The sculptor Henry Moore and his family moved to a rented property in Perry Green in Hertfordshire in 1940 after their home in London had been bombed. They enjoyed the environment so much that what was expected to a temporary move became permanent and, with the sale of a sculpture to an American collector (astonishingly […]
It is well known that our built environment contributes to our well-being, and that there is a correlation in urban areas between high levels of pollution, ill-health and economic poverty. After the Second World War, high quality new housing estates were designed by architects such as Powell and Moya at Churchill Gardens in Pimlico, to […]
The architectural design of art galleries go through phases. We’ve had 18th and 19th century picture galleries in which to display old masters with their tall burgundy walls in an elegant architectural setting as at Dulwich and the National Gallery of Scotland, the modernist galleries of the 20th century such as Mies van der Rohe’s […]
Proving that excellent art exhibitions don’t need to be behind the closed reverential doors of art galleries, the lobby of One Canada Square in Canary Wharf is bubbling with contemporary sculptures by two artists Michael Pennie and Andrew Sabin. Born twenty years apart, with their artistic style reflecting their two different generations, the recent sculptures […]
It’s cold, it’s wet and it’s misty – the fire burning in the old dark 17th century house is very welcome to warm the bones, though you can feel the smoke swirling around inside, permeating through the straw roof and out of the hole in the roof. It’s not exactly a very healthy environment. Life […]
Standing in a car park at the Glenfinnan Monument to the clansmen who died in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, a crowd waits expectedly – tourists, Harry Potter fans and rail enthusiasts from all around the world – waiting in the cold rain to hear the blast of the horn and the steam of the approaching […]
William Henry Playfair’s early 19th century architecture is interwoven into the city of Edinburgh, following on from the influence of Robert Adam in the 18th century. His City Observatory crowns Calton Hill, around which several of his residential terraces parade, leading to the unfinished replica of the Parthenon, the National Monument, while at the heart […]
The symmetrical white spaces of the White Cube in Mason’s Yard are almost religious in character and this is the first feeling you experience as you enter and experience the work ahead of you, centrally placed like an altarpiece. Move into the room, however, and see the detail and you immerse yourself in Julie Mehretu’s […]
Leading the way, 80% of Scotland’s electricity today is green energy It has been a long journey. Up on the hillsides above the trees you will see the occasional wind turbine, but down in Pitlochry, seventy years ago, Scotland started on this journey with green energy through the construction of the hydro-electric dam from 1947 […]
If there is a theme, it seems to be birds, starting with John Baldessari’s large penguin that greets you as you arrive, then Kathleen Ryan’s figures which could be parrots sitting recycled street furniture, Tracy Emin’s monuments to birds which represent angels, but could also be devils (think of Alfred Hitchcock) and Elmgreen & Dragset‘s […]
"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place
Recent Comments