Draft:Alex Ely

Academic with interest in Architecture, Architects and the built environment

Alexander David Ely, (born 27 May 1972) is a British architect and town planner based in London. He founded the London-based architectural practice, Mae, in 2001, and has designed public housing and social infrastructure projects and masterplanned major urban regeneration projects which have won several RIBA Awards. In 2023, a Mae-designed project at Morden College in Blackheath, London won the Stirling Prize.

Career
Ely studied at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 1993, and the Royal College of Art, receiving an MA in 1996.

In 2001, he founded the London-based architectural practice, Mae. Ely has designed public housing and social infrastructure projects and masterplanned major urban regeneration projects which have won several RIBA Awards.

Ely was Head of Sustainable Communities at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment from 2002 to 2005.

Between 2009 and 2021, Ely was a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University.

He was principal author of the Mayor of London’s ‘London Housing Design Guide’, which set new space standards for housing in 2010. The standards went on to inform the nationally described space standards introduced by the UK government in 2015. Between 2017 and 2021, Ely was a Mayor’s Design Advocate, part of a panel of 42 built environment specialists advising the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

In 2023, a Mae-designed project, the John Morden Centre, at Morden College in Blackheath, London won the RIBA Stirling Prize.

Events
He has lectured internationally and presented at events including:


 * Architects.RF in Moscow (2014)
 * ArkDes Stockholm (2018)
 * Milan Architecture Foundation (2018)
 * the Moscow Urban Forum 2019
 * Oslo Architecture Triennale (2019)
 * Politecnico di Milano ‘Housing regeneration in EU: An Opportunity for Architecture and Architects’ (2019)
 * ‘Domestic Commons’ and ‘Public Architecture - Future for Europe’ at Moscow’s Schusev State Museum of Architecture (2020)
 * Melbourne School of Design ‘From Here; For Now’ (2020)
 * the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial (2020)
 * the Architecture Foundation and Barbican's series 'Architecture on Stage' (2022)

Projects

 * The John Morden Centre, at Morden College in Blackheath, London (RIBA Stirling Prize 2023)
 * Sands End Arts and Community Centre, Fulham (shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2022)
 * Housing projects including New Islington, Hillington Square, Brentford Lock, Regent’s Park, Agar Grove.
 * Masterplans include Meridian Water and Grahame Park

Publications

 * Towards a Resilient Architecture, Quart Publishers ISBN 9783037612750
 * The Home Buyer’s Guide: what to look and ask for when buying a new home, Black Dog Publishing, London, ISBN 1-904772-09-9
 * Places for Strangers, Park Books, Zurich, ISBN 978-3-906027-40-1
 * The London Housing Design Guide

He also contributed to ‘Defining Contemporary Professionalism: For Architects in Practice and Education’ (RIBA Publications), edited by Alan Jones and Rob Hyde.ISBN 9781859468470.