Journal: Three essays from last summer; networked urbanism
“The secret, I think, of the future is not doing too much”—Frei Otto Around this time last year, at the family home in Brisbane, in the jetlagged early hours of what was ostensibly a holiday, I wrote a set of articles for three architecture-oriented publications—a magazine, a journal and a book—all concerning the dynamics of […]
Journal: Interaction Design Classics #4: The Melnikov House intercom system
(See previous entry on visiting the Melnikov House in Moscow.) Fourth in an occasional series, and this found in one of the true icons of 20th century architecture, designed and built between 1927 and 1929 by Konstantin Melnikov. One of the many quirky delights of the Melnikov House in Moscow is this internal intercom system. […]
Journal: Moscow, December 2014; Narkomfin Building; Melnikov House
Melnikov House, Moscow In Moscow, for two days, for Moscow Urban Forum, and various meetings. I recall photos my father showed me of a school trip he led there in 1968, from the American International School of Zürich where he was teaching, to Red Square and more besides, all saturated Kodachrome, sharp clobber and fresh […]
Journal: Films about Ian Nairn, and by Reyner Banham
I've been meaning to write about Gillian Darley and David McKie's book about Ian Nairn for ages now. Entitled 'Ian Nairn: Words in Place', it's a wonderful read about one of the most important characters in post-war British architecture and planning—albeit a character on the edge in more ways than one. (See an earlier post on 'Nairn's […]
Essay: ‘Ego’: On masterplanning and London; plus, relaunch of The Journal of The London Society
David Michon recently asked me to write a piece for the new issue of The Journal of the London Society. I'm posting a version of it below. David has just taken over as 'honorary editor' of the Journal, and has produced a wonderful new issue. The London Society itself has been around since 1912, but despite […]
Journal: Fabrica Lectures
Since I've been at Fabrica, one simple thing we've done is to increase the frequency of the lectures and workshops we host here. Fabrica had a long tradition of inviting people to come and talk, or run workshops—in the distant past we had everyone from Tomato to Issey Miyake, Ferran Adrià to Michael Nyman (sadly […]
Journal: Notes on “Ambient Commons”, by Malcolm McCullough
Malcolm McCullough is one the key thinkers and writers about the intersection of the network, digital media, and the urban and architectural—hence his work being of particular interest here. So I was delighted to oblige when he asked me to provide a testimonial for the back of his latest book, "Ambient Commons; Attention in the […]
Sketchbook: Announcing Sandbox, a collaboration between BERG and Fabrica
You will have heard a lot about smart cities and the Internet of Things. What you won't have seen is that many genuine products, services and projects in those areas. You will, of course, as there is immense potential after all, but these ideas are clearly something we have a sense of, a hunch about, […]
Journal: Fabrica
I’m writing this flying over the Alps, on BA579 from Venice to London. It’s a big blue sky lit by hazy sunshine, and the Alps look unreal. We just flew a few metres over a contrail, a perpendicular arc into the sunlight, hundreds of kilometres long, a surprisingly distinct temporary structure of curly vapour. Best […]
Journal: Fulcrum, the Architectural Association’s free weekly newspaper
This is a fantastic idea: "Fulcrum is a weekly architectural publication printed on Bedford Press at the Architectural Association. It was founded in January 2011 by Graham Baldwin, Aram Mooradian & Jack Self." As I'm posting this, the current issue (#51), edited by Baldwin and Self, happens to convey some of the thinking behind the publication, […]