New York’s Guggenheim Museum has just announced plans to install a new artwork by Maurizio Cattelan consisting of a toilet made … More
Tag: politics
Love-You Architecture
“The envy and hostility of Wall Street leads many to a common goal: to amass enough money so as to … More
Cycling Barcelona versus Copenhagen: an Experiential Comparison
The other day I read an interesting critique of Barcelona’s cycling infrastructure titled “The Arrogance of Space”, by the Copenhagenize … More
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 … More
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 … 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
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
Reality Check: Spain
[Text originally published in Mark Magazine #50] Revisiting architecture is always a good thing to do, especially when the work … 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
Some Reflections on Concrete Formwork
Every building material symbolizes something, and the most modern building materials are no exception. Glass, we have been told, is representative … More
Tourism versus Terrorism
Is tourism a form of terrorism? Some Barcelonins seem to think so. All over the city — especially near tourists sites … More
Perspective is Everything
Neon duty-free stores selling discounted liquor and cigarettes to ski bums already high on oxygen and speed, causing interminable traffic … More
Calatrava May Bleed You Dry, But Who is Ultimately Responsible?
Several Spanish media (such as El Diario and El País) are reporting that Santiago Calatrava is suing Esquerra Unida País Valencià … More
Power, Corruption and Architecture
Transparency International released its annual report some weeks ago, and this year’s corruption perception index, which ranks 177 countries from least to most … More
Remembering Marshall Berman
I think it was in 1985. I would have been in my second year of study at University of Waterloo’s … More
Pseudo-Choice
Potato chips, or crisps, come in a fantastic panoply of artificial flavors. BBQ, Ketchup, or “regular” are standards the world … More
Strange Bedfellows
The image at left shows the construction of the “Instant City” during the congress of the International Council of Societies … 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
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
Criticalista 