Going Slowly: Cadaval and Solà-Morales

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #39] “Young architects” is a culturally loaded term, often conjuring notions of rebellion, utopian idealism, … More

Ill-Fitting: The Balenciaga Museum

Fashion, Architecture, Politics: Image is Everything The inauguration of a cultural institution is normally a cause for widespread celebration; even … More

Gaudí’s hanging chain models: parametric design avant la lettre?

It is known that Gaudí preferred modelling architecture over drawing it; especially models made of chains hung from a ceiling, or strings … More

Villa Nurbs: a Sad Spectacle

It is June 2012, and after a decade of construction Villa Nurbs is still incomplete. In fact, construction has now seemingly come … More

A Reminder to Urban Planners

Given the choice, most children would rather play in a terrain vague than a playground. They would rather make mud … More

Not So Different

“Spain is Different” was a tourism campaign slogan coined in the mid-1960s by dictator Francisco Franco’s Ministry of Information and Tourism (!), … More

Architectural Art

Art galleries and museums seem to be showing with greater frequency artworks about architecture, many of them by artists who … More

Architourism

Tourism is the only ‘industry’ in Spain that is not downsizing in the current (well, actually it’s been five years … More

Paragraphs on Architectural Criticism

Architectural criticism is what distinguishes architecture from building, inasmuch as those two terms are distinguishable. Buildings exist perfectly well without … More

Pool Typology

We’ve all seen that famous aerial photograph of an American Southwest suburb in which each and every house has a … More

Quietly Brilliant: Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #35] Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano are truly architects’ architects. They may not be a … More

Park, Shop, and Pray

Churches are architecture whereas supermarkets and parking garages are not. At least, that’s what we’ve been taught by Nikolaus Pevsner. What, then, … More

Collective Intelligence or Collective Stupidity?

The above image is circulating on the internet representing all sorts of cities on all sorts of continents, showing us … More

Calatravaland

El País reported recently that the government of the Autonomous Region of Valencia, when it was presided by Francisco Camps (the … More

The Cantilever Race

The skyscraper race is over. It’s been won hands down by an absurdly high building in Dubai which doesn’t look … More

Quaderns #262: A Gut Reaction

[Originally published in Quaderns d’arquitectura i urbanisme online] Quaderns d’arquitectura i urbanisme #262 is provocatively titled “Parainfrastructures”, an invented word that … More