Behind the white-stuccoed walls of the elegant 18th century Carlton House Terrace is hidden a hotbed of research, innovation and enterprise. A couple of weeks ago the British Academy flung open its doors with its annual Summer Showcase; this week it was the turn of the Royal Society and its Summer Science Exhibition with over 20 universities and colleges asking questions about the future, including whether we should communicate with extra-terrestial civilisations, how we can prepare to live on the moon, how mathematics can help predict the success of cancer drugs, how can we change food production to reflect climate change, how can robots work in environments that are too dangerous for humans, how can architects and engineers build skyscrapers from timber, and would you trust autonomous cars? 2019 is the 150th anniversary of Dmitti Mendeleev’s Period Table, so naturally this was celebrated with a question about its relevance today, what elements are used most and how new elements are added. Many of the questions are not about the future, but about science and technology that is here today and how we can respond to it
Ian Caldwell
"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
About site
"Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for example"
(John Ruskin)
I hope to showcase contemporary design and innovation, including architecture, art, design, science, technology and sustainability, to those searching for architecture, design and art inspiration to create beauty. I hope you enjoy it and will contribute to it.
Recent Posts
- Scottish artist Jim Lambie at Sadie Coles in London
- Storytelling in Paint in Multiverse at Gazelli Art House
- Celebrating diversity in ‘Beyond Borders’ at Unit London
- 250 years of the RA Schools in The Garden
- Hooray – a Scottish artist is here: Jim Lambie in Fort Lauderdale
- The troubled life of Edvard Munch captured through his printmaking
- Eighteenth century transformation of a city: Georgian Bath
- 30 years of transformation and fragmentation: Lee Bul at the Hayward Gallery
- New art gallery in a former car park – Bruce McLean at the Bernard Jacobson gallery in London
- A new higher education campus at the heart of the community – DIT at Grangegorman in Dublin
- Is this a new model for the future: Cromwell Place in South Kensington?
- American art and Scottish architecture in London: Oren Pinhassi at St Cyprian’s Church
- The Electronic Pulse of the Night Club at the Design Museum
- Four German artists with an architectural edge at Sprüth Magers
- Creativity inspiring sculptors in different ways at the Gagosian
- Restoration of an outstanding 18th century landscape at Painshill
- Always thinking ahead at the Brompton Cemetery
- Gunnersbury Park: a work in progress:
- Tobias Gibbons the Molecatcher at Hampton Court Palace
- Stormy clouds over the gardens of Polesden Lacey in Surrey
- An old and hidden history in Colliers Wood, London
- New England and the Mayflower Park Wetlands – the Hamptons in London
- Deserving greater recognition for his lighting inventions: Alfred William Beuttell
- The beauty of the Royal Botanical Gardens in the countryside at Wakehurst Place
- Beautiful gardens in a historic setting in the Kent countryside at Sissinghurst
- Are there lessons to be learnt for greening our cities as Kew Gardens reopens
- The enlightened conservation of the Mount Nod Huguenot Cemetery in Wandsworth
Recent Comments
- norma nour on How artists are transforming painting: Radical Figures at the Whitechapel Gallery
- Ian Caldwell on Optimism for the future at the National Museum of Scotland
- Ian Hunter on Optimism for the future at the National Museum of Scotland
- One Palm on A Modern Mexican Courtyard House : Frida Escobedo’s Serpentine Pavilion
- Applanet APK free download on Curvy wave on the outside; milky light cascading on the inside – with a sombre south american art installation