Edward Durell Stone is no longer a household name, though Mary Ann Hunting’s painstaking biography of this popular American architect of the post-war period re-informs us of his prior esteem. Stone nurtured his career with Beaux Arts training and a traveling European scholarship. It is neat that his direct contact with both the emerging international [...]

Here we go round the prickly pear Prickly pear prickly pear Here we go round the prickly pear At five o’clock in the morning. Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow Between [...]

A room with deciduous walls betrays The expectations of hauled feet, pushed Through distance towards safe ground. Unsteady murmurs, now hushed, And gently patterned, join waves That resonate in lithe air. The waning sound Of breath and function slowly calms The song to fade, and the light that cuts Down all other senses is naturally [...]

The haphazardly arranged tiers and pathways of this year’s Serpentine Pavilion offer a shady area to sit on a hot afternoon in London. Children looking for adventure charge through cork-lined gangways and leap over steps. Adults drink, read, talk and sleep – as adults do. The pavilion mutually lends itself to all of these arrangements. [...]

John Penrose is the Conservative Minister for Tourism and Heritage. This month, he rejected a renewed application from the 2oth Century Society to list the Southbank Centre. And his department took the further step of granting a certificate of immunity for future attempts to list. This took place with the support of the Southbank Centre administration. [...]

Is Patrick Keiller an architect, or is he an artist? Perhaps this an obstinate question to ask? A man can be both, and more besides, can’t he? My answer to this is no. There are many professions where dual roles are acceptable. An actuary can also be a restaurateur, and a cabby might arrange flowers. [...]

The heat of the concrete sidewalk is searing through the soles of these cheap canvas shoes. I have been walking along East Tropicana Avenue for thirty two minutes. The directions to University Plaza were clear enough, but the presumption was that I would be driving. Now the sweat on my brow has condensed to a [...]

Sad news indeed. I remember the office buildings being constructed. My father worked for Arups, and he took me on site when I was a child. I have memories of the Richard Serra sculpture being craned into place, and ascending one of the half-finished buildings in a construction lift, with a hard-hat wobbling around on [...]