About this talk

Running time: 42 minutes

This talk which Robert Maxwell billed as his "last lecture" was given to the Architectural Association in November 2006 to an audience of friends and colleagues; Maxwell specially recorded this version for Pidgeon Digital.

In the lecture he discusses the changes in architecture and architectural teaching that have taken place during his long career as teacher at the AA, the Bartlett School and later at Princeton; the shift from design as a product to that of concept and how to teach design in a period of rapid change. He talks of meaning in art and architecture and the significance of linguistics and semiotics, in particular the work of Roland Barthes. He illustrates his talk with double images which not only reinforce the meaning of the words but also provide a "meaningful comparison" in themselves.