Jane Rendell

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Jane Rendell (born 1967 in Dubai) is a British architectural historian, cultural critic, and art writer. She has been based at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London since 2000 and has been a Professor of Architecture and Art since 2008. She directs Architectural History and Theory and leads the Bartlett’s Ethics Commission. Earlier in her career she taught at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Winchester School of Art, and the University of Nottingham.

Education and early work: Rendell earned a BA in Architecture from the University of Sheffield (1988) and a DipArch from the University of Edinburgh (1992). She completed an MSc in the History of Modern Architecture at UCL (1994) and a PhD at Birkbeck (1998) on The Pursuit of Pleasure: Architecture in London 1821–8. She worked as an architectural designer with Anthony Richardson and Partners and with the feminist co‑operative Matrix.

Ideas and books: Rendell’s research crosses architecture, art, feminism, history and psychoanalysis. She coined the term “critical spatial practice” in Art and Architecture: A Place Between to describe how space shapes interdisciplinary work between art and architecture. In Site-Writing she argues that criticism is a form of critical spatial practice. Her later work explores displacement related to extractive industries and the London housing crisis, including regeneration schemes in Southwark.

Notable works and topics: She has co-edited many collections, such as Strangely Familiar, The Unknown City, Gender, Space, Architecture, Intersections, A Place Between, Spatial Imagination, Pattern and Critical Architecture. Her own writing includes a feminist book on rambling in 1820s London and Art and Architecture: A Place Between, which further develops critical spatial practice. She also writes for artists and galleries and speaks at major museums and events.

Service and editorial work: Rendell has served on the AHRC Peer Review College (2004–2008) and was the first Chair of the RIBA Presidents Awards for Research (2005–2008). She sits on editorial boards for ARQ, Architectural Theory Review, GeoHumanities, The Happy Hypocrite, Journal of Visual Culture in Britain, Ultima Thule and Zetisis.