BREAKING NEWS: Architecture

Labour must get asbestos out of schools urgently | Letters

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 17:43:23 +0000

Dr Gill Reed says the UK has the highest incidence of mesothelioma in the world due to asbestos exposure, while Ed Campbell says underfunding made buildings’ deterioration inevitable. Plus a letter from Colin Porteous

The Guardian’s investigation of underinvestment in public buildings vividly shows its detrimental impact (Revealed: 1.5m children in England studying in unfit school buildings, 27 December). It is therefore heartening that a government spokesperson has stated that “immediate action to remedy the state of disrepair” would be taken.

However, UK building condition surveys and asbestos regulations do not include a measure of the risk of staff and children developing incurable mesothelioma cancer from long-term asbestos exposure in buildings like schools.

A Dark Brick Exterior For A Home Surrounded By Trees

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:57:10 +0000

Pharaohs, masks and bronze age boats: six standout new museums around the world in 2025

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 11:00:35 +0000

Openings across Africa and Asia offer new cultural experiences in stunning architectural surroundings

From a noisy, performative and unapologetically non-European Yorùbá cultural centre in Lagos, Nigeria, to the much-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, 2024 was a big year for museums opening in the developing world. A number of projects will also be inaugurated in 2025, offering an abundance of new museums to visit in 2025. Here are some of the best of them:

Testament to Spain’s golden age to open up its secret spaces after €6m revamp

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 05:00:29 +0000

Unesco-listed San Lorenzo de El Escorial was fulfilment of Philip II’s dream of raising monastery in a ‘desert’

Despite perching imperiously on a mountainside near Madrid for the better part of five centuries, the royal monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial has yet to give up all its treasures – or all its secrets.

Forty years after it was included on Unesco’s World Heritage list, Philip II’s austere monument to power, piety and patronage is undergoing a major reorganisation that will allow visitors to enjoy the peace of a previously off-limits monastic patio and to look at paintings once reserved for the royal gaze.

Some people’s ancestors are kings or poets. I’m proud my family invented … the corridor

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:00:05 +0000

I always thought genealogy was as dull as looking at other people’s holiday snaps – until I found out about a 16th-century architect who transformed the stately homes of his era

Friends and family, back in the 1970s, would often aggravate each other with a lengthy holiday slideshow, presenting a string of identical beach views and nameless hillside vistas over the course of a dull evening. Today, there is a new phrase that can freeze the heart just as easily as the sight of a slide projector, and it is: “I’ve done some research into my family history and you’ll never guess what I’ve found out!” A scroll bearing a family tree unrolls to reveal a roster of Jacks and Noreens, leading back to some Charleses and Marys, each perching on ever-more-distant branches and ultimately signifying little about the people who are actually living and breathing around you.

For me, this became a domestic issue a while ago, because my husband, a history buff, takes genealogy quite seriously. To be fair, he was early to spot the wider growing public interest in family history as a hobby, even before the genetic element had truly taken hold with the arrival of rival commercial DNA-tracing services.

‘Ludicrous’: bitter row erupts over plan to replace windows at Notre Dame

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 15:36:05 +0000

Fury as President Macron reveals the new ‘contemporary gesture’ for cathedral devastated by 2019 fire

In the wake of the April 2019 fire that devastated Notre Dame, the French president Emmanuel Macron promised that the monument would be rebuilt with a “contemporary gesture”.

There followed all manner of madcap ideas: a glass spire; a 300ft carbon-fibre flame; a swimming pool on the roof; a covered garden. In the end, Notre Dame was restored to its original former glory and ceremonially reopened this month. Now, however, the planned “contemporary gesture” has been revealed – and has sparked a bitter row.

‘When I show people this, they think it’s Mordor’: the landscape architect viewing the West Midlands as a national park

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 12:00:37 +0000

Birmingham City University thinktank imagines new approach to urban areas and land use across the region

“When I show people this, they think it’s Mordor,” says landscape architecture professor Kathryn Moore with a smile.

She is pointing at a map of the West Midlands. But instead of buildings, roads and a sprawling canal network, this map shows the natural hills and undulations that lie below the human-made architecture.

