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Amanda Levete
Amanda Levete
Amanda Levete
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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.

Key Information

Early life and education

[edit]

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] As of 2026, Levete is a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[10]

Career

[edit]

Future Systems

[edit]

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

[edit]

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, 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.

Exterior Perspective of The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology
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

[edit]
  • 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]

Personal life

[edit]

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]

References

[edit]
[edit]
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Amanda Levete

View on Grokipedia
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Amanda Levete (born 17 November 1955) is a British architect, founder and principal of the award-winning studio AL_A, renowned for pioneering designs that integrate innovative materials, organic forms, and . Educated at the Architectural Association and initially employed by , she rose to prominence as a partner at from 1989, co-designing iconic structures such as the Media Centre and the store in Birmingham, which exemplified blobitecture and fluid aesthetics. In 2009, following the firm's challenges, Levete established AL_A, delivering high-profile commissions including the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in and the West Wing expansion; her contributions have garnered the RIBA Stirling Prize, CBE for services to architecture, and the Jane Drew Prize for women in architecture.

Early life and education

Family background and early influences

Amanda Levete was born on 17 November 1955 in , . Her family background blended artistic inclinations with professional conventionality; her father worked as a banker, while her mother had trained as a dancer, though both pursued stable careers rather than artistic ones. This mix of bohemian tendencies and pragmatism in her upbringing may have fostered an early independence, as Levete left school at age 16 to pursue art studies, reflecting a self-directed path unburdened by typical academic progression. Her initial draw to creative fields stemmed from reading , which introduced her to as a discipline enabling boundary-pushing expression, distinct from more constrained pursuits. No documented family professions or events directly in shaped her trajectory, but the household's latent artistic environment likely contributed to her precocious shift toward design-oriented interests over conventional paths.

Architectural education at the Architectural Association

Levete left secondary school at age 16 in 1971 and completed a foundation year at Hammersmith College of Art and Building before enrolling at the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture. She graduated from the AA in the 1970s. The in the 1970s, under director Alvin Boyarsky from 1971 onward, operated through a unit system that prioritized international discourse and experimental pedagogy, diverging from traditional Beaux-Arts methods toward radical, idea-driven exploration. Levete described the environment as intensely competitive, instilling conceptual rigor and a drive to challenge boundaries in design. Tutors emphasized hypothetical projects over realized buildings, promoting unorthodox approaches unbound by immediate practicality. This contrasted with her school foundation, which Levete characterized as free-spirited but lacking structure; enforced discipline as essential to achieving creative autonomy. The curriculum's focus on questioning stylistic assumptions and technical conventions cultivated independent reasoning in architectural problem-solving.

Professional career

Future Systems (1988–2009)

Future Systems, established by Czech-born architect in 1979, entered a pivotal collaborative phase when Amanda Levete joined as partner in 1989, aligning their visions for innovative, technology-driven design. Early efforts emphasized theoretical explorations and competition submissions, producing visionary concepts that drew from and advanced engineering but often remained unbuilt, such as fluid-form proposals adapting aeronautical principles to architecture. This period laid the groundwork for the firm's distinctive approach, prioritizing organic morphologies over orthodox . The practice transitioned to constructed works in the late , with the Media Centre at marking a breakthrough; tendered in 1995 and completed in 1999 for £5.8 million, it accommodated 250 broadcasters in a prefabricated, lens-shaped pod of curved glass and aluminum, elevated on slender supports to minimize pitch obstruction. Its radical form—evoking a —demonstrated feasibility of high-tech fabrication for sports , securing the Royal of British Architects' upon opening for advancing architectural expression through engineering precision. Subsequent commissions solidified Future Systems' profile, notably the department store in Birmingham's regeneration, designed from 1999 and opened in September 2003 at a cost of £60 million. The structure's of sprayed supported 15,000 anodized aluminum discs forming a pulsating, blob-like envelope, optimizing daylight penetration and visual dynamism for retail while integrating with urban fabric. This project exemplified the firm's mastery of parametric modeling for non-rectilinear volumes, contributing to commercial viability amid economic pressures that had previously strained smaller-scale endeavors. Through these built outcomes, expanded operations, growing staff to approximately 40 by the late 2000s via recurring high-value contracts that offset earlier speculative risks, fostering a -based team focused on iterative prototyping and client-specific adaptations.

