Amanda Levete

Amanda Jane Levete (born 1955^[2]) is a British architect and the principal of AL_A.^[3] While she worked as a partner at Future Systems, the company was awarded the 1999 Stirling Prize for their work on the Lord's Media Centre.^[4] She has also received several prizes and accolades for her work at AL_A.

Amanda Levete CBE RA
Born	1955 (age 69–70) Bridgend, Wales
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Architectural Association
Occupation	Architect
Spouses	Jan Kaplický (1991–2006) Ben Evans (2007–present)[1]
Awards	Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for services to architecture. Jane Drew Prize, Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Royal Academician, The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize
Practice	AL_A
Buildings	Selfridges Building, Birmingham Lord's Media Centre, London Exhibition Road extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum MAAT, Lisbon

Early life and education

Levete was born in Bridgend, South Wales. She attended St Paul's Girls' School in London and the Hammersmith School of Art, where she studied architecture before enrolling at the Architectural Association.^[5] Levete began her career as a trainee at Alsop & Lyall and later worked as an architect at the Richard Rogers Partnership.^[6] In 1985, as a co-founder of Powis & Levete, she was nominated for the RIBA's '40 under 40' exhibition.^[7] Levete became a partner at Future Systems alongside Jan Kaplický in 1989.^[8] She also served as a trustee of the arts organisation Artangel from 2000 to 2013 and as a trustee of the Young Foundation.^[9] She is currently a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum.^[10]

Career

Future Systems

From 1989 - 2009 Amanda Levete was a partner alongside her partner Jan Kaplicky at Future Systems. Notable projects include the RIBA Stirling Prize winning Lord’s Media Centre, and the Selfridges Birmingham store within the Bullring shopping centre. Their curvaceous buildings, made possible by new computer aided design technologies have been referred to as ‘blobitecture’.^[11]

AL_A

In 2009, Levete established AL_A (formerly known as Amanda Levete Architecture) following the end of her 20-year partnership with the late Jan Kaplický at Future Systems. The practice gained recognition when it won an international competition in 2011 for designing a new main entrance on Exhibition Road. Levete also contributed to the design of the courtyard and gallery at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which featured a porcelain courtyard adorned with handmade ceramic tiles.^[12] This project marked the museum's most significant undertaking in over a century.^[13] AL_A has been involved in various notable projects, including the Spencer Dock Bridge in Dublin (completed 2009),^[14] MPavilion in Melbourne (2015),^[15] the MAAT project in Lisbon for the EDP Foundation (completed 2017),^[16] the Central Embassy project in Bangkok (completed 2017),^[17] 10 Hill's Place in London (completed 2009) and the pop-up restaurant Tincan (completed 2014),^[18] The Dr. Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre for Wadham College at the University of Oxford (completed 2021),^[19] the design for Maggie's cancer care charity building in Southampton(completed 2021)^[20] and the media campus for News Corporation in East London.^[21]

Internationally, she has completed three hospital buildings in Cyprus,^[22] the redesign of the D'Ieteren Headquarters in Brussels, and the design of a prototype fusion plant for clean energy firm General Fusion at Culham.^[23] and hotels and malls for the Central Retail Corporation in Bangkok.

MAAT - The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2016)

As a designer, Levete has created furniture pieces for Established and Sons^[24] as well as her architectural works.

In 2025, Levete was among the UK-based signatories of a letter to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology secretary Peter Kyle urging the government to reconsider its plans to allow artificial intelligence models to be trained using copyrighted works without permission. Other prominent designers to sign the letter included Tomoko Azumi, David Chipperfield, Sebastian Conran, Tom Dixon, and Jasper Morrison.^[25][26][27]

Awards

• RIBA National Award 2018
• Cultural Project of the Year, AJ Awards 2017
• Leading Culture Destination Award, Best Museum Architecture 2017
• Iconic Awards, Architecture Best of Best 2017
• Iconic Awards, Practice of the Year 2017
• BCO Awards, Best of Best 2017
• The Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award^[28]
• European Aluminium Award, Special Jury Prize for Innovation & Design^[29]
• World Architecture Festival 2009 Interiors and Fit-Out Prize^[30]
• CAB Aluminium in Renovation Award UK, Overall Winner^[31]
• CAB Aluminium in Renovation Award UK, Special Prize^[31]
• Leading European Architects Forum, LEAF Awards^[32]

• The Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award
• In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, Amanda Levete was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to architecture.^[33]
• In 2018, Levete received the Jane Drew Prize from the Architects' Journal and Architectural Review. The prize acknowledges individuals who promote the visibility of women in architecture through their dedication to design excellence.^[34]
• In 2019, Levete was elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.^[35]
• In 2021, Levete was elected as a Royal Academician.^[36]

Personal life

Levete, and the Czech architect, Jan Kaplický, became acquainted in the 1980s.^[37] They married in 1991, had a son named Josef in 1995, and divorced in 2006. From 1989 to 2009, Levete and Kaplický collaborated professionally.^[38] Since 2007, Levete has been married to Ben Evans, the director of the London Design Festival.^[39]

On 19 March 2017, Amanda Levete was featured as a castaway on the Radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs.^[40]