Some brilliant things seen with UCA School of Arch colleagues on a city walkabout: excellent stone and flint wall at St Augustine’s Abbey, North Tower fan vaults in the cathedral, the shields of families who donated to the cathedral’s building and eye-popping psychedelic stained glass:

Fire alarm sounder incorporated into the finials in John Simpson’s alterations to Gonville and Caius, Cambridge.

Enjoying Rosemary Hill’s review of Steven Brindle’s new book in the London Review of Books but this, has me puzzled: “like most architectural theory this was merely post-hoc justification of stylistic preference.”

We are very pleased to see that our recently completed house in east London has been longlisted for the NLA’s Don't Move, Improve! Award.

Thanks to our lovely clients Will and Hazel, and to Jim Stephenson for the terrific photos.

#DMI2024 #ReimagineTheHome

This Thursday UCA School of Arch! Oliver Bulleid of London Community Land Trust and Russell Curtis of RCKa architects will give the latest in our series of #Multistory #Money Talks. Housing Crisis: Time For Community Action will be in person and on Teams. Contact me or cat rossi for link.

Sometimes to really relive the good old days of the pandemic I take Microsoft Teams Classic out for a spin. Of course modern Teams doesn’t have the charm of good old Classic Teams with its walnut burr interface and brass buttons but it’s nice to indulge in some nostalgia.

When asked what he thinks of the UK’s major housing developers, such as Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt, Smales grins. “I can’t say good luck to them – their model needs to be outcompeted and displaced,” he says. “We aim to show that living sustainably can be a joy.”

… so what does the government do? It tells foreign students to fuck off, you don't belong here, while the right continues to go after the whole sector (look at the attacks on foreign students recently in the Times etc). And now look:  theguardian.com/education/2024…

… successive governments over the last decade or so have refused to raise the tuition fee limit, for obvious unpopularity reasons, but what this means is that the monetary value to a uni of a UK student has been steadily declining…

… one of the most significant of these is a massive growth in overseas student recruitment. UK students have capped rates, but international don't, so more can be charged…

Back in the day, the coalition government raised tuition fees to a limit of £9k, as part of a strategy to a) get university spending off the government books and b) to encourage competition and innovation within the sector… a good many changes have happened as a result…

Coming Soon!

How To Enjoy Architecture: A Guide For Everyone

Published by Yale University Press London📚

#howtoenjoyarchitecture

When you’re doing some Lutyens research and come across something odd. Wait, hang on…..

And....I'm also giving a lecture on Lutyens for the 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕦𝕥𝕪𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕥 on Monday 04th. Details of how to book here: lutyenstrust.org.uk/portfolio-item…

I wrote a review of the recently re-issued Memorial Volumes on the work of Edwin Lutyens for Building Design : bdonline.co.uk/briefing/the-a…

This week’s #multistory talk will be given by Tom Wilkinson. Non-Productive Expenditure is part of our Money series of evening talks UCA School of Arch put together by cat rossi and myself. In person and online (DM for link) Thursday 29th at 5.30pm.

Milan Day, 2. Portaluppi l’s Villa Necchi, Andreani, Giovanni Muzio’s Ca’ Brutta, and some more Giovanni Muzio, the floor of the Triennale.

Day 1 Milan Touring: housing by Gardella and Minoletti. Subtle, elegant, generous and a penthouse apartment to die for (visited but not photographed).