Formation with and initial projects

originated as an independent practice founded by in in 1979, following his emigration from in 1968 amid the Soviet invasion of . , born in 1937 to a family with engineering ties, drew from his Czech roots and prior high-tech collaborations—such as on the with and —to pioneer fluid, biomorphic aesthetics that challenged rigid modernism with organic, technology-driven forms. joined as partner in , after David Nixon's departure in 1987, formalizing a collaborative leadership that infused pragmatic into the firm's visionary pursuits. The partnership's early output emphasized unbuilt conceptual designs, including mid-1980s "blob" proposals that experimented with amorphous, non-orthogonal volumes rendered in scale models to probe structural feasibility and material performance. These works, often submitted to international competitions, established ' high-tech legacy by integrating emerging computational tools for parametric modeling and anticipating adaptive envelopes inspired by natural morphologies. Initial realizations remained limited to small-scale prototypes and studies, such as design explorations for space habitats, which empirically tested lightweight composites and tensile fabrics against environmental stresses, providing causal insights into scalability for future commissions. This experimental phase prioritized theoretical innovation over construction, fostering a where unbuilt entries honed techniques in form generation and materiality that propelled subsequent breakthroughs.

Iconic commissions and the Stirling Prize win

The Media Centre at , commissioned in 1995 and completed in 1999 ahead of the , represented a technical milestone for , employing the world's first all-aluminium structure inspired by aeronautical and principles. The 48-meter-long, pod-like form, prefabricated in modules at the Pendennis boatyard in Falmouth and assembled on-site over water, accommodated 250 media personnel with panoramic views, utilizing lightweight stressed-skin panels to minimize structural mass while spanning a 15-meter unsupported width. Construction costs escalated from an initial £3.5 million budget to approximately £5 million due to fabrication complexities and material innovations, though the project met its timeline without major delays. Public reception highlighted its visibility during broadcasts, praising the organic, futuristic aesthetic as a departure from traditional , though some critics noted potential maintenance issues with the sealed hull design in a humid environment. The centre's engineering ingenuity and visual impact earned Future Systems the Royal Institute of British Architects () Stirling Prize in 1999, the firm's first major accolade and a £20,000 award, selected from six finalists for demonstrating "the highest standard of architecture" amid competition favoring bold, technically advanced forms over incremental improvements. This win validated the practice's persistence after years of conceptual work, with jury emphasis on the building's seamless integration of form and function, though the prize's history of rewarding geometries has drawn for prioritizing spectacle in selections dominated by London-centric jurors. Subsequent commissions, such as early explorations in parametric forms, built on this success but faced similar hurdles in translating prototypes to built reality, underscoring Future Systems' empirical progress through realized, high-profile outputs.

Transition period and founding of AL_A (2009–present)

Following the sudden death of from a heart attack on January 14, 2009, Amanda Levete closed and established her independent practice, AL_A (Amanda Levete Architects), later that year. The new firm inherited ongoing projects and staff from the previous partnership, starting with approximately 35 employees, nearly all transferred from , and was co-directed with four others under traumatic circumstances. Based in , AL_A positioned itself as a continuation of experimental design while pursuing new commissions independently. One of AL_A's inaugural built projects was 10 Hills Place, an office development completed in 2011 near London's , featuring a sculptural aluminum facade with large sky-oriented glazed slashes inspired by artist to maximize natural light penetration. The firm subsequently expanded its portfolio with international scope, including the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology () in , , opened in 2016, which comprises a 15,000-square-meter undulating ceramic-clad structure on the River waterfront, creating public terraces and integrating art, architecture, and technology exhibits. AL_A's growth continued through healthcare and educational commissions, such as the Maggie's Southampton cancer support centre, opened in 2022 adjacent to , utilizing innovative loadbearing ceramic spine walls within a setting to foster a serene environment for patients. In the 2020s, the firm delivered expansions at Wadham College, , including a state-of-the-art undergraduate centre and aspiration centre on the , enhancing facilities while respecting contextual heritage. By the mid-2020s, AL_A maintained a staff of around 40, undertaking projects across and beyond, such as headquarters in and cultural venues in , with designs incorporating through material innovation and energy-efficient features like reflective plant-integrated facades.

