[4] The organisation was established in 1991 under the direction of Ricky Burdett and initially operated from a gallery in Alison and Peter Smithson's buildings for the Economist magazine.
Under Rowan Moore's subsequent tenure as director, the organisation ran the Yard Gallery in Clerkenwell as a temporary space experimenting in different ways of exhibiting and communicating architecture before moving to Carmody Groarke-designed headquarters in Southwark.
[5] Under the direction of Sarah Ichioka[6] it gave itself a greater international remit, manifesting itself in 2009 through a series of exchange programmes.
[8] In 2015 it co-located with the Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University's Central House in Aldwych.
Following London Metropolitan University's sale of Central House in 2016, the Architecture Foundation relocated to The Royal College of Art in Kensington.