The critic Peter Buchanan passed away on 23 August in London at 81 years of age. He was born in Malawi and graduated as an architect from the University of Cape Town, city where he started in the profession. In the 1970s he moved to London to work at architectural studios like Halpern+Partners and Sidell Gibson Partnership, though he would soon join magazines like The Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review, becoming deputy editor of the latter in 1982. Since 1992 he established himself as a freelance writer, curator, and consultant in environmental design and planning issues, while participating in radio and television programs and in the editorial boards of prominent architecture publications. He is the author of Ten Shades of Green and of the five volumes of Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Complete Works.

Buchanan was an eloquent advocate of Spanish architecture, with which he was very familiar. He took part in seminars and conferences organized by Arquitectura Viva, and collaborated in the magazines from their beginnings, publishing numerous articles in them. He also wrote in our Atlas series of four volumes on the architectures of the 21st century, where we contributed an essay on the British Isles. Writer of strong aesthetic and ethic convictions, his informed and accurate texts paid as much attention to the vicissitudes of the discipline as to the historical circumstances of his time, with special emphasis on contemporary ecological challenges.