Departure from Future Systems

The partnership between Amanda Levete and at deteriorated after their personal separation in 2003 and divorce in 2006, compounded by divergent design approaches—Levete favoring rational, executable forms and Kaplický pursuing organic, blob-like —which fostered a tense office atmosphere likened to a "bad smell" in their shared space. In October 2008, formalized an acrimonious professional , with Levete departing to form her own firm under her name, absorbing around 40 staff members focused on commercial and institutional work, while Kaplický retained the moniker and approximately 10 employees dedicated to his Czech-centric projects. Legal negotiations divided ongoing commissions, allocating Levete headquarters in , , and Kaplický and a Czech concert hall, though these latter initiatives remained unrealized following subsequent events. Kaplický's unexpected death from a heart attack on January 14, 2009, in —coinciding with the birth of his child with his new wife—accelerated the firm's dissolution, as held no active projects at that juncture and name rights devolved to his , Eliška Kaplická. Levete, having pre-arranged the operational split, established Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) on March 12, 2009, retaining 35 staff predominantly from and inheriting select handover projects like the headquarters, thereby preserving institutional continuity despite the ethical scrutiny over absorbing a deceased partner's practice resources without his direct involvement.

Key AL_A projects and expansions

AL_A's post-2009 built works include the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon, Portugal, which opened to the public in October 2016 on a 3.8-hectare site along the Tagus River. The project features a sinuous, wave-form building covered in over one million white mosaic tiles, integrating with the adjacent converted power station to form a cultural campus focused on contemporary art, architecture, and technology exhibitions. In , AL_A completed the V&A Exhibition Road Quarter in 2017, adding 6,400 square meters of space through a porcelain-tiled entrance and a subterranean Sainsbury Gallery capable of hosting large-scale installations. The £54.5 million extension enhances public access by blurring boundaries between street level and museum interiors, utilizing over 11,000 custom hand-laid tiles for the surface. The Central Embassy in , , finished in 2017, comprises 139,000 square meters of mixed-use space, including a seven-story luxury retail podium and a 27-story Park Hyatt hotel tower on the site of the former British Embassy gardens. Its facade employs 300,000 anodized aluminum tiles forming a textured, iridescent skin that responds to local climatic conditions and urban context. More recent completions include the collaborative Sky Central headquarters in , , operational from 2016, spanning 45,000 square meters with AL_A contributing concept design for open-plan workspaces integrated into a 13-hectare campus. At Wadham College, , AL_A delivered two central buildings in 2021: the William Doo Undergraduate Centre and the Dr Lee Shau Kee Aspiration Centre, clad in etched glass and anodized aluminum panels mimicking historic stone to improve circulation and accessibility within the 1610-founded quadrangle. Since its 2009 founding in , AL_A has grown to handle commissions across and , employing advanced material fabrication techniques evident in projects like the precisely engineered tile systems at and V&A, while maintaining a core team under directors Ho-Yin Ng, Alice Dietsch, and Maximiliano Arrocet.

Architectural philosophy and style

Influences from high-tech and parametric design

Amanda Levete's architectural approach, particularly during her tenure at from 1989 to 2009, drew initial impetus from the movement of the 1970s and 1980s, which emphasized exposed structural systems, industrial materials, and the integration of advanced engineering akin to projects by Norman Foster and . , ' founder, contributed this lineage through his earlier role at Foster Associates, where he engaged with technology-driven designs that prioritized functional efficiency and futuristic expression over ornamental traditions. This foundation informed Levete's early projects, adapting high-tech's causal emphasis on performance and adaptability to generate forms that anticipated evolving material and environmental demands. By the 1990s, Levete and Kaplický shifted toward methodologies, leveraging emerging digital tools to model and rationalize non-rectilinear, fluid geometries unattainable through analog methods. pioneered parametric applications in built works, such as the Museum completed in 2012, where algorithmic processes enabled organic, bionic shapes derived from aviation and automotive influences, marking a departure from high-tech's modular rigidity toward adaptive, performative structures. Their catalyzed this evolution, with Kaplický's vision for neofuturistic forms—characterized by seamless, envelope-like surfaces—pushing Levete to explore geometries that challenged Euclidean in favor of biologically inspired realism. This parametric inflection rejected historicist revivalism, prioritizing speculative designs grounded in technological over contextual of past styles, as evidenced in ' emphasis on ecological and adaptive envelopes that projected future societal needs rather than nostalgic replication. Levete has noted the role of digital simulations in testing configurations for such forms, ensuring causal links between computational inputs and material outputs.

