John McKean trained as both architect and historian. He is professor of architecture and director of architectural research at the University of Brighton. For two decades, he has been invited by De Carlo to II Laboratorio Internazionale di Architettura e Urbanistica (ILAUD) each summer. He guest-edited the World Architecture monograph issue on De Carlo in 1991. He has recently made a video film on Carlo Scarpa and published books on Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Crystal Palace and James Stirling's Leicester Engineering Building.