Exhibition - Learning from the Centre: Civic Participation and Radical Praxis at Birmingham School of Architecture as seen in the Archive of Birmingham & Five Counties Architectural Association

‘Learning from the Centre’ explores the changing orientation of the Birmingham School of Architecture & Design in its various iterations since its foundation in 1908, and the legacy of that rich history.

The show places the architecture archive in context, that of the Birmingham and Five Counties Architectural Association, recently incorporated into the Arts, Design and Media Collection of Birmingham City University. Spanning more than a century with over 1,000 artefacts, it includes works by students and graduates of the school alongside major projects in Birmingham and the West Midlands, making associations within and beyond the institution.

As the title suggests, ‘Learning from the Centre’ is about being geographically and intellectually at the centre of things, as well as asking how we perceive and respond to the world around us, individually, as a school, a city and society. Critically, it begins to identify gaps in the archive, and offer openings to future collaborative possibilities.