It was possibly Patrick Keiller who first raised the question, ‘the problem of London’. As there are no money-making opportunities in answering this question it has been neglected. But it is surely one of the key questions, not an incidental one? London is a large city. The building and maintenance of London requires immense quantitiesContinue reading “The Problem of London- Prologue”
Category Archives: Architecture
EC1 – A Primer
It seems so disjointed. A collection of buildings sharing space but little else; and not even sharing that space in a neighbourly way. The only underlying principle is profit. These buildings share built characteristics. They are all the products of the alchemy of human labour, labour power (as a commodity), machines, and raw materials. TheContinue reading “EC1 – A Primer”
A Universal Idea
What does the book look like if its read here, in this particular place? The book is Folk Opposition by Alex Nevin. It was lent to me in the summer. We were in the beer garden of a pub after the Radical Battersea Walk. It was one of those days when the temperature was overContinue reading “A Universal Idea”
The Cathedral of Saint Etienne in Bourges
There is an early train to Bourges and a mid-day train and nothing in between. The alarm goes off and I go back to sleep. There’s no rush. The alarm clock is one of the great tools of oppression. How I have hated it during a life of toil. A mental map is slowly beingContinue reading “The Cathedral of Saint Etienne in Bourges“
An Artist’s Colony; imagine that
There are much better accounts of the Künstlerkolonie Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt than I could ever write. With maps, diagrams and professional photographs. There are people much better qualified to write about the architects and dates and styles and influences and influenced. I was just a bystander for the day, a casual observer, soaking up theContinue reading “An Artist’s Colony; imagine that”
Cornucopia City 