In February 1970, in what seems another era, Angela Flowers established the Flowers Gallery, one of the longest-running in London, now with two locations, one on Mayfair and one in Shoreditch, representation in New York and a new gallery planned to open in Hong Kong in 2020. Sadly, with the Coronavirus situation, the galleries are […]
The old Chapel built between 1867 and 1871, with its grand Corinthian portico facing onto the street, once a thriving place of worship for the Methodist community in north London, briefly had a life as a drama school from 1963 to 2004 before being vacated and falling into disrepair. Today it is the thriving […]
Galleries in South London are like buses. Nothing much happens and then three come along – the CCA at Goldsmith’s in New Cross, the Science Gallery at King’s College London at London Bridge, and now the Firestation at the SLG on the borders of Camberwell and Peckham. The South London Gallery (SLG) was established as […]
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 […]
Having been popping up in different locations in Soho and Covent Garden, Unit London has at last settled down in its new home at 3 Hanover Square. Their new space sets the aesthetics of a contemporary gallery space, especially the highly polished concrete floor finish on the ground floor, against quirky features of the existing […]
Founded in 1969 and, until recently, housed in Cork Street, Mayfair, the Bernard Jacobson Gallery is now in Duke Street, opposite Fortnum and Mason. The new gallery, designed by Nick Gowing architects, occupies the former underground car park of the historic French Railways House. The conversion uses a simple palette of materials and cleverly leaves some […]
You arrive at what feels a derelict wasteland as you walk down the stairs from West Silvertown station on the DRL, with a shiny huge tin of Golden Syrup advertising the Tate and Lyle building in the distance. Easily missed, because the DLR runs so close to its façade that you could almost put your […]
London has re-discovered its rooftops. It started with the “Post Office Tower” and disappeared when the revolving restaurant was closed, then re-emerged when “Tower 42″ (formerly the NatWest Tower) opened up the area around its lift shafts as a bar linked to a restaurant several floors below. Then came the “Gherkin” with its rooftop space […]
A railway terminus becomes a tropical garden; a tropical greenhouse and an exhibition hall in a royal park become art galleries. Three buildings in Madrid demonstrate the dexterity and flexibility of nineteenth century cast iron structures. Madrid’s first railway station, inaugurated in 1851 in the Atocha area, was largely destroyed by fire and a new […]
The challenge was to design one of the largest buildings in the country for one of its most historic sites. In Portugal, the Government took the opportunity of its European Union Presidency in 1992 to construct a building to accommodate all the people involved in the Presidency and provide a long term cultural, conference and […]
"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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