Tag: correspondence letters ephemera
Derrida & Eisenman: Laugh(ing) of(f) the lyre
22 March 2021
Derrida & Eisenman: Laugh(ing) of(f) the lyre22 March 2021
By André Patrão
‘I think I understand, at least in principle.’ [1] Jacques Derrida tries to keep track of Peter Eisenman’s elaborate explanation. It is the 21st of April 1986, and in New Haven, Connecticut, philosopher and architect conduct the fifth of six meetings for their design of a garden in Bernard Tschumi’s… Read More
Haiku
28 April 2020
Haiku28 April 2020
By John Cage
Here John Cage is writing in November 1950 to Cecil Smith, the Editor of Musical America, in passionate defence of Eric Satie, who had been attacked in the journal in an article by Abraham Skulsky. In 1948, Cage had delivered a controversial talk at Black Mountain College, titled ‘Defense of Satie,’… Read More
Gio Ponti: un disegno è un idea
7 October 2019
Gio Ponti: un disegno è un idea7 October 2019
Signora Onvoloni, here is a drawing that might find a place in your cabinet of ideas: ‘a drawing is an idea’ – Gio Ponti, translated by Guido Beltramini [1] All seems simple enough on the face of it, and of course one smiles, just as Gio hoped we might. But… Read More
Living in Colour
17 September 2019
Living in Colour17 September 2019
Since 1963, when I left London to work and stay in Sardinia, I kept and still keep a yearly agenda/diary, one day for a page, to note the place where I am, the weather, the appointments, the site visits and the other sort of events of some interest. These are… Read More
Gio Ponti: ‘Come for Porchetta’
23 August 2019
Gio Ponti: ‘Come for Porchetta’23 August 2019
The Milanese architect Gio Ponti typically arrived at his office very early in the morning and would use the quiet interlude before his colleagues appeared to write a succession of letters – to friends and associates, to clients and contractors, to his associate editors at Domus or Stile, to his fellow architects Le… Read More
A. W. N. Pugin
13 March 2018
A. W. N. Pugin13 March 2018
By Peter Howell
In 1846 Viscount Feilding (later 8th Earl of Denbigh) married Louisa Pennant. She was the great-granddaughter of the topographer Thomas Pennant, and inherited his house, Downing Hall, in Flintshire. They decided to build a church to celebrate their marriage. The architect was Thomas Henry Wyatt (who also added to Downing). Building… Read More
Child’s Play: Adolfo Natalini’s ‘Disegni Per Bambini’
31 August 2017
Child’s Play: Adolfo Natalini’s ‘Disegni Per Bambini’31 August 2017
By Sophia Banou
In 1972 Adolfo Natalini spent a few months in the United States. The main event of his visit was the seminal exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape in New York MoMA (May 26 – September 11, 1972). Nevertheless, Natalini spent these months not only working on perhaps the most existential project of… Read More
Alexander Pope: ‘et sibi’
1 August 2016
Alexander Pope: ‘et sibi’1 August 2016
The great poet carefully instructs Francis Bird on the memorial tablet for his father – also Alexander Pope – to be placed in the north gallery of St Mary’s, Twickenham. Pope asks the sculptor to record his own respect for his father, to leave a space for his mother’s name… Read More
Le Corbusier: Unité d’habitation
1 August 2016
Le Corbusier: Unité d’habitation1 August 2016
This letter from Le Corbusier, to Marseille photographer Louis Sciarli, responds to a request from Elle magazine for photographs of the school on the rooftop of the Unité. Le Corbusier includes a drawing that instructs the unfortunate photographer as to exactly how he would like the children to be posed. M. Sciarli… Read More
From the Desk of John Summerson
1 August 2016
From the Desk of John Summerson1 August 2016
The cat was called ‘Puss’. Anthony Vidler recalls that it ‘was fierce, and farted underneath the desk’.
Sir John Soane’s Museum: Bound Legacy
9 February 2021
Sir John Soane’s Museum: Bound Legacy9 February 2021
By Alexandra Politis
John Britton, a topographer and antiquarian by trade, began preparations to publish a guidebook to John Soane’s house-museum in 1825. The earliest mention of such an endeavour appears in a letter to Soane dated 3 November, in which Britton outlines his desire to ‘produce a vol to surprise the public,… Read More
plan section elevation publication correspondence letters ephemera drawing matter writing prize 2020