Oliver Wainwright

{{short description|British architecture and design critic (born 1985)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=September 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Oliver Wainwright

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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1984|7}}

| birth_place = England

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| alma_mater = University of Cambridge, Royal College of Art

| occupation = Architecture critic

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| parents = Martin Wainwright

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Oliver Wainwright (born July 1984{{Cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/N6_lP8CbiHwMG49XCcqPwGXpIP8/appointments |publisher=Companies House |title=Oliver WAINWRIGHT pe |access-date=2021-09-16}}) is a British architecture and design critic. He has written for the British newspapers The Guardian and The Times and is the Features Editor for the industry magazine Building Design.{{cite journal|url=http://www.bdonline.co.uk/oliver-wainwright/18841.bio|title=Oliver Wainwright|journal=Building Design|accessdate=26 January 2015}}{{cite book|title=Museum Architecture: A New Biography|first= Suzanne|last=MacLeod|publisher=Routledge|page=30|year=2013|isbn=978-1-134-05362-9}} He trained and worked as an architect before becoming a journalist{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/oliver-wainwright|title=Profile : Oliver Wainwright|newspaper=The Guardian|accessdate=26 January 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.saatchiart.com/oliverwainwright|title=Oliver Wainwright|website=Saatchi Art|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}}

Oliver Wainwright attended Benton Park School in Leeds before going on to study architecture at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a double first, before the Royal College of Art.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/oliver-wainwright/|title=Oliver Wainwright|website=Royal College of Art|access-date=2019-10-03}}{{Cite web |last=Wainwright |first=Oliver |date=2014 |title=100 Buildings 100 Years 1960: Benton Park School, Leeds |url=https://c20society.org.uk/100-buildings/1960-benton-park-school-leeds |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=C20: The Twentieth Century Society}}

As well as being a writer and journalist, Wainwright has collaborated on design projects with the Architecture Foundation and the National Building Museum, and has lectured at several British architecture schools.{{cite web|url=http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?id=12751&pg=3587|title=Inside Track: Oliver Wainwright|publisher=The Barbican|accessdate=26 January 2015}} He is the son of former Guardian journalist Martin Wainwright. He is the grandson of Richard Wainwright, a former merchant banker and Liberal MP for Colne Valley.

Wainwright has praised the work of architect firm Stanton Williams and defended the company's design of the Sainsbury Laboratory after it won the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize, despite its superficially prefabricated style.{{cite book|title=The Architecture of Industry: Changing Paradigms in Industrial Building and Planning|editor1-first=Mathew|editor1-last=Aitchison|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|pages=119–120|year=2014|isbn=978-1-472-43299-5}} He has criticised the design of the Liverpool Museum, highlighting problems of being over budget and in his opinion too close to the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City, at the time a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He described the restaurant in the Walkie Talkie tower at 20 Fenchurch Street as "like being in an airport terminal".{{cite journal|url=http://www.dezeen.com/2015/01/12/sky-garden-rafael-vinoly-walkie-talkie-skyscraper-london-20-fenchurch-street/|title=Sky Garden opens at the top of Rafael Viñoly's Walkie Talkie|journal=De Zeen|date=12 January 2015|accessdate=26 January 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-30709757|title=Walkie Talkie skyscraper's public garden opens amid criticism|first=Andy|last=Dangerfield|work=BBC News|date=8 January 2015|accessdate=26 January 2015}}