Owen Hopkins is an architectural historian and Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University. He was previously Senior Curator of Exhibitions and Education at Sir John Soane's Museum and before that Architecture Programme Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, both in London. He has written six books, including Reading Architecture: A Visual Lexicon, and Lost Futures, an examination of the disappearing architecture of post-war Britain. He is also a regular commentator on architecture in newspapers, magazines, radio and television.