The foreword to Arna Mathiesen's great book Scarcity In Excess, which investigates the effects of scarcity on the built environment in Iceland following the economic crisis of 2008. Other excerpts of the book are on Issuu
My final tribute to PBJ
Scarcity Scares. Video here.
This was my first Zoom lecture, delivered as part of the Architecture Foundation's excellent 100 Day Studio intiative during the 2020 COVID lockdown. The video is here , and the transcript linked to the title above. The lecture speculates as to where architecture might be in the face of the twin crises of climate and COVID, arguing that these challenge some of the fundaments on which the modern project of architecture has based itself.
A short piece written in 2012 for the RIBA Building Futures series on the future of architectural education and the profession. More bullish than I now feel.
Originally commissioned by the RIBA, a piece on what might or might not constitute architectural research. Big in Spain.
Not a lecture, but a podcast. The first episode from the new 'Architecture Academy' Podcast, set up and delivered by Marc Tuitt (who once was a student at Sheffield when I was Head of School). Under his wise questioning and sharp editing, I come across (though I say it myself) as sharp and focussed on some contemporary architectural issues (sexism, the profession, education and Brexit among them).
Happy to host Paul Chatterton's report: A Civic Plan for a Climate Emergency. Read it, y'all!
This is the text of a short talk I did as part of the UAL Climate Emergency Network 5 day festival in September 2020. It picks up on some of the themes of Architecture After Architecture
Lightish introduction to a whole issue of field (with articles worth reading); the start of the Spatial Agency Project.
A short think piece on the 2011 Occupation movement and its relevance to architecture.
This was a comment on the UK Government's White Paper on Higher Education from 2011. Corrects a few myths.
My response as to why giving the official government website 2013 Design of the Year was not so cool.
Article for The Conversation critiquing the reductive way that things are chosen for the Designs of the Year exhibition.
Short piece examining local identity, starting with a pop at Frampton’s Critical Regionalism.
This was my first Zoom lecture, delivered as part of the Architecture Foundation's excellent 100 Day Studio intiative during the 2020 COVID lockdown. The video is here , and the transcript linked to the title above. The lecture speculates as to where architecture might be in the face of the twin crises of climate and COVID, arguing that these challenge some of the fundaments on which the modern project of architecture has based itself.
This is my glowing review of Barnabas Calder's new history of architecture, from the perspective of energy and climate. Spoiler alert: it is good.