Tag Archives: London

Krier’s symphony for London

Posted on February 13, 2016 by David Brussat

On my first trip to London in 1979 I took in a classical performance of the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank embankment of the Thames. I felt the hall’s demerits as architecture even back … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Zaha Hadid gets RIBA medal

Posted on February 5, 2016 by David Brussat

The Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid has received the Gold Medal for Architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects. She spoke to RIBA upon receiving the award and launched a tirade against tradition. Notwithstanding her complaints, London, where she set … Continue reading →

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London’s fate, black & white

Posted on December 9, 2015 by David Brussat

The British photographer Lewis Bush, using the technique of double-exposure, has been shooting scenes of highrise construction in London that might (at his suggestion) bring to mind the eternal night of scenes from the film Blade Runner. He describes his … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

AIA artist exposes mods

Posted on November 23, 2015 by David Brussat

  Above on this page, Chicago illustrator Lauren Nassef reinterprets everyday objects that have become symbolic and, rendered as speculative buildings, could be iconic. Please don’t sue her. The passage appears at the end of an article in Architect, the … Continue reading →

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Walker: “Babylon electrified”

Posted on November 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Nathaniel Robert Walker, whose essay on food and architecture many readers here recall fondly, has sent me another essay, this one entitled “Babylon Electrified: Oriental Hybridity as Futurism in Victorian Utopian Architecture.” The title may sound daunting but, as with … Continue reading →

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Into London’s age of grit

Posted on October 24, 2015 by David Brussat

It suddenly occurred to me that, having done a post on the beautiful Renaissance digital imagery of the video game “Assassin’s Creed II” – it was called “Gaming the Renaissance” – I should check out “Assassin’s Creed I.” I just … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Blast from past, Book/Film Reviews, Other countries, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What the Carbuncle bestows

Posted on September 15, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a fatuously furious piece about the Walkie-Talkie building that just won Britain’s Carbuncle Cup. “The Walkie Talkie is a sty in London’s eye,” by Ned Beauman, browbeats the building as if it had committed a dark sin equalled … Continue reading →

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Rip facade off mod angst

Posted on September 10, 2015 by David Brussat

Very interesting chat in the Guardian, “Should Britain’s ‘worst building’ be torn down?” with its art critic Jonathan Jones and Design Museum director Deyan Sudjik debating the future of the recent winner of the Carbuncle Cup, the Walkie-Talkie building, and … Continue reading →

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Carbuncle Cup antidote

Posted on September 2, 2015 by David Brussat

Here are some photos taken just days ago by Michael Gerhardt, former interim director of the Providence Athenaeum and longtime skipper of the Pandion, anchored in Bristol. He and his wife just returned from a holiday in London and sent … Continue reading →

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Carbuncle Cup conundrum

Posted on September 2, 2015 by David Brussat

In Britain the Carbuncle Cup goes to the ugliest building of the year. The name recalls Prince Charles’s famous and much-beloved line, “a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-beloved and elegant friend,” that he applied to a proposed … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments