It’s been a banner year for Amanda Levete, the RIBA Stirling Prize–winning founder and principal of AL_A. The architecture firm completed its blockbuster addition to Lisbon’s MAAT museum, a wavelike extension, clad in creamy tile, that overlooks the Tagus River. Levete wrapped up a mixed-use development in Bangkok. And she cut the ribbon on Exhibition Road Quarter, a subterranean expansion of London’s V&A museum that is crowned by a faceted courtyard lined in porcelain. Ceramics, Levete notes, have become a bit of an obsession. “We became intrigued by the long history of the material, its numerous applications, and its incredible finesse. This fascination has seeped into other projects.” She certainly has many in the works, among them a subway station in Naples, Italy; new buildings for the University of Oxford; and the transformation of the Galeries Lafayette flagship in Paris. ► London; ala.ukom
