img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Rising star: Daniel Innes

Words:
Pamela Buxton

Campaigner and activist for LGBT+ architects whose life-drawing initiative has created much-needed additional LGBT+ space.

Architectural assistant, Dominic McKenzie Architects – Part 1: 2018 Part 2: 2021

‘The profession needs activists like this to bring about change,’ said judge Selina Mason about Daniel Innes, a committee member of grassroots campaigning group Architecture LGBT+. 

Innes studied at the University of Bath and the Royal College of Art and has just began his Part 3 while working at Dominic McKenzie Architects. He recently set up Architecture LGBT+ Life Drawing, a travelling life drawing programme which aims to foster cross-practice dialogue among LGBT+ architects by providing monthly free life drawing sessions as a space to network and socialise.

His own involvement in Architecture LGBT+ was informed by his feelings of isolation when working at a practice where there were no LGBT+ role models, and by the positive collaborative experience he had entering a competition to design the Architecture LGBT+ float for Pride. 

‘You ought to be able to bring your whole self to work,’ he says. ‘At some point I realised how much energy I was expending to mask for fear of outing myself. It was exhausting.’

Innes is passionate about the important role that Architecture LGBT+ plays as a ‘safety net’ of industry level representation for LGBT+ architects and designers, and sees the drawing initiative as creating a much needed additional LGBT+ space. 

His activism has, he says, given his own practice ‘a great sense of meaningfulness and community’. As a designer with ADHD, he also participated in the Invisible Tales event at the London Festival of Architecture. Co-organised by fellow Rising Star Jordan Whitewood-Neal, this aimed to amplify the voices of disabled architects and designers in the UK. Innes is particularly interested in how architectural education could do more to help support them. He will be furthering this discussion in a RIBA Future Architects in Conversation podcast.

‘He’s definitely raising issues that have been under cover for too long, and doing so effectively and imaginatively,’ said judge and RIBA Journal editor Eleanor Young.

  • Life drawing at Stanton Williams.
    Life drawing at Stanton Williams. Credit: Daniel Innes
  • Life drawing at Stanton Williams.
    Life drawing at Stanton Williams. Credit: Daniel Innes
  • Life drawing at Stanton Williams.
    Life drawing at Stanton Williams. Credit: Daniel Innes
123

What existing building, place and problem would you most like to tackle?
I’d like to see a radical rethinking of discussions around public toilets in the UK. Their scarcity has been compounded by funding cuts and the pandemic, not to mention the expansion of privately owned public space, which further gatekeeps what is in reality a crucial public service.

See more RIBA Journal Rising Stars.

Latest

Grimshaw partner Keith Brewis and project architect Abhi Chauhan explain how the twin-biome project recreates Oman's diverse climates

The garden features two biomes that recreate the country’s diverse climates

Liverpool architect David Collett highlights the beauty and delight of an underappreciated locale – Taiwan – which he argues is a ‘case study of the hypermodern 21st century’

Liverpool architect David Collett highlights the beauty and delight of an underappreciated locale

The ING Media founder’s years working in PR make her a formidable built-environment advocate, motivated to unpick the obstacles barring the path to a more sustainable future

The ING Media founder’s years working in PR make her a formidable built-environment advocate

Repurpose two market town buildings for the community, extend an historic subterranean venue, create a garden zone in a city square – some of the latest architecture contracts and competitions from across the industry

Latest: Derbyshire market town refurb

Three very different – but equally indulgent – bathrooms highlight the reinforcing impact that tailored features can bring, finds Pamela Buxton

Three very different – and indulgent – bathrooms highlight the reinforcing impact of tailored features