Kara’s practice draws on expertise across engineering, design and architecture, challenging the traditional role of a structural engineer to find solutions to the most complex problems, from building in the face of the climate emergency to the engineering of gravity. A desire to preserve and build for re-use is now at the core of Kara’s work as he looks to new, innovative materials and techniques to mitigate, and in some cases reverse, the environmental impact of construction.
Hanif Kara said: “I am delighted to be awarded this year’s Soane Medal. Soane used his work and collection to inspire future generations of buliders and designers, something I hope to continue through my own work In the complex world that we live in today, it is impossible to solve the problems we face without interdisciplinary collaboration and thinking. Only through curiosity and continual enquiry, questioning practices and norms, will we find the solutions that are so urgently required.”
Alongside his practice, Kara is widely recognised for his sustained commitment to education and mentoring. Kara has supported numerous early-career artists, architects and engineers through the experimental stages of their work, while also holding teaching positions at institutions across the world, including the Architecture Association, KHT Stockholm and the RCA. Following the publication of his book Design Engineering: AKT (2008), Kara took up a post at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where he is currently one of the longest serving professors.
This year, the Soane Medal Lecture will be hosted at the Royal Academy of Arts for the first time. Sir John Soane was Professor of Architecture at the RA between 1806 and 1837, in which time he delivered lectures accompanied by his own, meticulous illustrations. Two centuries on, the 2024 Soane Medal Lecture will be delivered by a recipient who shares Soane’s commitment to education, mentorship and innovative approaches to the built environment.
Will Gompertz, Deborah Loeb Brice Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum, said: “Hanif Kara is the engineer to whom Sir John Soane would have turned to realise his most ambitious, exciting designs. They might be divided by two centuries, but they are united in the belief that innovative, sympathetic, beautiful architecture can make a lasting and positive impact on the world.”
Sir John Soane’s Museum is grateful to Hamish and Sophie Forsyth for their support of the 2024 Soane Medal Lecture.
