Why is BP sponsoring an architecture biennial; specifically the Chicago Architecture Biennial, titled “The State of the Art of Architecture”,…
Still Nurbing Along
Enric Ruiz Geli’s Villa Nurbs is still incomplete after 13 years. The good news is, however, that it does not appear to…
Size Isn’t Everything
[Originally published in Mark Magazine #57] It’s been said that the most difficult thing to design in architecture is a…
Design and Decadence in Sabiñanigo
The land-scars of Spain’s construction boom-gone-bust have been documented photographically to great extent. More typically than not, these images portray a landscape of newly built…
The Art Studio-Museum
[Originally published in Oris Magazine #92] Situated on the distant side of the forested hillcrest that overlooks Barcelona, the Arranz-Bravo Studio…
How to Find Work as an Architect
The perennial problem for the 99% of architects who are not stars is: how and where do you find work? There are many ways…
The First BIAM: 20 Years After
I recently attended a reunion to celebrate 20 years since graduating from the Berlage Institute Amsterdam. This first ever BIAM, or ‘Berlage…
Beauty
‘Beauty’ is one of the rarest words used by professionals when talking about architecture, yet it is one of the most used by…
The School in the Forest
Els Xiprers –The Cypresses in Catalan– is the name of a Barcelona primary school situated in a very special setting: a forested…
Selfie Scene
With the invention of the ‘selfie’, the traditional comic foreground or carnival cutout is rendered obsolete, along with the profession of carnival portrait photographer.…
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…
Sign o’ the Times
Isn’t it great when something that looks ‘arty’ turns out not to be art at all? A well-designed object that…
New ‘Public’ Space in Barcelona
“The goal is to turn this old, unloved port into the best super marina in the world, to integrate yachting…
From Baukunst to Kunstwelt: The Biennalization of Architecture
There is no doubt that architecture is an art. The eternal question is which kind. Is architecture a building art? A…
Taste
RCR, the Catalan architectural firm known for its love of Corten steel, has an exhibition in Barcelona’s Palau Robert that…
The Tall Building Politically Reconsidered
The tall building has been an expression of machista one-upmanship since its earliest beginnings. San Gimignano’s stone towers are a built testament…
Brutal Underground
[Originally published in Mark Magazine #54] Barcelona has a problem: too many motor vehicles occupy too much space and fill…
A Response to Marc Kushner’s ‘A New Golden Age of Architecture’
[Originally published on medium.com] Dear Marc Kushner, Like yourself, I also want people to love architecture. But unlike yourself, I don’t…
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…
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…
Criticalista 