Urban Design since 1945
‘Urban Design since 1945 – A Global Perspective’ by David Grahame Shane; John Wiley & Sons, 2011. 360pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | 31 August 2011 The world is changing and some of the past certainties, it seems, are not so certain any more. America’s economic woes and Europe’s anticipated double dip exemplify the fear of the future in the Western hemisphere. Similarly, a mere 30 years after the break up of the...
The housewife that changed the world?
‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ by Jane Jacobs; Random House, 1961. 458pp Reviewed by Alastair Donald | 31 July 2011 “From this house in 1961, a housewife changed the world.” When she died in 2005, the tributes and flowers on the pavement outside Jacobs’ former flat in Greenwich Village suggested the high esteem in which she is held by many designers who see her as having played a pivotal role in altering how we...
East vs West
Comparing the post-war literature & cinema of East and West Germany (1945-1990) Martha Williams | March 2011 On May 8th 1945, the war ended for Germany with the signing of the unconditional surrender for German forces. On the June 5th, the Allies signed a treaty proclaiming their authority over German territory: the country would be governed through four occupied zones belonging to Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United...
The Energy Report
The Energy Report by WWF, Ecofys and AMO; January 2011, 253pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | February 2011 If you enjoy reading end of year accounts, or poring over corporate brochures, you will love The Energy Report – the eco-equivalent of a BP audit statement. Written by a huge number of people from WWF, together with some from Ecofys (a Dutch renewable energy consultancy), it has been designed by AMO, the consulting arm of...
Hi-di-Hi
Exploring the architecture of Alain de Botton Austin Williams | 25 January 2011 Billy Butlin, the funfair impresario, opened his first holiday camp in Skegness in 1936 offering high-quality breaks at relatively low prices. Seventy-five years later and Living Architecture (LA), Alain de Botton’s not-for-profit social enterprise is also developing seaside holiday homes on the south-east coast. Cheap they aren’t. For example, his Dune...
3,096 Days
‘3,096 Days’ by Natascha Kampusch; Penguin, 2010. 256pp Reviewed by Austin Williams | 10 January 2011 The agonising and ultimately redemptive tale of the trapped Chilean miners captured the world’s hearts and headlines. At the time of writing, the 33rd and final miner has just been released into euphoria, and into the spotlight, from their underground entombment. Peter Stanford writing in The Independent said that:...
Think critically, design differently
‘Critical Subjects: Architecture & Design Winter School’: Organised by mantownhuman, 17/18 November 2010 Alastair Donald | 23 December 2010 Last month, 26 eager young architecture students from cities across England, Scotland and Wales converged on central London, only to find themselves held in a windowless, basement for 24 hours, where they were engaged in eight consecutive hours of discussion; kept up all night;...
No-one Needs Architecture (or “Knowing Foucault”)
Austin Williams | 2 December 2010 Cidade da Cultura de Galicia is one of the largest projects of Peter Eisenman’s career. Conceived as an opportunistic attempt to attract cultural tourism and gratuitously to capitalise on the Bilbao effect, Eisenman has created what he calls a “magic mountain”, a 150,000m2 citadel, to express “the culture of Galicia, Spain, Europe, Latin America and the World”. Six new buildings have been cut into the...
Taming the Gods
‘Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents’ by Ian Buruma; Princeton University Press, 2010. 142pp Reviewed by Steve Nash | October 2010 Author of the acclaimed ‘Murder in Amsterdam’ an account of the murder of Theo van Gogh, Ian Buruma has followed this up with an attempt to investigate one of the central conundrums of the modern world. What is needed apart from freedom of speech and the right to vote to...
ESSAY: ‘The Big Society’ (or ‘Compulsory Voluntarism’)
Austin Williams | 24 July 2010 | Muslim Institute Summer Conference, Cardiff The Big Society is being promoted as the flagship government policy even though no-one seems to have the first idea what it means. Commentator, Simon Jenkins, writing in the Guardian has described it as ‘incomprehensibly vague’. Government minister, Francis Maude is quoted as saying that it is “an idea, not a plan” (ref 1); while...
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