The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism

by Jenkins, David

• ISBN13: 9781906155193
• ISBN10: 1906155194
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-11
• Publisher: Artifice Inc

Summary

The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism is a collection of 100 essays and articles by Martin Pawley, one of the most important and entertaining voices in post-war architectural criticism. Pawley studied architecture at the Oxford School of Architecture, the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Architectural Association in London, before embarking on a distinguished career as a writer, teacher, critic and broadcaster. Spanning Pawley'¿¿s 40 year career, The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism is a celebration of his remarkable body of work. Beginning with his AA diploma thesis '¿¿The Time House'¿¿, the book includes writings on contemporary design, iconic buildings and some of the most important issues facing modern architecture as well as interviews with architects including Norman Foster, Buckminster Fuller, Leon Krier and Zaha Hadid. By turns poignant, coruscating, controversial and humorous '¿¿ but always original and insightful '¿¿ this book is a reminder of how exhilarating architectural writing at its best can be.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 10
Introduction	p. 13
The Time House 1968	p. 24
Looking for a sound 1969	p. 35
Meeting Buckminster Fuller 1970	p. 40
A new kind of message in a bottle 1975	p. 45
My lovely student life 1975	p. 48
We shall not bulldoze Westminster Abbey: Archigram and the retreat from technology 1976	p. 59
Thoughts on the design of houses and banknotes 1978	p. 70
This England-coming home 1980	p. 72
What does vernacular really mean? 1981	p. 74
The defence of modern architecture 1983	p. 76
Sex, violence and design 1983	p. 85
Self-build workstations: a partial history 1983	p. 87
Norman Foster 6.0, 6.0, 6.0 1984	p. 90
Building revisits: Coventry Cathedral 1984	p. 95
Building revisits: Hunstanton School 1984	p. 99
The most important building of the twentieth century 1984	p. 106
Heavy stuff this symbolism 1984	p. 109
Beyond messing about in boats 1984	p. 113
Office design in Eternia 1985	p. 117
Quinlan Terry: beyond the tantrums of modernism 1985	p. 119
Plucky Jim 1985	p. 123
Doubts about Lloyd's 1986	p. 128
Two triumphs of twisted wire 1986	p. 134
Dan Dare: an extremely small step for mankind 1986	p. 140
Welcome to the House of Fun 1986	p. 143
A winter school's tale 1987	p. 147
Objects of our time: the Piccadilly Line train 1987	p. 149
Tower blocks and tourist castles 1987	p. 154
Technology transfer 1987	p. 158
The secret life of the engineers 1989	p. 173
Life in the urban war zone 1989	p. 179
Lost arks of the air 1989	p. 186
Dymaxion: the car that never flew 1989	p. 189
Is ecology all hot air? 1990	p. 193
A precedent for the Prince 1990	p. 198
The footmen of Alexandra Road 1990	p. 208
The best lecture I ever gave 1990	p. 211
In pursuit of the ultimate driving machine 1990	p. 215
Exogenous shock 1990	p. 219
Where the big sheds are 1990	p. 226
Notes on the meaning of trivial things 1991	p. 229
The design origins of royal train syndrome 1991	p. 233
High-tech architecture: history versus the parasites 1991	p. 238
The cost of the new culture of cities 1991	p. 247
Henry Ford and the biospherans 1991	p. 250
What London learned from Las Vegas 1991	p. 253
What's in a name? 1991	p. 257
Stansted and the triumph of big sheds 1991	p. 260
And you thought your car was good for nothing 1992	p. 268
Nigel Coates: from nihilist to planner 1992	p. 271
A full and Frank talk 1992	p. 275
The case for uncreative architecture 1992	p. 280
Lunch with Leon Krier 1992	p. 283
Zaha escapes the pull of gravity 1993	p. 288
Tales of the obsolescent 1993	p. 292
Invasion of the body snatchers 1995	p. 295
Invasion of the vibrators 1996	p. 297
Frank Lloyd Wright fights for his life 1996	p. 299
The rise of the engineer 1996	p. 301
After postmodernism, terrorism 1996	p. 304
Meeting the future everywhere 1997	p. 307
From here to modernity 1997	p. 309
Seat pocket aliens 1997	p. 311
The myth of monumentality 1997	p. 313
So long recycling, here comes secondary use 1997	p. 318
A night to remember 1998	p. 320
Terminal architecture 1998	p. 322
The strange death of architectural criticism 1998	p. 330
When air conditioning meets its match 1999	p. 332
A brace of fins du siecles 1999	p. 334
The new life of Albert Speer 2000	p. 336
Traffic congestion and confusion 2000	p. 338
America: it's 24-7 at mission critical 2001	p. 340
Ordering buildings like hamburgers 2001	p. 342
Rocket science at the AA 2001	p. 344
Shooting at statues 2001	p. 346
Hong Kong's space shuffle 2001	p. 348
Tall buildings: the end of a civilisation 2001	p. 350
How to get famous by not building anything 2002	p. 352
Battleships hold the key to the future of tall buildings 2002	p. 356
Saved by the intelligent toilet 2002	p. 358
Why prefabrication fails 2002	p. 360
Technological jewels in the crown 2003	p. 362
The defining moment of modernism 2003	p. 364
Porsche 911, a genetically modified machine 2003	p. 366
Nonsuch Metropolitan University summer school 2003	p. 372
Return of the phone box 2003	p. 374
Not-so-smart intelligent buildings 2003	p. 376
Henry Ford and the limits of prefabrication 2003	p. 380
The end of an interface 2003	p. 382
It's an ill wind... 2004	p. 384
The nine ages of transport 2004	p. 386
The myth of the urban future 2004	p. 388
Flying antiques 2004	p. 390
Heavy bottles for a picnic 2004	p. 392
The strange world of luxury watches 2004	p. 394
The young dig in their heels 2005	p. 396
How total urbanism will come to grief 2005	p. 398
The answer to an historical conundrum 2005	p. 400
The biggest house sale in history 2005	p. 402
Notes	p. 406
Sources	p. 413
Bibliography	p. 419
Index	p. 441
Credits	p. 448
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