Graham Ford

Graham Ford is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Architecture at the University of Portsmouth where he teaches design studio, creative practice and is an examiner for the final professional examination in architecture. Graham has previously taught at both Nottingham and Cardiff Universities. Graham is the founding principal of GFA overseeing the firm’s operations and design.  Graham received his BArch and MArch from Victoria University of Wellington, and a PhD from RMIT University, Melbourne. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Victoria University Master’s Scholarship and a Todd Foundation Scholarship. Graham spent one year on an exchange scholarship at the University of California at Berkeley, USA.

He has been working for over 22 years in residential, academic, institutional and sports projects including the award-winning Roundhouse Theatre in Camden Town and the Jodrell Laboratory in Kew Gardens. Since establishing his practice, he has collaborated with Foster and Partners, John McAslan and Partners, Holmes Miller Architects and Landolt and Brown Architects on projects including the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Recently completed projects include the River Club masterplan and Reading West Station. Graham is the author of ‘The Total Environment Masterplan’.

Research 

My research is focussed on practice-based research following the completion of my PhD which investigated the roles that I had adopted to navigate projects through the design, planning and construction phases of projects. My focus is now on the future role of architects in meeting the challenges of around 2.5 billion more people living in cities. By 2037 the world could have 43 so called megacities. Most of these megacities are going to be in developing countries in India and in Africa. My research into cities is at the interface of architecture, infrastructure, landscape and urbanism.

One tool I am developing to help cities with these complex problems is scenario planning. Scenario planning will help with decision making not only based on the present but in the future. The scenario planner helps city administrators and companies to anticipate how work will change in the future, what roles might exist and the types of personas who will live in these cities and what are their concerns likely to be. It involves anticipating challenges such as the impact of artificial intelligence on work and business, changes to built environment legislation, future sources of energy and risks including climate change.