Biography
Professor Flora Samuel is a Co-Investigator for the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing evidence and leads on the theme of ‘Place’.
Flora is a Professor of Architecture in the Built Environment at the new School of Architecture at the University of Reading and was the first female Head of the University of Sheffield School of Architecture.
Flora is a RIBA Chartered architect, architectural historian and a teacher of design she is also the first RIBA Vice President for Research. She is known for research on the French modernist architect Le Corbusier but her work has more recently focused on the value of design and supporting architectural practitioners to develop evidence of that value and has received extensive AHRC support for her work in this area. Her most recent book Why Architects Matter: Evidencing and Communicating the Value of Architects (Routledge 2018) explores the issue of design value and its effect on people which is the focus of her work with CaCHE. She has had a long-term interest in housing design and delivery (particularly self-build and custom build), Post Occupancy Evaluation, and placemaking.
