Monthly Archives: July 2006

Hamar, Norway

Hedmarksmuseet, Hamar, Norway. Sverre Fehn’s seminal/iconic/etc. masterwork completed in 1973. A collection of ruins (Archbishop’s fortified palace, manor house) on an important medieval route have been rebuilt/completed using modern building techniques. This has been done in order to display artefacts … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Interiors, Precedents, Sverre Fehn, Travel | 1 Comment

Karlstad, Sweden

The Varmland Regional Museum by Cyrillus Johansson (1926-1929). Where one might have expected the architect to closely follow a local architectural idiom Johansson chose to follow his strong interest in Chinese architecture. The building is built upon a mound of … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Sweden, Travel | 2 Comments

Three Men in a Boat…

….Woody Woodmansey, David Bowie and Mick Ronson. The DFDS ship ‘Princess of Scandinavia’ is typical of its type having an interior reminiscent of a motorway service station. The one interior of interest is the ‘Heaven 11’ disco on deck 7 … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Interiors, Sweden, Travel | 4 Comments

The City Past and Present

Eamonn Canniffe of Manchester School of Architecture has received a contract from Ashgate Publishing Ltd to edit a book entitled “The City Past and Present: Global perspectives on urban history and change”. The other contributors are Reza Abouei, Hacer Basirir, … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Publications, Research, Sally Stone, Students | Comments Off on The City Past and Present

Some Vandalism

Municipal vandalism. Library Walk curves and tapers in response to Vincent Harris’s two great Manchester buildings – Central Library and the Town Hall Extension – joining St Peter’s Square to Mount Street. A correspondent has sent us some pictures of … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Manchester | 2 Comments

Rus in urbe

Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens (Location) were once famous for floral displays, and “New Piccadilly” was treated to a temporary makeover during Easter 2006 with the Ando wall festooned with roses. In summer 2005, Dale Street had been enlivened by a temporary … Continue reading

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Topography of Triumph

The Italian Football Squad’s triumphant return to Rome as World Cup winners recalled the entries of previous victors into the city: It is indeed as if the war were still being fought, now for the benefit of the throngs crowding … Continue reading

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Trickledown Urbanism

In contrast to the landscape of civic veneration produced for the Cenotaph in St. Peter’s Square, the present generation of Manchester’s city fathers favour a landscape of civic disportment. Not the least surprising arrival in “New Piccadilly” during the 2005 … Continue reading

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Set in Stone

Sally Stone of Continuity in Architecture has followed up her recent letter about the redevelopment of Preston with an opinion piece for the Lancashire Evening Post. Her original letter deploring the City Council’s proposals has obviously struck a chord locally … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Press, Preston | 2 Comments

Interventions Exhibition

The ‘Interventions’ Exhibition at CUBE opened at the end of June and runs until the middle of September. The exhibition features work from the Atelier Barcelona/Manchester run by Sally Stone and Nick Dunn in collaboration with the Architecture School at … Continue reading

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The Great Stone

The War Memorial in St Peter’s Square, Manchester has had problems for a few years now. The construction of a Metro stop made it into an overspill for the platform space. The openess of the memorial precinct appears to have … Continue reading

Posted in CiA, Dominic Roberts, Edwin Lutyens, Manchester | 1 Comment

Thought for the decade…

‘In contrast to Rem Koolhaas’s notion that freedom is an absence of architecture – as, for example, when he describes the open space of a town square as embodying the greatest possible freedom – we side with Rossi’s belief that … Continue reading

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