A Director of the Design Museum, who helped grow the specialist institution into an award-winning museum dedicated to contemporary design and architecture, is to take up a new role at Lancaster University.

Deyan Sudjic OBE, who will become Distinguished Professor of Design and Architecture Studies at the University’s new School of Architecture, said he was looking forward to playing a part in helping Lancaster redefine the place of design in the world.

“I am excited to be joining Lancaster at an important time in its development,” said Deyan. “The University’s track record is impressive and it has ambitious plans to build on its work in design and now also architectural education and research.”

Deyan, who will step down from the Design Museum as a Director in January 2020, initiated the Designs of the Year Award in 2007 after his appointment as Director in 2006.

The awards provide an annual exploration of the most significant designs in the world and the Designers in Residence programme that every year supports emerging designers.

He also devised a series of ground-breaking exhibitions at the museum, including the first UK retrospective on the work of architect Zaha Hadid.

In 2019 he curated ‘Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition’, the most successful exhibition in the museum’s history attracting 170,000 visitors.

He was the design and architecture critic for The Observer, the Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Kingston University, Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art, and co-chair of the Urban Age Advisory Board.

In 1983, he co-founded ‘Blueprint’, a monthly architecture magazine, and went on to be the magazine's editor and, later, editorial director and from 2000-04, he was the editor of the Italian-based architecture and design magazine ‘Domus’.

In 2000, Deyan received an OBE for services to architecture and design.

He was the Director of Glasgow’s UK City of Architecture and Design programme in 1999, and the director of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2002.

He was also a juror for the design of London Aquatics Centre designed and built for the 2012 Olympics by Zaha Hadid.

Professor Judith Mottram, of Lancaster University, said: “We are delighted that Deyan Sudjic will be joining us as a Distinguished Professor from this month.

“Deyan, who will give lectures and provide critical evaluation, is so well networked with the international design community and this will be such a benefit as we locate our new architecture programme as part of the international discussion at the leading edge of the discipline.”

Deyan will join a new team led by Professor Ruth Dalton, from the University of Northumbria, who started at Lancaster on November 1.

The BA (Hons) Architecture course is now open for applications for October 2020 and, it is anticipated, the Masters of Architecture will open for applications for October 2021 entry from September 2020, subject to full validation by Lancaster University.

The University is seeking prescription of both courses by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and recognition by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

To find out more please go to:

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/architecture-ba-hons-k100/