‘If we don’t look after this treasure, we’re going to lose it’: the fight to restore one of the UK’s most historic streets

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 11:27:13 +0000

Home to choir singers for 650 years, Grade-1 listed Vicar’s Close by Wells Cathedral is in need of funding to keep its medieval houses liveable – and its unique history alive

Choir singers have lived in two handsome terraces of silvery-pink-stoned medieval houses beside Wells Cathedral for more than 650 years. But the gated close – which is thought to be the most complete and continuously occupied medieval street in Europe – is now in desperate need of restoration.

“It’s a privilege to live here – it’s a unique place,” says Matthew Minter, 52, who has lived in the close for almost seven years and sings in the cathedral. “But [the house] is cold. The windows leak £10 notes every time you put the heating on… and the roof leaks actual water.”

Sensual surrealism, Kiefer’s delights and Gehry’s Guggenheim: the best art and architecture shows to visit in 2025

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 11:00:39 +0000

Anselm Kiefer’s homage to Van Gogh, Ithell Colquhoun’s seaside of surrealism and Gilbert & George fill the galleries, while the V&A opens its archives at the illustrious new East Storehouse
• More from the 2025 culture preview

Three best residential buildings: 2024 national NZ Institute of Architects housing awards

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Outstanding designs displayed in Whanganui, Ōtautahi and Wānaka residential buildings.

Blueprint for success: how Australian architects made the world take notice in 2024

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:00:46 +0000

Incorporating First Nations cultures and history, and embracing sustainable design have earned local builds global acclaim

When an unassuming public primary school tucked away in an inner-city Sydney suburb took out the grand prize at the world’s largest architecture festival last month, it made international headlines. Crowned world building of the year, Darlington public school was the second major triumph for FJC Studio in 2024. Two months earlier, the Australian architecture firm had put Liverpool council’s new library, Yellamundie, on the international stage, when it was named one of the world’s four most beautiful libraries.

Both buildings attracted high praise for the way the architects had seamlessly incorporated local First Nations culture and history into their design, a practice an increasing number of Australian architects are prioritising in their work that is making the rest of the world sit up and take notice.

King’s Christmas message to focus on healthcare workers

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:37:31 +0000

Monarch, who is undergoing cancer treatment, sought venue with strong health connections and community presence

The king’s Christmas message will focus on the efforts of healthcare workers after a year in which Charles and the Princess of Wales were treated for cancer.

Charles will also use his annual address to the nation to hail communities who came together in solidarity in the aftermath of rioting, following the fatal Southport stabbings of three young girls.

Exposed Wood Posts & Beams Add A Warm Rustic Touch To This Small Cabin

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:03:23 +0000

Locals win fight to save mysterious, medieval Spanish chapel from oblivion

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:32:16 +0000

Home to vivid 16th-century frescoes, the Ermita de San Jorge is on the brink of being saved from centuries of decay

A mysterious, dilapidated and exquisitely painted Spanish chapel into which knights on horseback may have ridden centuries ago to receive a wet and most unusual blessing could be on the verge of salvation after a decades-long campaign by local heritage groups.

No one knows much about the crumbling and semi-subterranean Ermita de San Jorge, which sits in a hollow 7 miles (12km) from the city of Cáceres in Extremadura, south-west Spain. Local experts believe it may have been built in the 14th century close to the defensive line erected to guard against possible Muslim incursions after the Christian reconquest, while the only definitively recorded date in its first centuries comes courtesy of Juan de Ribera who decorated the inside of the chapel with vivid biblical frescoes in 1565.

Architecture: Rowan Moore’s five best projects of 2024

Sun, 22 Dec 2024 15:00:48 +0000

A front garden makeover with dinosaurs, a playful addition to a Scottish castle and the latest from Shard architect Renzo Piano all caught the eye

1. Urban Nature Project, Natural History Museum, London SW7
J&L Gibbons and Feilden Fowles
A magical embodiment of evolution and geological time, given spatial and physical form by rocks, plants and buildings. The remaking of the front garden of the country’s second most popular visitor attraction also provides such useful things as a cafe, a learning centre and improved queueing and access. Educational, enjoyable, exotic.

2. n2 office building, London SW1
Lynch Architects
The practice led by serious-minded architect Patrick Lynch produced two exceptional buildings this year in Victoria, London: an extension to a coroner’s court and a new office building. The latter, poised above broad colonnades of sturdy V-shaped struts, with a miniature glade by muf architecture/art, is generous, handsome and, despite its commercial use, public-spirited.