Emphasis on materiality, form, and sustainability claims

Levete's designs materiality as a driver of architectural expression, leveraging advanced fabrication techniques and collaborations with specialists to produce seamless, responsive surfaces—such as extruded aluminum or tiles—that interact dynamically with environmental factors like and , thereby transcending conventional rectilinear constraints. This method prioritizes technical precision to realize intricate geometries, where intuition informs structural integrity and aesthetic continuity, often drawing from local contexts to avoid generic applications. In terms of form, Levete advocates for organic, topographical configurations that emerge from parametric explorations, positing that curvaceous and looped shapes inherently shape by promoting spatial flow, permeability, and behavioral influence—causally linking morphological innovation to enhanced perceptual and functional outcomes rather than adhering strictly to utilitarian precedents. These forms resolve competing demands of program and site, fostering mood-altering environments that prioritize experiential causality over ornamental excess. Sustainability claims in Levete's oeuvre center on mitigating environmental fragility through of structures, which she identifies as less energy-intensive than new or , while incorporating eco-conscious material selections; however, the curvilinear "blob"-derived aesthetics associated with her lineage can demand specialized fabrication, potentially elevating unless offset by parametric optimization for material efficiency. Empirical evaluations of similar parametric buildings indicate capabilities for reduced and tailored , though her works align with regulatory benchmarks rather than demonstrating superior operational savings over orthogonal alternatives.

Criticisms and controversies

Acrimonious split from Future Systems

Levete and Kaplický, who married in 1991, separated personally in 2003 and divorced in 2006, yet continued co-directing amid mounting interpersonal tensions that spilled into the workplace. The strain of their post-divorce collaboration, described by Levete as a "very public falling out" enacted within the office environment, exacerbated professional frictions over leadership and operational control. By late , these conflicts culminated in an acrimonious business divorce, with Levete departing to establish her independent practice, taking approximately 40 staff members and ongoing commissions, while Kaplický retained the name and a smaller team. Disputes centered on the division of and firm assets, though Levete later maintained that disagreements did not extend to authorship of specific designs, asserting a mutual understanding of contributions developed over two decades. The split negotiations, finalized shortly before Kaplický's death, reflected unresolved leadership dynamics, as Levete assumed control of key projects amid the firm's transition. Kaplický's sudden death from a heart attack on January 14, 2009, at age 71, halted any potential reconciliation and left ambiguities in ' legacy, enabling Levete's AL_A to inherit and advance select project pipelines without further contest. In a March 2009 , Levete expressed profound regret over the lack of personal with Kaplický prior to his passing, framing the professional rupture as intertwined with their failed personal , though she emphasized the split's necessity for her independent trajectory. This event marked the effective dissolution of Future Systems as a unified entity, with Kaplický's absence preventing litigation or renegotiation over heritage claims, thereby facilitating AL_A's positioning as a direct successor to the firm's innovative ethos despite the prior antagonism.

Debates over design practicality and contextual fit

Critics have questioned the long-term practicality of Levete's organic, blob-like forms, particularly in terms of maintenance demands. The department store in Birmingham, completed in 2003 by with its facade of 15,000 spun aluminum discs, required a £20 million refurbishment starting in 2020 to address faults and clean the cladding, involving the removal and replacement of elements to restore its appearance after nearly two decades of exposure. Such interventions highlight challenges in sustaining complex, non-rectilinear surfaces against weathering and urban grime, though post-occupancy evaluations specific to thermal performance remain limited in public records. Debates over contextual fit often center on Levete's emphasis on sculptural over harmonious integration with vernacular surroundings. The museum in , opened in 2016, has been faulted for exhibiting a "complete and utter disregard for its ," prioritizing an isolated, idealized form as a "jewel" atop the River rather than engaging with adjacent structures like the historic . Critics argue this approach alienates the building from Lisbon's urban fabric, reducing its riverside presence to a mere "wrinkle" and favoring private corporate symbolism—funded by energy firm EDP—over public dialogue or appropriation, with features like the sloped rooftop serving primarily circulation rather than usable space. Economic critiques underscore tensions between innovation and value, with high construction and upkeep costs raising questions about delivered public benefits. While Selfridges' initial £40 million investment catalyzed Birmingham's Bullring regeneration, its subsequent maintenance expenses illustrate ongoing fiscal burdens of bespoke designs. Similarly, MAAT's development under tight fiscal constraints reflected broader neoliberal priorities for iconic status, yet resulted in restricted access via security measures that undermine open . These cases fuel arguments that Levete's formal ambitions, while pioneering, sometimes yield disproportionate costs relative to functional or communal returns, contrasting with her firm's claims of experiential enhancement.

