Making Room: The Housing Crisis in New York and London

Arguably the capitals of the world, New York and London, share great wealth and power. However at their heart they have some real challenges, including unaffordable housing and infrastructure not suited for modern life. In this Benjamin Franklin House Symposium, award-winning architect John McAslan of John McAslan + Partners will address the housing crises in both cities and suggest a template for change.

Born in Glasgow, McAslan was educated at the University of Edinburgh, winning his Diploma year prize. He trained in Boston with Cambridge Seven Associates before joining Richard Rogers and Partners in 1980. He co-founded Troughton McAslan in 1984 and John McAslan + Partners in 1996.  He is Executive Chairman of the practice and is active in all of its work. The practice’s core work runs in parallel with its Initiatives Unit, which delivers not-for-profit projects across the globe, such as community regeneration in Tottenham and modular school design for rural Malawi. In 1997 he established the John McAslan Family Trust, which, as a registered charity, provides support for arts and educational projects in the UK and overseas.  In 2010, John led the reconstruction of the iconic Iron Market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake, with the restored Market opening in January 2011. The practice's work has been widely published internationally in professional journals, newspapers and in the form of monographs and has received in excess of 90 design awards, including 20 RIBA national and international awards, three European Union prizes for cultural heritage and he was named World Architect of the Year in 2009. In 2012 McAslan was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty the Queen and also served in 2012 - 2013 as Honorary Consul for the Republic of Haiti in London. 

Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in collaboration with Benjamin Franklin House.