Category: Architecture

architecture

The Realtime Manifesto

The architectural manifesto defined the modern era. Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto started the ball rolling, and Adolph Loos’ Ornament and Crime, Corbusier’s Towards a New Architecture and De Stijl followed. All of these are recognized as being amongst the most important pieces of architectural writing of the last century. While it is tempting to think that… Continue reading The Realtime Manifesto

Book review: Visual Planning and the Picturesque by Nikolaus Pevsner

While not truly a “lost” Pevsner book, this represents a monumental effort by editor Mathew Aitchison to pull together a huge amount of material compiled for a book on Picturesque town planning by Nikolaus Pevsner. While Pevsner intended to publish the material as a book, he never finished the manuscript and much of the material… Continue reading Book review: Visual Planning and the Picturesque by Nikolaus Pevsner

Nineteenth Century Landscape Urbanism at the Brent Reservoir

Within a short distance of where I live there is a large urban lake, The Brent Reservoir (or commonly known as the Welsh Harp, after the pub that used to stand next to it) that supports one of the most important bird habitats in southern England. Covering 110 acres, the reservoir is surrounded by mostly… Continue reading Nineteenth Century Landscape Urbanism at the Brent Reservoir

I can’t help but think this looks pretend

Brett Young at Cahill Contractors sent me this video taken from his model airplane of Tassafaronga Village, an affordable housing development I worked on at David ambien buy Baker and Partners Architects. It is being built by Cahill in Oakland, California and is owned by the Oakland Housing Authority.

Castle Overload: a trip to Cardiff and Swansea, Wales

Wales has a slogan that is something along the lines of “Wales has more castles per square mile than probably anywhere else in the world.” While they do use the “probably,” (to avoid a lawsuit I’m sure) I did manage to see four of them on a three day trip last week. The trip began… Continue reading Castle Overload: a trip to Cardiff and Swansea, Wales

The House of the Future is in Your Pocket

In their short essay “But Today We Collect Ads” of 1956 Allison and Peter Smithson make the case that architecture has become irrelevant in the face of advertising: “Gropius wrote a book on grain silos, Le Corbusier one on aeroplanes, And Charlotte Periand brought a new object to the office every morning, But today we… Continue reading The House of the Future is in Your Pocket

Timber Frame Construction: What’s wrong in the UK?

I spotted this article in Building Magazine about insurers threatening to pull cover for timber frame buildings.This, combined with highly publicized recent fires in London on building sites in Camberwell and Peckham. While investigations are ongoing, the whole thing seems a bit strange to me. Nearly all non-high rise apartment buildings in California are timber… Continue reading Timber Frame Construction: What’s wrong in the UK?

A Seaside Weekend: The Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, in Photos

The first stop on our weekend getaway was the last stop on the National Express coach, Southsea. After a brief stop at Portsmouth (which is only about a 10 minute drive away, at most) where all of the other passengers except for my wife and me disembarked, the coach pulled up in front of a… Continue reading A Seaside Weekend: The Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, in Photos

Housing Showdown: Donnybrook Quarter and Robin Hood Gardens

Donnybrook Quarter is a recent award-winning low-rise scheme in Bow, London (map) by Peter Barber Architects, seen by many as as the antidote to the modernist tower and built as mixed-tenure housing for a social landlord. Robin Hood Gardens is a well-known and oft-disparaged brutalist structure from the 1970s by Alison & Peter Smithson, stretched out… Continue reading Housing Showdown: Donnybrook Quarter and Robin Hood Gardens