Spencer's a lovely guy who has been a key figure in the Foster office for decades. But is what the Foster office designs 'high tech'? Do come this Thursday evening March 12, physically or virtually, to hear us chat and to ask him questions!
So good to see the MacEwen Award flourishing. The tenth year since we at the RIBA Journal set up this annual hat-tip to 'architecture for the common good' and they kindly invited me back to be a judge. And what a great winner in York by Tonkin Liu!
www.ribaj.com/buildings/he...
Historic re-enactment: I dig out a book from 2008 which has a dvd inside its back cover, a fad of the time. My middle-aged PC even has a retro cd/dvd drive, hardly used. Gingerly I insert the disk. Much whirring and clonking. It works! Photos, movies! But my, weren't the graphics crude back then?
I'd have to disagree with that. I'm quite old and have seen aesthetic tastes (mine included) shift significantly in my own lifetime. Beyond that, I find the beauty/ugly debate in architecture sterile anyway. The South Bank Centre is simply magnificent as an ensemble in my opinion. Beautiful? Maybe.
Given that notions of beauty are subjective and mutable, all you're really saying there is 'Sod architectural history, if I happen not to like the look of a building it should be demolished.'
Rejoice!
Best without the doggerel tho
So it begins. We're not even slightly Scottish so this is cultural appropriation #burnsnight
In Belper, Derbyshire (Eas Midlands) they are 'channels', so presumably related to the gennel/ginnel type identified further north.
Terracotta mural of the jet intake from the engine of Concorde, Broad Quay House, Bristol – Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings, 1982 Image credit: Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society
Terracotta mural of the Co-operative movement corn shef, Broad Quay House, Bristol – Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings, 1982 Image credit: Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society
Terracotta mural of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s famed SS Great Britain ship, Broad Quay House, Bristol – Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings, 1982 Image credit: Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society
NEWS: C20 has helped to safeguard a frieze of fifteen exquisite terracotta mural panels by artists Philippa Threlfall and Kennedy Collings from the 1980s Broad Quay House office building in Bristol, featuring Concorde, the Co-op movement and SS Great Britain.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/frieze-...
This little hillside chapel suddenly hoved into view as we descended a lane from the Alpine heights of Matlock Bath/Dale in Derbyshire. Architect Guy Dawber, built 1897, clinging to a forested cliff above a trickling spring. In the care of the excellent @friendlesschurches.bsky.social
Know it well. I stayed just behind it for one Biennale. The supply boats arrived noisily every morning at 6 a.m.
'Jazz and blues infused' renditions of classical music: just stop it, please.
It's a splendidly varied collection
So John Carey has died at 91. The king of readable lit crit, Oxford all his life but no whiff of High Table about him, recruited by Harry Evans to the Sunday Times and still writing there in 2023. And he could rock a leather jacket in his 80s.
Notable that half of the 6 architecture firms shortlisted to design the National Gallery's big extension are led by women - Moussavi, Selldorf, Seilern. Alongside them, Foster, Piano and Kuma.
Great culture can save lives. Literally.
Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard
We tell the story of how inter-student arrangements at our 70s uni were conducted by folded slips of paper delivered by electric van between all the colleges and departments. We each had a personal pigeonhole. I still dream of it sometimes
Saw this performed in front of the (then still unfinished) National Theatre. Ed Berman's troupe. Worked brilliantly
This is a shame. When the university bought the listed former HMRC campus by Hopkins it seemed a great outcome. What now?
Struggling University of Nottingham already selling £80m 'vanity project' campus - Nottinghamshire Live share.google/HHxHIHj10nY1...
New laptop, and as always I feel cheated that they haven't installed a better Internet
And from Art nouveau to Ziggurats join fellow architectural style lovers for the @c20society.bsky.social
Christmas lecture..Last few in person tickets here. But there are also tickets to watch online...
One for all twentieth century-loving girls and boys
NEWS: A bold new vision for the upgrading of Liverpool Street Station by John McAslan + Partners has been unveiled today. Backed by heritage campaigners, it promises to deliver crucial accessibility upgrades without large scale demolition of the listed station.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/a-new-v...
3) Ban Lucy Worsley
The fellow seeking donations for a food bank said he'd been there for 2 hours and I was the first person to give him anything, so he gave me some mistletoe in return. 'I hope I bring you luck,' I said. 'May you be showered with kisses,' he replied. And so we parted in great good humour.
EVENT: Join C20 President @SamiraAhmedUK
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
➡️ Please consider giving generously, click the link below for information on how to donate online, via text, Payroll Giving, or to leave a legacy.
c20society.org.uk/sup.../elain...
A tremendous scholar, campaigner and bundle of fizzing energy who saved many fine buildings. If you can donate, please do.
Tremendous November half-price offer from Yale on all books in their catalogue priced at less than £100. Which means - for instance for the architecture student in your life for Christmas - my book ABOUT ARCHITECTURE can be yours for a mere £15! Unbeatable!
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
