The Art of Architecture: Film Screening and Q&A Panel with Eric Parry Architects

The Art of Architecture is a 2025 film by Academy Award-winning director Jon Blair, bringing together leading thinkers, academics, and commentators to explore philosophical questions surrounding architecture's role in society. The film highlights the portfolio of Eric Parry Architects, examining architecture’s contribution to society and urban experience, and the reciprocity between education and practice. 

CUBE research centre collaborated with MASS student society to host an exclusive screening of the film at the Wash Houses, London Metropolitan University (LondonMet). Chaired by Dr Claire Jamieson, with a welcome message from Prof. Matthew Barac who was joined by MASS member Harry Grant, the event featured a Q&A panel including Eric Parry and several guests who addressed a selection of the questions prompted by the film. 

This event followed a similar format to the premiere at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in July 2025, where the screening was followed by a lively panel discussion. That earlier panel featured Ingrid Schroder, Jon Blair, Peter Carl, Richard Sennett, and Carolyn Steel in conversation with Eric Parry, addressing the wide range of issues raised by the film. 

At our event, the panel focused particularly on the relationship between pedagogy and practice, and the premise of architecture as a lifelong learning journey a vocation. In the Q&A discussion, several insights came into focus, with questions from Samson Adjei, Takero Shimazaki, Carolyn Steel, and Morgan Holder all in conversation with Eric Parry who was joined on the panel by filmmaker Jon Blair. Anne Markey, Dean of the School of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD), LondonMet. 

As a co-produced event, bringing together CUBE and MASS from LondonMet, in collaboration with industry partner Eric Parry Architects, this event sought to bring our students and academic staff, our research community and external partners, as well as the wider design and client community together in a very current celebratory event - one that reflects profoundly on relationship between architectural practice and design pedagogy.  

Speakers: 

• Eric Parry: Founder of Eric Parry Architects, known for intellectual rigour and sensitivity in design, and a strong advocate for the role of art and craft in architecture. 
• Samson Adjei: Recent PhD graduate from LondonMet, whose thesis explored the intersection of phenomenology and AI through the lens of Peter Zumthor. 
• Takero Shimazaki: Director of t-sa architecture practice, known for minimal, atmospheric design and reuse of existing buildings. 
• Carolyn Steel: Renowned author and academic, known for her work on food and cities, including the concept of ‘sitopia’. 
• Morgan Holder: Final-year MA Architecture student and MASS committee member, passionate about sustainable residential design. 
• Jon Blair: Academy Award and BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker known for powerful, human-focused films with a focus on visual storytelling. 

Chair: 

• Dr Claire Jamieson: Course Leader for the Architecture MA (Part 2) at LondonMet, with a background in architectural history, theory, and practice. 

MASS (Metropolitan Architecture Student Society) was established in 2017, and is defined by its student members (including Harry Grant and Morgan Holder) as a ‘collective’. MASS has hosted numerous talks, exhibitions, and publications, fostering a vibrant student-led architectural culture. 

CUBE (Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies) was founded in 2020 and is led by Prof. Matthew Barac and Dr Bo Tang. CUBE brings together interdisciplinary research on the transformation of places, with past collaborations including a seminar series with Eric Parry Architects on The Living Memory of Cities.