Facadism gone wild: a visit to Washington D.C.

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.

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

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

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