Awards and recognition

Collective awards with Future Systems

Future Systems, co-founded by Amanda Levete and in 1979, garnered significant acclaim for its pioneering designs during their partnership, culminating in the Stirling Prize in 1999 for the Media Centre at in . This £20,000 award recognized the structure's innovative use of curved, pod-like forms clad in anodized aluminum and glass, which provided panoramic views for broadcasters while challenging conventional architectural norms through fluid, high-tech aesthetics. The project, completed in 1999, represented a departure from traditional sports architecture and demonstrated the firm's ability to integrate advanced engineering with organic shapes, earning praise for its technical precision despite initial controversy over its unconventional appearance. The win elevated ' profile, signaling institutional acceptance of blob-like and parametric experimentation within mainstream and paving the way for subsequent high-profile commissions. It underscored the shared contributions of Levete and Kaplický in pushing boundaries of materiality and form, with the Media Centre serving as empirical validation of their collaborative vision amid a dominated by more conservative designs. Further recognition followed for related efforts, though the 1999 prize stood as the firm's most prestigious collective honor pre-dating Levete's departure in , highlighting the causal impact of joint innovation on architectural discourse.

Individual honors and AL_A accolades

In 2017, Levete received the Commander of the (CBE) in the Queen's for services to . In 2018, she was awarded the Jane Drew Prize by the Architects' Journal, recognizing her outstanding individual contribution to amid a profession where women remain underrepresented, comprising less than 30% of registered architects in the UK as of recent RIBA data. That same year, she received the ARVHA International Prize from the Paris-based Association pour la Recherche sur les Villes et les Habitat Humains for advancements in urban and housing design. In 2019, Levete was elected an Honorary Fellow of the . She was elected a Royal Academician in Architecture by the Royal Academy of Arts in 2021, one of 80 members selected for distinguished contributions to the field. AL_A projects have garnered firm-specific accolades post-founding, including for the Maggie's cancer support centre opened in 2022. This structure won the in 2024 for its integration of therapeutic spaces within a hospital woodland setting. It also received the Architizer A+ in the Community Centers category in 2022 and two Surface Design Awards in 2022 for material innovation in bronze cladding and timber elements. These honors underscore AL_A's focus on health-oriented designs verified through peer-reviewed jury evaluations.

Personal life

Marriages and family dynamics

Amanda Levete married the Czech architect in 1991, forming both a personal and professional partnership that lasted until their separation in 2003 and divorce in 2006. The couple had one son, Josef, born in 1995 during the period Levete was involved in the competition for the Media Centre project, for which she took no maternity leave to maintain project momentum. This decision reflected the intense demands of their collaborative workflow, where personal milestones were subordinated to professional deadlines, contributing to strains in their life amid overlapping home and office responsibilities. The marriage's dissolution stemmed from the pressures of combining domestic life with daily architectural collaboration, leading to an estrangement that persisted until Kaplický's death in , though they maintained co-parenting arrangements for Josef, who was 13 at the time of his father's passing. Levete later expressed regret over the lack of during Kaplický's lifetime, highlighting unresolved tensions that affected family cohesion but did not immediately disrupt Josef's upbringing, as evidenced by their prior shared design of customized living spaces for him in the late . Following the divorce, Levete married Ben Evans, director of the , in 2007, integrating into a blended family structure that included Evans's three children from a prior marriage. This union provided logistical stability for family life, with the couple residing in a customized home that accommodated Levete's ongoing parental responsibilities toward Josef alongside dynamics, allowing her to balance post-separation co-parenting with a renewed personal foundation less entangled in architectural partnerships.

Professional-personal overlaps and later life

Levete's marriage to from 1991 to 2006 overlapped extensively with their professional partnership at , where they co-directed operations after she joined as partner in 1989. The combination of spousal and business roles generated considerable strain, leading to their separation in 2003 amid the pressures of collaborative design and firm management. Following the , Levete assumed primary leadership of and maintained professional collaboration with Kaplický until his sudden death in January 2009 at age 71. In reflecting on their rift, she expressed profound regret for failing to reconcile during his lifetime, noting recent agreements on firm division but unresolved personal tensions. This period underscored the blurred boundaries between her personal dissolution and professional continuity, as she navigated the practice's future without its co-founder. In 2009, Levete established AL_A as a successor entity to , evolving its parametric and material explorations into projects emphasizing contextual integration and technological innovation. Key commissions under AL_A include the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology () in , opened in 2016, and the V&A Exhibition Road Quarter in , completed in 2017, which earned the . Into the 2020s, Levete has directed AL_A on ambitious works such as the Philharmonic Concert Hall, Paisley Museum redevelopment, and a fusion energy facility for in , alongside new buildings for . In October 2025, AL_A was shortlisted for the Louvre's 2030 in , with completion targeted for 2035 if selected. Levete, now in her late 60s, remains principal of the studio, sustaining a career trajectory independent of her earlier personal-professional entanglements.

