The Desert Grows
A British startup hopes to generate 8% of the U.K.'s electricity from a London-sized renewables development in Southern Morocco. What about the people who live there?
I’m Reuben, a multimedia journalist with a background in design. I’m interested in very big systems, the people shaping them, and the people they shape.
Think the migrant workers propping up continental food systems; the local tradeoffs of nation-spanning climate projects; the picayune planning edicts that gum up city housing targets; the individual innovators pushing change in big businesses and organisations.
This year, I’m pursuing these stories as a Steele Fellow in Investigative Business Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University.
Before this, I was Digital Editor at The Architectural Review, where I wrote on architecture and politics and worked on cross-platform audience strategy. I graduated from the University of Cambridge, where I was president of the architecture society, delivering an exhibition of 250 students’ work in London, amongst much else. I was Production Assistant at The World Around, a New York-based design platform where I helped to launch the Young Climate Prize, and worked on TV shoots for BBC Maestro.
My first gig – at two months old – was a starring role in the music video for “You Were Right” by Badly Drawn Boy.
Features
photograph: Reuben J. Brown
Reviews
Architecture
The Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens
Learning from the ‘additive architecture’ of Jørn Utzon, a community centre for Syrian refugees in Turkey provides social infrastructure in a fortified shell
Iwo Borkowicz
A new school in one of Tanzania’s former refugee settlements beats the heat for students and the public alike
Batlleiroig Arquitectura
Amid Catalonia’s worsening droughts, Batlleiroig Arquitectura has reclaimed public spaces from cars while preserving precious water
Amid Catalonia’s worsening droughts, Batlleiroig Arquitectura has reclaimed public spaces from cars while preserving precious water supplies
Emil Basse
Thoravej 29 by Pihlmann Architects
The transformation of an ordinary 1960s building into the HQ of an NGO is a mirror to the organisation’s progressive…
Atik Bheda
Indian rising stars A Threshold build a critical bridge from private commissions to public projects
The Bangalore-based practice imagines a public life for a private guest house
Henry Woide for The Architectural Review
Material Cultures combine design with research and education to engender a transformation in architectural production
The London-based practice combines architecture with materials research and educational programmes
Johnny Umans
NWLND take a razor to complex spatial problems and derive sharp, strategic solutions
In a workshop for a secondary school in Ostend, the Belgian duo use simple strategic moves
View all stories →
Interviews
Photographs
Photographs are an integrated part of my practice — and I’ve assisted leading editorial and architectural photographers across shoots for magazines and TV.
The Nazi Megaprojects Vienna Can’t Take Down
Six anti-aircraft flak towers were built by forced labour under Nazi control in Second World War Vienna. With walls of […]
The Death of Queen Elizabeth II
Among the mourners, surprised at the depth of their own grief
Acquedotto Nottolini, Lucca, Italia
Across its 400 arches, the Aqueduct of Nottolini is still a font of fresh spring water and rich material history
CV
Work
Steele Fellow in Investigative Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center/p>
2025–
Digital Editor
The Architectural Review
2023–25
Production Assistant
BBC Maestro
2023
Production Assistant
The World Around
2022
President
ARCSOC, the University of Cambridge Architecture Society
2022–23
Founder and Co-host
Talking Volumes
2020–22
Skills & Software
Video and Podcast Production
Adobe Premiere, Audition, After Effects, Apple Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro
Graphic Design and Production
Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Autocad, Rhino
Photography
Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop
Content Management and Analytics
WordPress, Google Analytics, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Campaigns, Shopify, Upland Adestra
Web Development
GitHub, VS Code, Claude Code, HTML, CSS, JS
Full U.K. driving license
Education
Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication
Arizona State University
2025–26
B.A. in Architecture
University of Cambridge
2020–23
State schools in Brighton, U.K.; nerdy grades
