- A powerful, eloquently-argued essay by Tim Abrahams. that takes apart the Stadium for London 2012 piece by piece, providing fascinating insight into the process by which this strange structure was designed and built. Drawings by the excellent illustrator and architect Nigel Peake.
Categories
Architecture
Art
Books and Publishing
Design
Graphics
Institutions
Literature
Miscellanies
Music
News
Photography
Politics
Swearing
Technology
Previously
Twitter
- RT @matthewcpinsent: am I the only one not bothered by people selling torches? "Oh so you ran with the torch? um yes. Can i see it? erm. ... 9 hours ago
- RT @emile_hokayem: With so many angry armed men and incompetent security personnel on the streets of Lebanese cities, Lebanon is an idio ... 1 day ago
- RT @RowanMoore: I didnt realise how much I hated Chelsea Fc until I saw Osborne up there with Abramovitch and Terry. Ugh 1 day ago
- RT @JamesHeartfield: Kevin McKenna on the puritanical poor-bashers of the Scottish Parliament guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/… 1 day ago
-
Category Archives: Architecture
Why Park Hill Should Live
Reyner Banham liked Park Hill. To the greatest critical champion of New Brutalism, it was ‘the biggest brutalist building ever completed’ an example of all that he had, once at least, held dear. In his book The New Brutalism, written … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Old Things, Urbanism
Tagged brutalism, egret west, english heritage, english partnerships, hawkins brown, homes and communities agency, housing market renewal agency, ivor smith, jack lynn, le corbusier, lynsey hanley, owen hatherley, park hill, reyner banham, sheffield, smithsons, urban splash
3 Comments
The World’s First Printed Building
In a small shed on an industrial park near Pisa is a machine that can print buildings. The machine itself looks like a prototype for the automotive industry. Four columns independently support a frame with a single armature on it. … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Engineering
Tagged 3D printing, andrea morgante, enrico dini, norman foster, pisa, radiolaria
Leave a comment
Standing in front of a bookcase, feeling baffled.
It would be fair to say that even amongst the librarians here there is a fair amount of amusement— or bewilderment— about the Norman D Stevens archive . Stevens is the retired director of university libraries at the University of Connecticut and, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Media, Old Things, Publishing
Tagged alan bennett, andrew motion, castle park dean and hook, cyril connolly, david adjaye, geoff hook, harvard, horizon, hugh pearman, hull, karen coyle, library of congress, lrb, norman d. stevens, philip larkin, radcliffe camera, renata gutman, seattle public library, thomas jefferson, toads, university of virginia, veritas
Leave a comment
You’re Worse Than Crystal Palace
The strange British genius for turning media production into a prolonged spectacle, which we have seen during the hackgate scandal, dates back at least to the Great Exhibition of 1851 I would say. Reading through the huge profusion of books … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Design, Media, Publishing
Tagged 1851, crystal fountain, crystal palace, day, Digby Wyatt, great exhibition, Guardian, Hackgate, industrial arts, lithograph, publishing, Punch, robert ellis, routledge
Leave a comment
Souvenirs For Buildings That Don’t Exist
There is a moment in Superman III
Anarchy on Wall Street
On 16 September 1920, a wagonload containing 45 kilos of explosives and 230 kilos of lead weights placed outside the JP Morgan bank at 23 Wall Street in New York was detonated, killing 38 people and injuring many more. The … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Design, Photography
Tagged 1 wall street, 1920, anarchists, Architecture, bombing, CCA, detroit, galleanists, gwen webber, ilse bing, irving trust company building, irving underhill, james griffioen, jp morgan, luigi galleani, maria morris hombourg, paul strand, photography, wall street, walter rosenblum
Leave a comment
Of Montreal
After the establishment of the Committee d’Organisation des Jeux Olympique (COJO) in 1972, the body tasked with not just running the Olympic Games in Montreal but controversially to build the structures, the Canadian Ambassador for Argentina wrote to his superiors … Continue reading
Posted in 2012, Architecture, Media, Old Things, Urbanism
Tagged beijing 2008, games, jean drapeau, london 2012, montreal, nick auf der maur, Olympics, paul charles howell, roger tallibert
2 Comments
All The People
Just a short walk north from the Olympic stadium, up a canal dug in the 1770s, is the Hackney Marshes. Unprepossessing on a weekday with the wind whipping in from the west, this site has in a fact become defined … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Old Things, Urbanism
Tagged bastard countryside, bucolic, david beckham, football, hackney marshes, industrial, landscape, rio ferdinand, stanton williams, terry venables
2 Comments
Tadao Ando and his Secretive Champion.
Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s second permanent project in the UK may not be much – a water feature in Mayfair – but it reveals his special relationship with a hitherto little known patron of the arts.
