Death of a Manifesto

“Architecture Must Blaze” is the title of a 1980 manifesto by Coop Himmelb(l)au. In it, the architects declare: “we don’t want to exclude everything … More

Emot-Icon Building

Considering the recent spate of ‘icon’ buildings, you would think that an Emoji would exist for ‘Architecture’ by now, but no, this is in fact … More

Multiple Discovery, Idea Theft, or Tweaking?

Having an original idea is everything in architecture. Its history is one of innovations and breakthroughs; of new ideas, materials, and … More

Radical Architecture at its Most Subversive

This house near Barcelona ranks among the most radical and subversive works of architecture of 2014, and yet it’s not by … More

Seeing Things

Mountain architecture is very different from its flatland counterpart. This may be stating the obvious, but I’m referring here to … More

Seriously now, folks.

The other day, a friend of mine posted a rather humorous item titled “Religious Truths” on Facebook along with the … More

Tradition

It’s early January, and in Spain the Christmas shopping season is still in full swing. Aarrgghh! It’s all because of … 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

The STEM Turn

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It’s an acronym that can be heard a lot coming from the … More

Thinking Big: The City of Culture of Galicia as Regional Development Strategy

[Text originally commissioned in 2011 by a Swiss art institution for an exhibition that never materialized and for which I … More

Barcelona’s Disappearing Green Façades

Barcelona’s ‘green façades’ are disappearing at an alarming rate. A part of this city’s vernacular tradition, the small balconies typically used by apartment … 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

Pure Shit

I couldn’t agree more, Frank.

Cities that Come and Go

Within walking distance of Barcelona’s historic centre, there lies a small satellite town that comes and goes with regularity. It tends to … More

Cruise Ships

Le Corbusier famously wrote in Vers une architecture that we should look to ocean liners as examples of a new, modern architecture. This … 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

Drawing Conclusions

Guerilla Architect

Al Jazeera is currently airing a series of architectural documentaries in six parts titled “Rebel Architects“, the first of which is … More

When in Rome

Barcelona’s public space is yet again being hotly contested. Protests against the many illegal tourist apartments in this city, sparked by last week’s publication … More

Criticism as Reality Check

As my article titled “Reality Check: Spain” in the current (at time of post) 50th issue of Mark Magazine hopefully makes clear, architecture … More