Seriously now, folks.

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

Tradition

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

Pure Shit (II)

This building in the Catalan Pyrenees is a perfect example of the kind of “pure shit” that, according to Frank…

The STEM Turn

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

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…

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…

Carme Pinós Honours the Pillar

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #52] Our Lady of the Pillar, Zaragoza’s 17th-century baroque basilica, is dedicated to the Virgin…

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…

Pure Shit

I couldn’t agree more, Frank.

Groupies

[Originally published in Mark Magazine #51] We’ve all heard of ‘selfies’. What about ‘groupies’? During the opening of the 14th…

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…

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…

Criticism 2.0, or Nobody Likes a Critic when Everyone’s a Critic

[This text originated as a talk at the CICA Critical Juncture symposium session “Architectural Criticism Now” in February 2014 at the…

Morning Glory

It must surely be a signal from the cosmos. Yesterday, September 8th, at precisely 7:39 AM, I woke up, opened…

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…

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…