Court clears way for ‘the Slab’ office block to be built on London’s South Bank

Sat, 21 Dec 2024 15:55:19 +0000

Judge dismisses challenge that argued development failed to provide housing and could damage London landmarks

The building of a controversial 25-storey office block nicknamed the Slab on London’s South Bank is to go ahead after the high court upheld a decision by the former communities secretary Michael Gove to approve the development.

Mr Justice Mould dismissed a legal challenge by the Save Our South Bank group, which has been fighting the development since planning permission was first submitted in 2021.

Don’t be fooled. Copenhagen is not that green | Letters

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 17:51:15 +0000

Tobias Jespersen says be careful before describing the city as sustainable and a role model. Morten Iversen laments its soulless expansion

While the urge to write positive stories about solutions to the climate crisis must be strong, and they are needed, Copenhagen should not be one (The five-minute city: inside Denmark’s revolutionary neighbourhood, 10 December). Nordhavn may be a revolutionary neighbourhood, but to say that Copenhagen is a green city is based on false premises.

Near Nordhavn, a massive artificial island, Lynetteholmen, is being built that will wreak havoc on the marine environment and lead to massive amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, and was approved by dubious means, with only 8% of the city’s population wanting it.

The best art and architecture of 2024

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 06:00:41 +0000

Our critics’ highlights include magnificently rough portraits by the late Frank Auerbach, Caravaggio’s final painting and a 1930s silo reborn as a museum of modern art

More on the best culture of 2024

Tintin and the terrific tomb: Essex heritage listing is thrill for Hergé fans

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:01:37 +0000

Rare stone chest linked to comic-book hero joins church above supermarket under Historic England’s protection

Blistering barnacles! Thundering typhoons! Blue blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon! Who knew there was a 300-year-old tomb in Essex that can be linked to Tintin’s boozy best friend Captain Haddock?

The little-known tomb of Mary Haddock, in a churchyard in Leigh-on-Sea, has been named as one of the quirkier places given listed status in 2024 by Historic England.

‘People should feel there’s more than doom and gloom’: Monument Valley 3’s environmentalist hope-punk

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:54:53 +0000

How the pandemic and climate migration have influenced this third outing of a formerly sterile architectural puzzle game

Architectural surrealism is Monument Valley’s signature. Austere, beautiful structures transform and rotate at the player’s touch, creating new paths and staircases for its minimalist characters to traverse. Doorways can lead anywhere. Switches cause columns to rise out of the ground, a perspective shift can reveal a cache of hidden pathways. Since 2014 these games have been smartphone must-plays, one of the best and most elegant examples of satisfying touch-screen puzzlers. But the third in the series, released last week, is a little different.

The Moroccan-inspired architecture that made the game famous is still present, but this time your geometric character Noor walks alongside blooming flowers and twisting vines, too. She sails a small boat. She gets lost in fields of bright yellow wheat. And there are many more people around her: she is a lighthouse-keeper’s apprentice, charged with the welfare of her community – which, a few scenes into the game, is ravaged by a flood. In some scenes she is accompanied by someone else, or there is someone there to rescue. It is a game about buildings still, but also a game about rebuilding, together.

Design highlights 2024: ‘This is sorcery level craft!’

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:00:10 +0000

From nan ornaments to an African pounding table, our panel of creative experts pick their favourite designs from the last 12 months

Chosen by Charlene Prempeh, founder of creative agency A Vibe Called Tech

‘It was so fragile, we weren’t certain it wouldn’t collapse’: the architect who sketched Notre Dame’s ancient insides

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 06:00:05 +0000

After disaster struck Notre Dame in 2019, Axelle Ponsonnet began to draw parts of the cathedral exposed by the fire, some not seen for centuries. A new book documents what she discovered

When Notre Dame de Paris went up in flames in April 2019, architecture student Axelle Ponsonnet was just one of the French capital’s 2.1 million residents to witness a disaster unfolding in her own city. Ponsonnet had no inkling that a year later, she would be joining the workforce tasked with rebuilding the cathedral.

Emmanuel Macron had promised Notre Dame would reopen within five years. The roof – with its charpente (wooden structure), lead covering and flèche (spire) – had collapsed entirely; there were several holes in the ribbed vaults beneath and widespread lead pollution throughout the site. Ponsonnet was hired in 2020 as a junior architect to work on the team rebuilding the roof. “The cathedral was still completely charred and open to the elements, the rain falling inside,” she says. “We weren’t certain more of it wouldn’t collapse, it was so fragile.”

