Flora Samuel
Professor of Architecture in the Built Environment, University of Reading
Biography
Flora Samuel is a Professor of Architecture in the Built Environment at the new School of Architecture at the University of Reading, where she helped to set up a new industry-led architecture school in close collaboration with construction. She is also a Co-Investigator for the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence and leads on the theme of ‘Place’.
Flora is a RIBA Chartered architect, architectural historian and a teacher of design. She is also the first RIBA Vice President for Research, and was previously the first female Head of the University of Sheffield School of Architecture. She is known for research on the French modernist architect Le Corbusier, but her work has more recently focused on the value of design and supporting architectural practitioners to develop evidence of that value. She has received extensive AHRC support for her work in this area. Her most recent book Why Architects Matter: Evidencing and Communicating the Value of Architects (Routledge 2018) explores the issue of design value and its effect on people which is the focus of her work with CaCHE. She has had a long-term interest in housing design and delivery (particularly self-build and custom build), Post Occupancy Evaluation, and placemaking.