The river Thames meanders through the heart of London linking the five Hubs of LFA2008. The LFA riverboat service will provide transport from Hub to Hub, accompanied by a narrative from author Peter Ackroyd.

RIBA London will be co-ordinating the LFA2008 riverboat service in association with Thames Clippers to connect all five Festival Hubs, providing an alternative perspective of the capital.

Peter Ackroyd, author of Thames: Sacred River and Honorary President of the London Festival of Architecture, will co-curate the RIBA London Thames exhibition Dark Water, which will inhabit six piers along the river. To encourage ‘fresh’ talent, RIBA London has invited the London Schools of Architecture to work with the curatorial team including architect Iain Johnston (Bisset Adams), designer Nick Robertson (Wordsalad) and Adam Guy (Multiplatform Development) who will assist RIBA London to produce the exhibition. Each pier will incorporate three ‘bands of time’ to explore the past (what used to exist), the present (what can be seen today), and the future (what is either planned or imagined). A collection of maps, drawings, photographs, statistics, stories and soundbites will form these site specific installations.