About

He is the author of The Age of Spectacle: the rise and fall of iconic architecture (Windmill Books, 2017), and the official guide to the architecture of 2012’s Olympic Games, The Architecture of London 2012: Vision, Design, Legacy (John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

Tom has written and presented many series for television, including: four seasons of BBC’s The Great Interior Design Challenge; Channel 4’s The Secret Life of Buildings and Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker; BBC’s The Culture Show and Saving Britain’s Past. He’s also written and presented radio documentaries, podcasts and series, including BBC Radio 4’s The Design Dimension.

He was for a decade architecture and design critic for The Times, and, before that, deputy homes and design editor at The Guardian. He wrote a weekly column for The Guardian newspaper’s Weekend magazine for 20 years, and has long written for a wide range of publications including Esquire, GQ, Wallpaper, New Statesman, Domus, Icon and Blueprint.

He’s also been head of exhibitions at the Royal Institute of British Architects, associate editor of Design magazine, and assistant editor of Perspectives on Architecture magazine.

Tom is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has been honorary senior research associate at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London; a trustee on the board of the Architecture Foundation, the Arts Council’s architecture committee and the Twentieth Century Society committee.

He has sat on the juries for many architecture and design prizes and competitions, such as, from 2008-2011, the national shortlisting jury for the Stirling Prize for architecture, the selection jury for the 2006 British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and, in 2013, the Stirling Prize finalists.