What is it between the English and the French? While the Scots had a civilised and peaceful relationship with the French, going back to the Auld Alliance of 1295 (although it was in part aimed at controlling English territorial ambitions), the English and the French have been fighting each other for centuries. The picturesque […]
Did he marry for love or for money? In 1377, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge returned from fighting in France. Having himself accumulated power and wealth, he strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth, the heiress of the Wardedieu or Wardeux family, the inheritance including the manor of Bodiam in which Sie Edward and his wife built […]
The Brutalist Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank was opened in 1967, sharing a large foyer off the network of concrete terraces and walkways that move in and around the South Bank. Outside children are running in and out of the fountains that fill the terrace, enjoying the cool water […]
You forget the scale, breadth and quality of the Wallace Collection – a treasure house of art off the tourist trail in Hertford House, north of the shopping frenzy in Oxford Street – with superlative examples of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries, in particular a strong emphasis on work […]
Catastrophe! Little known, but one of the architect Robert Adam’s earliest works with its original 18th century furniture, decorations and paintings almost complete, including the largest set of authenticated early Chippendale furniture in the world, the house and its contents were to be sold. With the catalogues published and bidders from around the world […]
If the streets and buildings of Lacock in Wiltshire seem familiar, it will be because you have seen them in Harry Potter movies, but the town has scientific importance as the birthplace of photography in Britain. It has also been used as a setting in other films including Downton Abbey, The White Princess and Cranford. […]
Driving over the Borders, through the hills that separate England and Scotland, with the rain pouring down like a waterfall from dark clouds that came down and enveloped the top of the hills, it is no wonder that the Romans decided to build Hadrian’s Wall across the country. Today we have the luxury of major […]
What is left when a building decays and crumbles into a ruin as the roof falls in and then the floors? The strong stone walls may remain for a while, with the windows smashed, providing glimpses from the street into the roofless ruin and to the blue skies beyond. When the walls go, what remains? […]
On a cold February day, the wind howls round the exposed top of the hill, blowing through the Grecian columns of the acropolis, around other monuments and the observatory, modelled appropriately on the “Temple of the Four Winds” and contributing to the city’s name as the Athens of the North. Calton Hill in Edinburgh is […]
"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
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