In 2018, a study was published that situated “Europe’s most densely inhabited square kilometer” in the working-class town of L’Hospitalet … More
Category: Speculative texts
Vernacular Precedent?
When I first saw an image of De Rotterdam, by OMA, I knew I had seen something vaguely similar before … More
Scatological Cantilever?
Unlike so many contemporary cantilevers whose only purpose, seemingly, is to out-do other cantilevers in depth, height or width, the tiny … More
Architecture and Crime
A recent escape from a maximum-security prison in upstate New York, in which two convicted murderers cut through steel jail-cell walls to … More
Pure Shit (II)
This building in the Catalan Pyrenees is a perfect example of the kind of “pure shit” that, according to Frank … More
How to become a “public space” benefactor in 6 easy steps:
Pssst. Nouveau-riche and dying to go down in philanthropic history? Why not build a “public space” vanity project? It’s easy. Here’s how you do … More
Morning Glory
It must surely be a signal from the cosmos. Yesterday, September 8th, at precisely 7:39 AM, I woke up, opened … More
Media-TIC, another Sad Spectacle?
In an article I wrote a few years ago on Barcelona’s Media-TIC building, for Mark Magazine #25, I concluded my optimistic … More
Hotel Agbar?
Barcelona’s La Vanguardia newspaper reported three days ago that the Agbar Tower, an office building designed by Jean Nouvel and completed in … More
Provocative Architecture?
In “Little Frank and his Carp”, a 2001 video of a performance by artist Andrea Fraser, architecture, replete with its … 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
Architectural Art
Art galleries and museums seem to be showing with greater frequency artworks about architecture, many of them by artists who … More