concrete

New life for a Country Estate - The Newt in Somerset

New life for a Country Estate - The Newt in Somerset

Perhaps the most radical aspect of the landscape is the way food production takes centre stage, subverting the traditional hierarchies of the country estate.  Once the owner of a country house might have demonstrated their taste and learning through references to classical mythology and architecture, but here they are showing it through the provenance of the food they grow. Showing off the exotic fruits grown on their estates was often part of a land-owner’s repertoire but it happened backstage in the walled garden.  Here the new no-dig kitchen garden is on axis with the house and new apple orchards stretch off to the horizon.

Patrick McEvoy Bench - Here Lies Geofrey Barkington

Patrick McEvoy Bench - Here Lies Geofrey Barkington

Patrick McEvoy from Prewett Bizley’s London office is one of ten winners in a competition organised by the London Festival of Architecture to design a bench for the City of London.

Nantes Architecture School – Lacaton Vassal

Nantes Architecture School – Lacaton Vassal

Last week I went to see a building I’d been longing to visit since it opened in 2009. The School of Architecture in Nantes (ENSA) by Architects Anne Lacaton & Jean-Philippe Vassal takes a provocative and inspiring attitude to educational space that is sadly lacking in most British universities. It looks like a carpark, which is pretty much what it is in its construction. From their first...

Porto architecture

Porto architecture

There’s a backlog of half-written posts building up here due to the distractions of a 4 month old baby who doesn’t recognise blog writing as a valid activity. This one shouldn’t be too hard to wrap up though, so I’ll give it a go. In early November...

Avonmouth Grain & Coal Silos

Avonmouth Grain & Coal Silos

From the M5 motorway bridge near Bristol you get a magnificent view over the docks at Avonmouth. In the low landscape of carparks and sheds I had spotted several concrete grain silos poking up but had never been able to stop and investigate. This weekend ...

Michelucci – Church of the Autostrada and Bank in Colle val d’Elsa

Michelucci – Church of the Autostrada and Bank in Colle val d’Elsa

I have long been intrigued by the work of Giovanni Michelucci, an architect from Pistoia who’s early work such as Santa Maria Novella railway station in Florence was rational and functional but who later developed a much more expressive approach rooted in ...

Shatwell Farm Barn

Shatwell Farm Barn

I visited an intriguing building this week at Shatwell Farm near Castle Cary in Somerset. Its a cow shed but one with rather higher ambition than your typical farm building. Designed by Stephen Taylor Architects the barn is part of a cluster of agricultural buildings in a small valley at the edge of the Hadspen Estate. The owner has carried out a ...