| Abstract |
"Peter Saville drives a Skoda." The appalling idea scared him off of renting one when it was offered in place of the VW Polo he'd ordered. "I know everyone says they're really good cars now, but I'm not gonna be in a test group for them. It's still a Skoda," he says, terrified that people would think he drove one.
Caruso St John
Adam Caruso moves his fingers through the air like a squid in the water, reaching for a metaphor with the tired mind of a man who has just stepped off a plane from Sydney. He talks with passion, with a habit of conjoining sentences and clauses, as if his mind is moving in ever-increasing arcs trying to embrace more and more logical progressions.
Brasilia
Ever since it was inaugurated in 1960, Brasilia has provoked perennial criticism. The most insistent criticism is that it lacks human scale: that it wasn't designed for people, but for cars.
Review: Aaron Betsky lecture
At his recent RIBA lecture Aaron Betsky identified a key paradox of our architectural age: the desire to be modest and sympathetic to the point of monumental heroism, says Kester Rattenbury.
Review: Society and the Ideal City
Amid some controversy, the second Valencia Biennale tries to answer local concerns about plans for the city, says Lucy Bullivant.
News: Hella Jongerious
Icon speaks to Hella Jongerius, the leading female designer of our time, according to the Design Museum, which is showing the first retrospective of her work.
Jonathan Ive
It's 9am, the day after Jonathan Ive became the first winner of Designer of the Year. Ive is dressed the same as he was at the previous night's televised award ceremony: plain navy T-shirt, grey combats, trainers. His stubble is a bit longer. He has huge upper-body muscles and cropped hair but exudes a surprising gentleness; deference, even.
News: the West London synagogue
The West London synagogue in Bayswater has a new nursery and playground. Designed by Andrew Houlton and Stephen Taylor, they're far removed from the garish iconography more usually associated with nursery schools.
News: the Gama site
The Gama site is one of the most important Cold War monuments in Europe. English Heritage considers it to be as important as Stonehenge, and recently declared it a scheduled monument. Now it is for sale. |