Ian Banks

Ian Banks is a sole practitioner architect, public art consultant, and writer on public realm. As director of architecture + art collaborative Atoll, he specializes in private housing but partners on bigger public realm consultancies through his expanding networks of fellow architects, artists, designers, curators, and creatives. Ian qualified as a chartered architect in 1990 following two years volunteering with VSO as lead architect for the Maldives Government’s Ministry of Education. He later worked as a freelance architect specializing in sustainable tourism there.

A long spell followed in the UK, working in both community architecture and commercial sectors before a mid-career sabbatical (crisis?) between 2000 to 2004 saw him take up a temporary post as ‘Public Art & Architecture Officer’ for Arts Council England NW. Following this and expanding his diverse interests in sustainable design and public art, Ian launched his hybrid practice in 2005. The word ‘atoll’ originates from the Dhivehi (the Indo-Aryan language of Maldives) word ‘atholhu’. Its first-ever recorded use in English was in 1625 and the term was later popularized by Charles Darwin in his seminal ‘Origin of Species’. The use of the name alludes in part to Atoll’s occasional Maldivian work but, more importantly, to the network of creativity surrounding Ian.