Trust and Arts Council of England and has examined student work at Cambridge, Cardiff, the Mackintosh and Westminster schools of architecture.

In 2004 Wright was appointed MBE for services to Architecture and in 2022 she was elected a member of the Royal Scottish Academy[5]

PUBLICATIONS

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Special Collections, 2018, focusing on the design of libraries and archives to house Special Collections ISBN 978-1-5272-3173-3

Interior with red seats and stage of the Hull Truck Theatre designed by Wright & Wright Architects
Interior with seats and stage of the Hull Truck Theatre designed by Wright & Wright Architects

SELECTED PROJECTS

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2021 Museum of the Home, London[6]

2020 Library and Archive for the Church of England at Lambeth Palace[7]

2019 Library and Study Centre for St John’s College, Oxford[8]

2017 Longwall Library, Magdalen College, Oxford

2016 Shakespeare’s Schoolroom and Guildhall, Stratford-upon-Avon[9]

2016 Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub

2014 Paul Mellon Centre for British Art, London

Interior of the foyer of the Women's Library with brick and timber walls designed by Wright & Wright
Interior of the foyer of the Women's Library with brick and timber walls designed by Wright & Wright

2009 Lower Galleries, National Gallery

2008 Taylor Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

2008 Royal College of Art Library

2006 Hull Truck Theatre[10]

2004 V&A and RIBA Reading Rooms, London

2001 Women’s Library, London[11]

FURTHER READING

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Pearman, Hugh (8 November 2016). "The care takers". RIBA Journal. Retrieved 10 May 2024.

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Official website

https://www.wrightandwright.co.uk/

  1. ^ Stamp, Gavin (2012-01-22). "Isi Metzstein obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  2. ^ Stamp, Gavin (2014-10-07). "Andy MacMillan obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  3. ^ "Historic Places Panel | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  4. ^ "About us". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  5. ^ "Clare Wright RSA (Elect) - Biography". Royal Scottish Academy. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  6. ^ Moore, Rowan (2021-05-30). "Museum of the Home review – home discomforts". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  7. ^ Wainwright, Oliver (2020-12-22). "Guarding the apocalypse: inside the fortress of the new Lambeth Palace Library". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  8. ^ Slessor, Catherine (2019-09-22). "St John's College, Oxford library and study centre – a touch of mod in the quad". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  9. ^ "Shakespeare's 'original classroom' revealed". BBC News. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  10. ^ Kennett, Stephen; Kennett2009-04-09T00:00:00+01:00, Stephen Kennett Stephen. "How cool is that? Hull Truck Theatre's passive-ventilated venue". Building. Retrieved 2024-10-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Slessor, Catherine (2012-05-09). "The Women's Library by Wright & Wright, London". The Architectural Review. Retrieved 2024-10-01.