Monthly Archives: March 2009

A Harvard Colloquium

The last time Eamonn Canniffe (of CiA) was at Harvard, Peter Eisenman was a spring chicken. You can hear Eamonn speak about his current book at the De Bosis Colloquium in Italian Studies at the Department of Romance Languages and … Continue reading

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Drinking in architecture

It is St Walburge’s Beer Festival time again. This is your opportunity to sample the ales of Britain alongside one of the country’s great buildings: Joseph Hansom’s St Walburge’s RC Church, Preston. We’ll be there Thursday night, Friday night and … Continue reading

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It’s naff up north?

The provincial insecurities which plague issues of urban design in Manchester surface again with these two proposals for familiar landmarks. The austere sublimity which might be thought to characterise the best of Manchester’s civic and industrial architecture had no need … Continue reading

Posted in Aventinus, Buildings at Risk, CiA, E Vincent Harris, Manchester | 1 Comment

“The Architect’s Task”

Two drawings of the Woodside Ventilation Station for the Queensway tunnel beneath the River Mersey. The drawings are from a battered copy of The Story of the Mersey Tunnel Officially Named Queensway published by Charles Birchall and Sons (1934). Excerpt: … Continue reading

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North Lancashire contains Architecture

Clare Hartwell’s major revision of Nikolaus Pevsner’s The Buildings of England: North Lancashire has just been published. The book describes all the significant buildings of the region from early history to the present day. It is an engrossing work and … Continue reading

Posted in Churches, CiA, Francis Xavier Velarde, Friends & Acquaintances | 1 Comment

Off to market?

James Robertson, doctoral candidate at the Manchester School of Architecture and Rome Scholar in Architecture, is participating with fellow Fine Arts Scholars in the group exhibition at the British School at Rome 14-21 March. James’s contribution will feature his research … Continue reading

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Mobile World Congress versus Mies

Melanie Miller (of Schiffli fame) forwards the following pictures from Barcelona where the Mobile World Congress was in full swing on Montjuic. Choice quote from a participant (via Reuters): Richard Windsor, industry specialist at Nomura, estimated after day one that … Continue reading

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From Acoustics to Zoomorphic

…via Fabio Novembre. CiA staffer Sally Stone has, along with her perennial collaborator Graeme Brooker and newbie Michael Coates, produced The Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design. It’s a cutely packaged book that is intended to inform and inspire. … Continue reading

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Philadelphia, Kahn & Moyamensing

I found Philadelphia: The Unexpected City* in between copies of Stalin on Lenin and A Drug-Taker’s Notes at Oxfam’s charity bookshop in Preston. From the cover blurb: Philadelphia…is full of paradox. It appears to the casual visitor recalcitrantly philistine. But … Continue reading

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An Architectural Gesture?

If the commentators on this early photograph (1850s) of the Roman architect Luigi Canina (1795-1856) ascribe his discreet ‘horn’ gesture to superstition regarding the Evil Eye, what might be the meaning of Andrea Palladio’s right hand in his portrait by … Continue reading

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