Ep 166: 2024 Yearapalooza

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 20:00:23 +0000

December 2024, and Andrew and I find ourselves in front of the microphone for the final time until 2025 – from my perspective a mere 28 days away. It is the annual state of the state address where we look back at all the interesting bits and pieces covered over the last 12 months while providing a sneak peak at the adventures to come in 2025. . … Welcome to EP 166: 2024 Yearapalooza.

[Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]

Today we are wrapping up the 2024 podcast season. I don’t know about you but I am ready for a break. Any part of wrapping up should include some sort of reflection but we will also be spending a portion of the show – presumably towards the end – of looking forward, what do we think we are doing and what might we be talking about.

Continue reading Ep 166: 2024 Yearapalooza at Life of an Architect.

Finding beauty in Brutalism: a flat in Milan provides a haven for creativity

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 15:00:47 +0000

Art defines the space in an apartment in an iconic building whose Brutalist architecture once led to protests

Some people buy their dream home for the location, others for the space it affords them; for Italian fashion designer Massimo Giorgetti, it was a love affair with Brutalism.

His one-bedroom Milan apartment is housed in the former L’Istituto Mobiliare Italiano residential complex in the city’s Porta Romana district. Externally untouched since it was finished in 1966, this celebrated Brutalist masterpiece came with a few caveats – namely its single-glazed windows set in iron frames, that don’t open, making it more than a little chilly in winter and a greenhouse when temperatures soar. “You have to really love this building to live in this apartment,” laughs Giorgetti, joking that he needs to wear a hat and scarf in bed during winter and still wakes up with a frozen face.

Lofty Timber Vaulted Ceilings And Sandstone Details For This Sydney Building

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 17:33:15 +0000

Before & After – A Mid-Century Modern Renovation In Oregon

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:57:07 +0000

Living Pā: Victoria University’s groundbreaking building blends Māori culture and sustainability

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 17:35:34 +0000

At the heart of the building is the marae wharekai.

Ep 165: 10 Myths about Architects

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 20:00:13 +0000

We’re going to explore some of the most common myths about architects and peel back the layers to reveal what this profession is really about.

The post Ep 165: 10 Myths about Architects first appeared on Life of an Architect.

Continue reading Ep 165: 10 Myths about Architects at Life of an Architect.

Small Business: How Matakohe Architecture utilises kaupapa Māori

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Jade Kake talks to Tom Raynel about how kaupapa Māori influences Matakohe's designs.

Piha’s radical new Chris Tate ‘bunker house’: Design driven by need for privacy at beachfront

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Unorthodox house perched on a V-shaped concrete plinth.

Whanganui couple transform abandoned public pool into award-winning home

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 22:54:34 +0000

“It was basically ruined."

Exhibit celebrates 40th anniversary of Art Deco Trust: Gail Pope

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Reconstruction occurred in a climate of remarkable co-operation among architects.

This Modern Home Was Designed Around A Split-Trunk Oak Tree

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 16:34:13 +0000

A House That Rises From The Ground Forming A Three-Level Garden

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:30:11 +0000

Green Metal Siding Allows This Small Cottage To Blend In With Its Surroundings

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 15:15:43 +0000

A House Extension With A Curved Window Makes Room For A New Kitchen At This Home In London

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:54:18 +0000

Ep 164: Holiday Gift Guide for Architects

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 20:10:18 +0000

It’s almost that gift-giving time of the year and if you have an architect in your life, you know that getting them a gift is not the most agonizing experience possible – but that’s why we’re here. Now in its 15th consecutive year, Life of an architect is putting out the increasingly difficult yet still definitive gift guide for architects, just so you don’t have to figure these things out for yourself. Welcome to Episode 164 Holiday Gift Guide for Architects 2024

[Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]

Disclosure: We only recommend products that we would use ourselves and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that add no additional cost to you and a small commission may be earned.

Continue reading Ep 164: Holiday Gift Guide for Architects at Life of an Architect.

A Warehouse-Inspired Home With A Spanish Twist

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:23:17 +0000

A Circular Off-Grid Home In Costa Rica

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:24:40 +0000

Napier’s dome a stripped-classical gem: Michael Fowler

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Opinion: Late addition would do justice to prime site.

