Apparent on-line inactivity should not be taken for slothfulness. I have been busy. Honestly. I can be found, for example, reviewing Paul Barker's book The Freedoms of Suburbia in the current issue of Architecture Today. This is a book that has been reviewed pretty extensively in both the architectural and mainstream press so my piece is hardly new but it manages to be - unexpectedly - more critical than some others.
Although I'm generally pretty positive about the joys of suburbia, I was concerned by both a knee-jerk anti-modernism in Barker's book (a bit rich coming from someone complaining about aesthetic prejudice) and a strain of free-market libertarianism which dismisses any form of social policy or politically informed housing policy. "Politically informed housing policy" is a phrase likely to send a chill into Paul Barker's heart I imagine. Nonetheless I don't regard suburbia as some kind of natural phenomena - the unperverted manifestation of people's desires - as many of its apologists do. It is however pretty good at reconciling a number of competing desires that people seem to have. Its loose, relatively unplanned form also allows elements of the unexpected to occur which is one reason why architects, with their fetish for form and control freakishness, don't like it.
Anyway, it's all there in the review which is short but pithy! It's not to be found online unfortunately (pointless link here) so you will either have to buy a copy or, alternatively, study for seven years to become a registered architect and get a free subscription. Either way, the issue is well worth buying for the extended essay on the reconstruction of Berlin by Doug Clelland.
Also this month I'm in Icon reviewing James Wines' recent lecture at the Barbican and wearing a pair of silly sunglasses. That's me not James Wines. He's the guy with the big beard. This is something of a split jury review too as Wines is a bit of a hero of mine, albeit one whose recent work lacks the punch of his early stuff.
Finally, on Thursday I'm giving a lecture at the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture. If you live there and you read this (what are the chances?) come along.
(Illustration: George Shaw: What I Did This Summer. Via)
Although I'm generally pretty positive about the joys of suburbia, I was concerned by both a knee-jerk anti-modernism in Barker's book (a bit rich coming from someone complaining about aesthetic prejudice) and a strain of free-market libertarianism which dismisses any form of social policy or politically informed housing policy. "Politically informed housing policy" is a phrase likely to send a chill into Paul Barker's heart I imagine. Nonetheless I don't regard suburbia as some kind of natural phenomena - the unperverted manifestation of people's desires - as many of its apologists do. It is however pretty good at reconciling a number of competing desires that people seem to have. Its loose, relatively unplanned form also allows elements of the unexpected to occur which is one reason why architects, with their fetish for form and control freakishness, don't like it.
Anyway, it's all there in the review which is short but pithy! It's not to be found online unfortunately (pointless link here) so you will either have to buy a copy or, alternatively, study for seven years to become a registered architect and get a free subscription. Either way, the issue is well worth buying for the extended essay on the reconstruction of Berlin by Doug Clelland.
Also this month I'm in Icon reviewing James Wines' recent lecture at the Barbican and wearing a pair of silly sunglasses. That's me not James Wines. He's the guy with the big beard. This is something of a split jury review too as Wines is a bit of a hero of mine, albeit one whose recent work lacks the punch of his early stuff.
Finally, on Thursday I'm giving a lecture at the University of Portsmouth School of Architecture. If you live there and you read this (what are the chances?) come along.
(Illustration: George Shaw: What I Did This Summer. Via)










