Movers and shakers

Following the controversy surrounding RIBA president Alan Jones and his reportedly inappropriate behaviour, the British institution has appointed architect Simon Allford as its next leader. “It is a privilege to have been elected and I look forward to working with members, council, board and staff,” he said, “to address global climate change and architecture’s pivotal role in a post-pandemic world.” Allford, who co-founded the practice Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in 1989, will begin his two-year term in September 2021.

An architectural icon is set for retirement: Pritzker Prize winner Lord Richard Rogers announced in early September that, after more than 40 years at the helm of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, he has stepped down from his role and his name will be removed from the London practice within the next two years. Co-founded by Rogers in 1977, the firm has worked on a number of landmark projects, including Lloyd’s of London and Paris’s Centre Pompidou, the latter completed in collaboration with Renzo Piano.

In Milan, Maria Porro, head of marketing and communications for Italian brand Porro, was elected president of Assarredo, the national association representing more than 800 manufacturing companies. “For me, being a contemporary entrepreneur passes through a great passion for my profession and roots, a hunger for innovation,” said Porro, who has been an advisor to the organization for the past four years.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania has a new director. Curator Zoë Ryan has left her role as the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago to take up leadership of the Philadelphia-based institution. “I’m eager to continue to shape the ICA as a crucial platform for engaging with the issues and ideas of our time,” said Ryan, who assumes her position as the Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director on November 5, “through a critical and creative lens.”