When Security is Paramount
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- 6
Sep
The Rooflight Company’s new neo Plateau Secured by Design Rooflight combines high levels of security with excellent aesthetics. According to the Office for National Statistics, there was a six per cent increase in the number of burglaries reported to the...
Glasgow School of Art
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- 2
Jul
Last week we learnt that parts of the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art are to be dismantled following the fire there earlier this month. The fire was the second major blaze at the School of Art in...
Rooflights, Security and Part Q
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- 26
Jun
If you work on new build schemes then you will be aware of the Part Q building regulation that is now applicable. The new regulation is there to protect against unwanted entry in to these buildings, and so all products...
Is printing the answer to housing problems?
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- 6
Jun
Is printing the answer? Probably not. An article in today's Guardian highlights some exciting-looking houses that are to be entirely 3D printed in concrete. The homes will look great but, as pavilions in the landscape, they are scarcely revolutionary once...
Why architects love dystopias
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- 4
Jun
There was a great article in The Observer on Sunday, reprinting a piece that the author Anthony Burgess had written about the influence on him of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis. It was, he wrote, the film that changed his life,...
The lonely life of a tower-crane driver
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- 1
Jun
However many beautiful simulations there are, buildings do not go up by magic. When we look at the skyline of major cities under development, and describe a 'forest of tower cranes', it is worth remembering that each of the tower...
When more means more
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- 25
May
I saw the Post-Modernism exhibition at the Soane Museum today. In some ways it was rather confusing, since the objects and drawings were scattered among Soane's collection. As you came up the stairs to the first floor you were greeted...
Some London gems
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- 18
May
I was lucky enough to visit some fabulous buildings in London last week, and to be reminded just how many there are, and how unseen they are by many. Architect Hugh Broughton opened a new entrance to the TUC headquarters...
What do we need for civilised living?
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- 11
May
On the day that it is announced that the number of middle-aged renters has doubled in a decade, it is worth considering what those renters actually need. While thereis some great architecture being designed for rent (and a lot of...
When a bank closure would be a good idea
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- 3
May
The news that RBS is to close a total of 162 branches is unpopular both with bank users and employees who fear for their jobs. But one architect thinks there should be more closures. Richard Murphy, one of Scotland's most...
A burning need for city planning
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- 1
May
Dezeen has republished Marcus Fairs' interview with Burning Man founder Larry Harvey in recognition of his death at 70. Fairs' interview, carried out in 2015, talks about the need for urban planning because, at the size of Burning Man - some...
Now you see it…
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- 23
Apr
Trompe l'oeil (literally fooling the eye) has a long and glorious history, whether in Veronese's painted ceilings to Palladian villas or entire houses with imitation external features in the Italian fishing village of Camogli. Once it was cheaper than 'the...
Extending a Listed Building – problem or opportunity? Part Two
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- 18
Apr
Another extension, but in a very different context. This one a new Lounge to the rear of a substantial sandstone villa in Glasgow, Scotland, completed last year. The existing building is not Listed, but it is in a Conservation Area....
Extending a Listed Building – problem or opportunity? Part One
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- 18
Apr
Many people who live in or who acquire Listed buildings and buildings in Conservation areas are enthralled by the character of their buildings, and genuinely seek to live in and maintain them in a sympathetic manner. This can mean in...
The real architecture of today
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- 17
Apr
Three cheers for Rowan Moore in Sunday's Observer writing about the giant distribution sheds that are taking up so much land in the middle of the country. Architectural writing is all too often about city centres, with the occasional incursion into...
Women’s dusty experience
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- 12
Apr
Research in Norway has shown the difficulty of finding dust masks for women. Put simply, dust masks come in one size and women, on average, have smaller faces, so there are gaps. This research deals specifically with the smelting industry,...
Monet’s utopian vision
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- 6
Apr
Utopianism and socialism can be deduced, argues Jonathan Jones in The Guardian, from a visit to the new show on Monet and architecture at the National Gallery in London. Cynics may think that this is just another excuse to repackage...
When Hi Tech goes wrong
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- 5
Apr
Phin Harper has written an article in the Spectator about the new Hi Tech exhibition being hosted at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. He talks in particular about the failure of Stansted Airport where Foster's original clear and open design...
Waiting in line
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- 23
Mar
In yesterday's Guardian, Rose George has a go at architects - in particular at male architects. Hey, one thinks, back off, it's the profession that should have a go not the general world. But George's attach is on a subject...
Good AND prolific?
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- 22
Mar
Yesterday I went to see the Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern. It was wonderful but exhausting. By the end I felt I just couldn't look at any more pictures. And yet, with the exception of one room, Picasso had produced...
A case study in gentrification
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- 15
Mar
In the 197os, I sometimes helped my father selling fruit and veg on a stall in Hoxton Market. The photo here is not of Hoxton but of nearby Ridley Road, taken a little later. Ridley Road was the reason my...
Should we review architecture like restaurants?
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- 13
Mar
Jay Rayner is a well-loved restaurant critic, not only because he knows a lot about food but because, when he hates a restaurant, he really lets you know, and does so by using language creatively. So, in his latest review,...
New year, new hope?
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- 22
Jan
Our housing might actually get better. Rowan Moore, in this week's Observer, outlines a utopian version of the future of housing. Utopias are easy of course - dreaming costs nothing. But what Moore argues is encouraging - that the seeds...
You mean you have never seen it?
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- 18
Jan
It's always nice to tick off the omissions There is a radio programme called 'I've never seen Star Wars' in which people confess the popular things they have never done - and then do them. I have never seen Star...
Is construction broken?
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- 16
Jan
The Carillion disaster poses questions for the industry and the country. Amid all the shock about Carillion, one of the most interesting pieces is in the FT. Matthew Vincent writes about why the company has gone into liquidation rather than...
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