Laura Mark (she/her)

I have been co-lead for the first year undergraduate course since I started teaching at Sheffield School of Architecture in 2021.

Prior to this I taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University of Greenwich and the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design. I also regularly run a unit at the annual summer programme – Studio in the Woods. At the beginning of lockdown, I launched a series of events titled the Virtual Unit, designed to support students who were now completing their studies at home.

I have been a guest critic at numerous schools of architecture including Sweden’s UMEA University, UCLAN, Reading School of Architecture, Bartlett School of Architecture, Central St Martins, and the Royal College of Art.

I am currently undertaking a PhD at Newcastle University which looks at our experience of domestic spaces, the museumification of the home and feminist practices of care through an autoethnographic study of Walmer Yard.

Trained as an architect, I worked in practice before joining the Architects’ Journal. During my time at the magazine, I won numerous awards for my work including IBP’s Multi-Media Journalist of the Year in both 2015 and 2016. I now write freelance for a number of publications including RIBA Journal, Dezeen, Icon, The Developer and the Architectural Review. I have also edited books and website texts for practices including Robin Lee Architecture, Feilden Fowles, Gort Scott and ZCD Architects.

After leaving the AJ, I launched the architecture awards at the Royal Academy of Arts where I also curated a number of exhibitions and events as part of the institution’s public programme. I am the former Keeper of Walmer Yard and I also previously ran the Baylight Foundation, where I curated a number of cultural programmes and projects which explored how we experience architecture.

I have also directed a number of films including the documentary Zaha: An Architecture Legacy (2017) which has been shown at festivals in London, Milan, New York and Miami. I am currently working on a new series of films entitled Practice, which follow the studio culture of architects from Piers Taylor and Sam Jacob to Mary Duggan and O’Donnell and Tuomey. The first episode, which was released in February 2020, has been shown at the Dezeen Virtual Design Festival, Palm Springs Architecture, Design, and Art Film Festival and New York Architecture Design Film Festival.