Barbara Weiss – Director

Barbara Weiss was born in Milan in 1954, where she attended Italian schools before spending one year at the Ecole d’Architecture in Geneva. She then transferred to the Architectural Association in London, obtaining her AA Diploma in 1979. She became a member of the RIBA in 1985.

Early work experiences include periods spent at design offices such as Philip Johnson-John Burgee, and Richard Meier in New York; Valle Broggi Burckhardt in Milan; and two most formative phases at Stirling Wilford and Associates in London, first as a student and later as project architect working on large scale buildings and a new town in Italy.

Prior to founding BWA in 1987, Barbara Weiss taught part-time at the Architectural Association. She is also the co-author of two books, including Storage, an international best-seller!, and Do it with an Architect – written with Louis Hellman and aimed at bridging the gap between domestic clients and the profession.

An Assessor for the Civic Trust since 1997, Barbara was appointed as a CABE Design Review panellist for Schools in 2007, and as a judge for the AYA awards in 2012. She is also very involved in mentoring potential young architects for the Social Mobility Foundation, and in tutoring 6th formers from state schools on behalf of The Access Project.

Three things Barbara likes

Ospedale Degli Innocenti in Florence
(Brunelleschi)

Villa Malaparte
(Adalberto Libera, Curzio Malaparte)

Eileen Grey storage