Period: c20th
Bulgakov’s ‘Golden City’ (1923)
3 May 2021
Bulgakov’s ‘Golden City’ (1923)3 May 2021
By Cyril Babeev
This text is an excerpt from Mikhail Bulgakov’s series of short vignettes that appeared under the overarching title ‘Golden City’ and were serialised in the Berlin-based Russian migrant ‘Nakanune’ newspaper between 30 September and 14 October 1923. Bulgakov was commissioned to write an account of the first and only All-Russian… Read More
The Beaux-Arts Tradition
29 April 2021
The Beaux-Arts Tradition29 April 2021
By Basile Baudez and Maureen Cassidy-Geiger
The following text has been excerpted from Living with Architecture as Art, the recently published catalogue of Peter May’s collection of drawings, models and architectural artefacts. The catalogue is edited by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger and published in two generously illustrated volumes. The first volume includes essays by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, Basile Baudez,… Read More
Nuobo Sekine: Phase of Nothingness
27 April 2021
Nuobo Sekine: Phase of Nothingness27 April 2021
By Editors
With thanks to Nicholas Olsberg for sending us this tribute to Sekine written on the first anniversary of the artist’s death (linked here).
Order and Uncertainty in Architectural Drawing
26 April 2021
Order and Uncertainty in Architectural Drawing26 April 2021
By Luke Tipene
How we look at architectural drawings is an inherently complicated topic. The issue arises from what we understand to appear and disappear on the page. The field of architecture has spent little time talking about what we see (and don’t see) on the surface of the drawing itself. One could… Read More
Leicester Engineering building: Two Architects (1964)
26 April 2021
Leicester Engineering building: Two Architects (1964)26 April 2021
Filmed in 1964, Ron Parks’ documentary on the newly completed Engineering Department at Leicester catches James Stirling and James Gowan at a moment of professional triumph and personal crisis. Their building was being applauded the world-over – Parks’ film had been commissioned by the American Institute of Architects, to mark its… Read More
Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh
22 April 2021
Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh22 April 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier in his Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1957 to 1965. The following text is the second in a series of two transcriptions of informal… Read More
Peter Märkli: My Facade Material
21 April 2021
Peter Märkli: My Facade Material21 April 2021
By Editors
The following quotations are from ‘Mein Stoff für Fassaden (My Facade Material)’, a lecture delivered online by Peter Märkli to open a series of five talks for the Architecture Foundation. The quotations are presented here in a loose fashion, some treated as aphorisms about design, others illustrated with drawings from… Read More
The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh
20 April 2021
The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh20 April 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier in his Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1957 to 1965. The following text is the first in a series of two transcriptions of informal… Read More
The Vitruvian Man: with Fresh Eyes
14 April 2021
The Vitruvian Man: with Fresh Eyes14 April 2021
By Niamh Murphy
‘The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci as a model of innovative entrepreneurship at the intersection of business, art and technology’ is shown in the first image. This is a ‘modern’ interpretation of the Renaissance drawing as a business model as published in the Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2017. An… Read More
The Architecture of Nothingness: Analysing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple
12 April 2021
The Architecture of Nothingness: Analysing Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple12 April 2021
By Frank Lyons
The Architecture of Nothingness: Drawing the Drawings As architects we have learned to read drawings almost instantly. At a glance we see what the spaces feel like, what it will be like to move around the building and perhaps even get a sense of the appropriateness of the structure. This ‘presentational’ way… Read More
Nancy Holt: Sky Mound
8 April 2021
Nancy Holt: Sky Mound8 April 2021
Nancy Holt (1938-2014) was a member of the earth, land, and conceptual art movements. A pioneer of site-specific installation and the moving image, Holt recalibrated the limits of art. She expanded the places where art could be found and embraced the new media of her time. Across five decades she… Read More
Insignificance 1: Discipline
4 May 2021
Insignificance 1: Discipline4 May 2021
By Gordon Shrigley
The space of the architectural imagination resides within the discourses of line. This space defines the boundaries of a practice of conceptualising the laws of the place [1] whereby through an array of ordinances, the architectural line constitutes ‘the objects which it pretends only to describe realistically and to analyse… Read More
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