London YU Book Club: The Masterplan
Join the next meeting of the London Young Urbanist book club this spring, discussing Reinier de Graaf's The Masterplan
Date: Tuesday 7 April 2026
Time: 18.30
Location: Seventy5th Balcony Bar @ The Southbank Centre, 0 Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XT
The third meeting of the Young Urbanists London Book Club will take place in April 2026. The text for discussion will be Reinier de Graaf's 2020 The Masterplan. Read the book and come along for an evening reflecting with fellow Young Urbanists over drinks.
This is free to Young Urbanists but please register in advance.
The Masterplan is published by Archis and can be bought online via the AA Bookshop.
"Chronicling the trajectory of an architect craving recognition, The Masterplan unfolds as a fictional reconstruction of an architectural dream blown to dust by bigger forces. When asked to design the capital of a young African republic, Rodrigo Tomás sees the opportunity of a lifetime. Eager to outshine his famous father he accepts, but he soon discovers that not all is what it seems…
"The story of his involvement comes to reveal a larger story – of an emerging nation’s struggle with colonial residue, the growing Chinese influence in Africa and the fraught workings of a global real estate market. Caught in the crossfire, the architect must recognize that his choices have unexpected implications. Will there be time to adjust course?
"The Masterplan is the first work of fiction by architect Reinier de Graaf, the author of the critically acclaimed Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession (Harvard University Press, 2017) – a collection of essays on contemporary architecture praised for its stylistic wit and honest portrayal of architecture’s entanglement in political and economic power structures."
(Via Archis.com)
