Author Archives: Aventinus

Out there: The Venice Biennale

Posted on September 16, 2008 by Aventinus

The vast exhibition of contemporary architecture which is the Venice Biennale (curated by Aaron Betsky) opened last weekend in a stormy atmosphere which made the exhibitions oases of rather damp calm, despite the unsettling, luxurious aspirations of some of the … Continue reading →

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Serving up the city

Posted on September 8, 2008 by Aventinus

  If, according to Alberti, a house is a small city …  can a tray be a small piazza? These table centres, designed by Fabio Novembre, are available from Driade. In this case the model is the city of Palmanova … Continue reading →

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Final Cut

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Aventinus

CiA Bachelor of Architecture 2007-2008. The final show.

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The Economics of the Ideal Villa

Posted on August 22, 2008 by Aventinus

…or In a Recession Classicism is King Is it a sure sign of a housing market in crisis when innovative design gives way to a rather more bankable product? 2001, perhaps in retrospect the high-water mark of Cool Britannia, saw … Continue reading →

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The Judicious Eye

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Aventinus

For summer reading CiA recommends Joseph Rykwert’s “The Judicious Eye: Architecture against The Other Arts” (Reaktion 2008). Provoked by the discontinuity between the contemporary architectural environment and artistic practice Professor Rykwert charts the history of the relationship between architecture and … Continue reading →

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Primitive – Rustic – Classical

Posted on July 26, 2008 by Aventinus

CiA recommends a visit to Tate Liverpool to see the exhibition GUSTAV KLIMT: PAINTING, DESIGN AND MODERN LIFE.The Klimt paintings, including the reconstruction of the Beethoven Frieze created for the Vienna Secession in 1902, present a necessarily limited selection of … Continue reading →

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Waterhouse and Harris – safe in their hands?

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Aventinus

Further to a post earlier this year the potential fate of Manchester Town Hall (Alfred Waterhouse), its Extension and Central Library (E. Vincent Harris) becomes clearer. The Manchester Evening News story about the future of the most significant urban and … Continue reading →

Posted in Aventinus, Buildings at Risk, CiA, E Vincent Harris, Manchester | 2 Comments

‘Not manly enough’

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Aventinus

Monday, 7 July 2008: ‘Not manly enough’: Berlusconi’s verdict on Libeskind work Perhaps, when the architect Daniel Libeskind produced his grand plans for an art museum and office tower designed to inspire civic pride in the heart of Milan, he … Continue reading →

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Academic Generosity

Posted on June 25, 2008 by Aventinus

The end of the academic year and the commencement of research time (that’s summer to the uninitiated!) was marked at the Manchester School of Architecture by a research presentation by Prue Chiles of the University of Sheffield School of Architecture. … Continue reading →

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Small change for The Exchange

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Aventinus

In a brief period of warmth during the Cold War a waggish Whitehall mandarin was no doubt responsible for the designation of the 1967 telephone exchange at 34 George Street in Manchester as Rutherford House, subtly indicating (with that reference … Continue reading →

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Interventions in the Broletto 2

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Aventinus

As the academic year reaches its climax Continuity in Architecture Year 5 students prepare their own exhibition for the second floor of the Chatham Building. While we await the hanging of their work here is a short video of some … Continue reading →

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Nossa Senhora de Fatima, Lisbon

Posted on May 19, 2008 by Aventinus

Porfirio Pardal Monteiro: Church of Nossa Senhora de Fatima, Lisbon (1938) This suburban church from the late 1930s presents a curious hybrid of architectural languages and materials. Its interior is formed in a gloomy concrete gothic, lit only by dramatic … Continue reading →

Posted in Aventinus, Churches, CiA, Portugal | 1 Comment