Radio 4: London Street Criers

Heard this program looking at oral history in London based around various trades modern and re-enacted.

How does vocalising something such as a trade help define a space?

Robbrecht and Daem: Pacing Through Architecture

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/robbrecht-and-daem-pacing-through-architecture

Flemish architects Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem of Robbrecht en Daem Architecten have a poetic approach to buildings. Embracing the intimate and the modest, their projects are defined by natural materials and simplicity of colour. Sudden openings onto exhilarating views act as flowing, ephemeral presences which guide visitors through the spaces they create.

Describing architecture as ‘a vehicle for understanding the world; an observatory’, their projects range from high profile public buildings such as Bruges Concert Hall and the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum extension in Rotterdam, to a woodland cabin, a zoo and a bird observation tower. Collaborations with artists have created subtle interplays between art and architecture, while their sensitive renovations reveal a sophisticated engagement with history in projects including Antwerp City Archives and the Whitechapel Gallery’s recent expansion.

Their first UK exhibition looks at key projects from the 1980s to today, with watercolours, plans and photographs relating to each project. Kristien Daem’s extensive photographs and a series of six films directed by cinematographer Maarten Vanden Abeele provide extraordinary portraits of the key projects. A special gallery dedicated to collaborations with artists, brings together works by Dirk Braeckman, René Daniëls, Raoul De Keyser, Isa Genzken, Cristina Iglesias, Juan Muñoz, Gerhard Richter, Philippe Van Isacker, Didier Vermeiren and Franz West.

London replanned

Nad’s London Replanned from Flickr (seen in the Illustrated Maps group) reminds me of the Geometric London on Strange Maps.

Union Street Urban Orchard

As part of the London Festival of Architecture, I was helping on site for this orchard project today building stuff. Haven’t done anything as satisfying for ages! The site is part of the larger Bankside Urban Forest scheme being developed by WWM,

Maps post

London in hand drawn maps

Why a map is  window on history

A life in maps blog

Which bits of London get photographed most?

http://londonist.com/2010/05/which_bits_of_london_get_photograph.php

Gargoyles and Shadows: Gothic Architecture and 19th Century Photography

Annoyed I missed this at the V&A…

Exploring the boundaries of the Olympic site

Culture x Urban environment

how the cultural activity of an area means it has changed little because of structure over history – so spitlalfields shoreditch for entertainment, commercial strett for sex work etc

Cultural attitudes when it comes to planning and architecutre, who runs planning offices, what are their outlooks etc?

Twitter x Reality

Really interested in reading about Twitter Romeo and Juliet in the Guardian last week, see Urban Tick here.

Seems to resonate with some graffiti on Brick Lane I saw recently…