The image of Washington D.C. forged by television and film is usually confined to government buildings, the river, and monuments. Most people are familiar with the city’s low-rise skyline, dominated to this day by the stark white obelisk of the Washington Monument. Venturing into the city’s streets brought the great lengths the city’s preservationists have… Continue reading Facadism gone wild: a visit to Washington D.C.
Category: travel
travel
Buffalo’s Grain Elevators: The Destruction of the Beginnings of Modern Architecture
Standard Elevator It’s been a few months now, but in July I had the chance to witness the destruction of one of Buffalo’s concrete grain elevators. Written about 30 years ago by Reyner Banham, and in the early part of the 20th Century by Corbusier and other European Modernists, the grain elevators on the Buffalo… Continue reading Buffalo’s Grain Elevators: The Destruction of the Beginnings of Modern Architecture
Sonoma / Mendocino Part II: Sea Ranch & South
From there, it was further down the coast to the community of Sea Ranch. Laid out in the 1960s by the landscape architect Lawrence Halprin with buildings by architects including Charles Moore and Joseph Esherick, Sea Ranch is a pilgrimage site for San Francisco architects (and architectural tourists). It is incredibly unwelcoming to visit if… Continue reading Sonoma / Mendocino Part II: Sea Ranch & South
Northern California: from Wine Country to Manchester with a bit of Angela Lansbury
It’s been a few months, and in those months I’ve relocated back from Northwest London to the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of my time in California has been rather uneventful as it has been taken up by things like looking for a place to live and buying household essentials, though there was a recent… Continue reading Northern California: from Wine Country to Manchester with a bit of Angela Lansbury
An Invitation to a New Way of Living: The Modern Motel
Author Alain de Botton is on a mission to convince people that they could live in modern houses. I read his book The Architecture of Happiness last year and wasn’t particularly impressed. After reading Will Wiles’ article in the November 2010 issue of Icon magazine about de Botton’s new company, Living Architecture, I became more… Continue reading An Invitation to a New Way of Living: The Modern Motel
Disasterville in the Cotswolds
I was looking at the town of Moreton-in-Marsh on Google Maps and discovered this area of strange-looking streets that clearly looks like an airport. It turns out this was a base for Wellington Bombers during World War II, and after the war it was converted into the Fire Service College where fire brigades from around… Continue reading Disasterville in the Cotswolds
Charles Rennie Mackintosh meets summer skiing in Glasgow
Adding to the growing worldwide trend of building works by famous architects long after their deaths, Glasgow has a relatively recently-built version of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s “House for an Art Lover.” Designed in 1901, and built between 1989 and 1996, the project was originally designed for a German ideas competition but was disqualified for being… Continue reading Charles Rennie Mackintosh meets summer skiing in Glasgow
East Sussex/West Sussex Road Trip
Coming from America, I assumed there must be a huge East Sussex/West Sussex rivalry of the 2Pac vs. Notorious B.I.G. variety, but upon visiting I was proven wrong (or else I was looking in the wrong places). The trip was a brief (2 day) excursion, but we were able to see far more than I… Continue reading East Sussex/West Sussex Road Trip
Gehry’s Art Gallery of Ontario is Retro Frank Gehry at His Finest
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) completed an extensive renovation in 2008 that transformed its building on Dundas Street in Toronto. Work began in 2004 and cost $276 million. Led by Frank Gahry, Instead of starting afresh, Gehry took the existing building and its somewhat chaotic slew of previous expansions and unified it into a… Continue reading Gehry’s Art Gallery of Ontario is Retro Frank Gehry at His Finest
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