Blade Runner’s Retro Futures

by Dr. H J McCracken

We are now only two years from the dateline of the original Blade Runner. Ray Bradbury’s melancholic future of Martian settlement and abandonment, The Martian Chronicles, has since long passed, and along with it of course, 1984.

The middle-class home

Compared to the many stories recorded about the British aristocracy or the Dickensian working class in London, there is still very little known about the capital’s middle classes and their domestic lives.

Tianjin in perspective

“Disasters on the scale of (this) tragic explosion … tend to provoke a brief wave of statements that such things must never happen again.

Playing Rough

The installations all seem to be a bit of fun, but there does seem to be a sinister undertone.

A Tale of Two Cities

Are soaring property prices that push young Londoners out of their city, simply a price for London’s global success?

The dangers of ‘resilience’

‘Resilience’ is a buzzword sweeping the entire industry and seemingly provides solutions for everything

The Right Time for the Night Time

The Night Time industries are vital to Britain’s future both culturally and economically.

White City Black City

This beautifully translated publication is an excellent insight to the history of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, told through their architecture.

Film Review ‘The Big City’

Martin Earnshaw | 25 January 2015 The Big City (1963), directed by Satyajit Ray, is essentially a story of modernity. The superb opening scene traces the passage of a tram cable as it winds its way through Calcutta, a city which in the 1950s and 60s could be considered as  India’s foremost modern city. Although this old Imperial Capital was soon to be eclipsed by Mumbai, at that moment, to be at the forefront of change was to be in...

Review: ‘Constructing Worlds’

Felicity Barbur | 02 January 2015 Presenting Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age at the Barbican in London always seemed likely to prove a good choice of venue. However, it wasn’t until visiting the carefully curated spaces of each photographer that I appreciated just how appropriate the Chamberlin, Powell and Bon designed complex would prove to be. After all, over the years the Barbican itself has been...