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  44. https://www.ala.uk.com/selected-projects/wadham-college/
  45. https://uk.linkedin.com/company/al_a
  46. https://www.zoominfo.com/c/ala-ltd/345889621
  47. https://ugreen.io/amanda-levete-redefining-modern-architecture-with-al_a/
  48. https://www.maat.pt/en/about
  49. https://www.ala.uk.com/selected-projects/va-exhibition-road/
  50. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/28/ala-amanda-levete-v-a-victoria-albert-museum-exhibition-road-quarter-courtyard-gallery-london/
  51. https://www.ala.uk.com/selected-projects/central-embassy/
  52. https://www.archdaily.com/871675/central-embassy-in-bangkok-al-a
  53. https://www.archdaily.com/802043/sky-central-al-a-plus-plp-architecture-plus-hassell
  54. https://www.ala.uk.com/about-us/
  55. https://www.dezeen.com/2021/05/05/amanda-levete-architects-wadham-college-etched-glass-anodised-aluminium/
  56. https://storefront.nyc/program/future-systems/
  57. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/opinion/amanda-levete-on-digital-technologies-fusing-digital-technology-with-the-hand-made
  58. https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/enzo-ferrari-museum-by-future-systems-and-shiro-studio_o
  59. https://designmuseum.org/whats-on/talks-courses-and-workshops-not-in-use-2/jan-kaplick-visions-of-the-future
  60. https://architectureau.com/articles/amanda-levete/
  61. https://illustrarch.com/parametric-design/31254-the-benefits-of-parametric-architecture-in-sustainable-desig.html
  62. https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/architectural-community/a13663-the-benefits-of-parametric-design-in-architecture/
  63. https://archinect.com/forum/thread/81660/future-systems-is-history
  64. https://www.archiweb.cz/en/n/foreign/levete-lituje-ze-se-s-kaplickym-za-jeho-zivota-neusmirili
  65. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/jan/15/architect-jan-kaplicky-dies
  66. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4968429/My-greatest-regret-is-that-I-didnt-make-peace-with-him-in-life.html
  67. https://www.building.co.uk/news/bam-brushes-up-for-20m-makeover-of-birminghams-selfridges-building/5109302.article
  68. https://www.bdonline.co.uk/buildings/technical-study-restoring-birmingham-selfridges-cladding/5113809.article
  69. https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/portugal-maat-museum-monument-corporate-ego/
  70. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/sep/01/architecture.shopping
  71. https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/20/mimi-zeiger-amanda-levete-maat-museum-lisbon-triennale-construction-demand-economics-opinion/
  72. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/528949.stm
  73. https://www.billingsdesign.ie/lords-media-centre
  74. https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/25-years-of-the-riba-stirling-prize
  75. https://www.archdaily.com/888237/amanda-levete-wins-2018-jane-drew-prize-for-women-in-architecture
  76. https://www.ala.uk.com/2018/02/jane-drew-prize-2018/
  77. https://www.ala.uk.com/2018/12/amanda-international-prize-2018/
  78. https://www.soane.org/amanda-levete
  79. https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/faces/royal-academy-elects-new-academicians
  80. https://www.riba.org/explore/awards/uk-awards/regional-awards/2024/south-award-winners/maggies-southampton/
  81. https://www.ala.uk.com/2022/06/maggies-architizer-award/
  82. https://www.ala.uk.com/2022/02/maggies-surface-design-awards/
  83. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/interiors-family-circle-1079082.html
  84. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/evans-levete-london-house
  85. https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/epic-london-home-ben-evans-amanda-levete/
  86. https://www.ala.uk.com/selected-projects/
  87. https://www.dezeen.com/tag/amanda-levete-architects/
  88. https://parametric-architecture.com/louvre-redevelopment-shortlist-firms/
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