Ep 163: Architectural Wanderlust

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 21:10:25 +0000

One of the most enjoyable activities is traveling on vacation – at least for most people, but it takes a special sort of individual who actually loves to plan the activities when it comes to traveling. I know I don’t love it, but I am also willing to admit that I have opinions on where to go and what to see. Today we are going to have a conversation where wanted interest and unwanted responsibility intersect. … Welcome to EP 163: Architectural Wanderlust.

[Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]

Today Andrew and I are going to talk about traveling for architects and how certain technologies have emerged that have made the process of planning excursions and itineraries a joy. Gone is the laborious process of buying travel books, searching the various “activities” based websites, where you are hoping that the comment and review from Frank from when he visited Bilboa last September actually is in some alignment with your own perceptions (or even values … is Frank an Architect?)

The premise for today’s post and conversation are simple … what happens when you use Artificial Intelligence to plan a vacation for you?

Continue reading Ep 163: Architectural Wanderlust at Life of an Architect.

Art Deco Festival 2025: Singalongs and service salutes feature in programme

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 02:34:12 +0000

'We’re incredibly proud to host such a diverse array of events.'

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books is on Substack

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:24:02 +0000

I'm breaking my blogging silence to do two things:

Alert readers to the fact I am still writing reviews of architecture books under the title A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books, but over at Substack, not Blogger.
Put a new post at the top of this blog so I don't have to look at those photos of me every time I come here to find an old post that I want to link to.

That is all.

Fight over 1920s Epsom bungalow demolition heading to High Court

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Group appealing work because of 'precedent it could set'.

Residents in new Auckland terraces, apartments swelter in summer: council study

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 02:00:00 +0000

Free-standing fans, airconditioning units, ceiling fans and heat pumps go into bedrooms.

The Hidden Carbon Cost of Climate Retrofits

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Evolving urban conditions call for an evolving builtscape, and retrofits have been a key mechanism to allow buildings to adapt and respond to new needs. Amidst global environmental concerns, climate retrofits have become a popular strategy to upgrade buildings based on improved operational efficiency. Global decarbonization plans have even called for city-wide retrofits, such as in the case of London, to meet civic goals. While such upgrades significantly reduce energy consumption, they often come with a hidden cost - embodied carbon in retrofit materials and the potential for future waste.

House Within a Few Lines / fala

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

architects: fala
Location: Porto, Portugal
Project Year: 2020
Photographs: Francisco Ascensão
Photographs: Ivo Tavares Studio
Photographs: Giulietta Margot
Area: 50.0 m2

"Architecture is That Fixed Element Within Nature": David Montalba in My Point of View

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 06:45:00 +0000

Courtesy of Sky-Frame

Architect David Montalba was born in Switzerland but grew up in California. He became a passionate surfer, bobbing in the waves of the Pacific, staring at the land, yet always feeling and hearing the ocean around him; profoundly connected to nature.

“I was surfing by the time I was 12 or 13, and it was my driving force probably all the way up to 18 or 19,” he notes. “It brought a kind of spirituality to my life. That was when I felt most connected to nature and I was truly with myself… It’s still a really special thing for me. It’s one of those things that can both ground you and connect you with nature in a unique way.”

This sense of intimate, spiritual connection to one’s surroundings drives Montalba’s architecture. While it is beautiful—filled with elegant forms, materials and details—, at its core, it is a human experience. “Curating an emotional response is a big part of what we do,” he says, sitting in the glowing, serene living room of his Graoni Beach House, sited on a secluded Malibu beach, edging an eclectic, colorful bluff.

Sordo Madaleno Reveals Proposal for the Refurbishment and Remodeling of the El Molinón Stadium in Spain

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 06:30:00 +0000

In preparation for the city of Asturias, Spain, to become one of the hosts of the FIFA World Cup in 2030, the El Molinón stadium is proposed to undergo a major remodeling process. Home Real Sporting de Gijón, the stadium is reimagined by the architecture office Sordo Madaleno together with Orlegi Sports. The proposal aims to increase the stadium’s capacity to accommodate 9,000 additional visitors to the 33,650 fixed seats during the World Cup. It also strives to reconnect the venue to its surroundings and the city of Gijón, Asturias.

Kornmarktplatz Townhouse / Herzog & de Meuron

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0000

architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Location: Bregenz, Austria
Project Year: 2024
Photographs: Christian Schramm
Photographs: Daisuke Hirabayashi
Photographs: Robert Hösl
Area: 190.0 m2