Architectural audio – podcast list
March 21st, 2014
This list prompted by Tom Dyckhoff @tomdyckhoff on Twitter
1) I wish every architectural and political campaigning organisation would find £50 to buy one of these and use it.
2) Royal Academy podcasts, some but not all -> RA-Architecture
3) History Spot, these are good -> https://historyspot.org.uk/podcasts/latest
4) World Service Archive -> Housing podcast list
5) Politics of Architecture -> Jonathan Glancey
A.W. Cleeve Barr – 5/10/10 – 30/5/00
March 19th, 2014
This is not intended to be an article, just as a series of links about an interesting architect.
“The production of high-rise council flats was at its height in the 1960s when AW Cleeve Barr, who has died at the age of 89, rose to be the most powerful housing architect in British government service.
As such he fought, but failed, to control the proliferation of contractor-led housing systems, and his reputation was tarnished by public reaction after the collapse in 1968 of Ronan Point. A technocrat with an instinct for social justice and a streak of obstinacy, he had enthusiasms that belied his puritan convictions.”
London’s scissor maisonettes
March 14th, 2014
Not an article just a link to eight photocopies from the AJ 1962. Will be of interest to anybody keen to learn more about purpose built flats. Click the image.
Mount Anvil – Eagle – City Rd – £1m single aspect flats
March 5th, 2014
Still from Mind the Gap at 37:47
We can argue about whether the Eagle flats are pure single aspect flats because the windows are on a slight curve. But £1m? Shouldn’t that buy dual aspect views and a kitchen with a view? If I had £1m I would not be spending it on these. I know it’s in London but so is the Barbican and Braithwaite House (£350,000), and those are proper flats.
Where We Live Now : City of Towers – a set back
February 17th, 2014
The story so far . . .
I’ve waited 35 years to see this again, in full, at original quality. If you’ve got a good copy please get in touch, you know where I am. Thank you.
BBC Post war architecture collection contains some wonderful stuff including one of the five Where We Live Now films.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections/p01s0hpy/post-war-architecture
The Politics of Architecture – Jonathan Glancey
January 26th, 2014
Architectural Murder – 1986 – BBC World Service
January 25th, 2014
UPDATE: Following the release of the BBC archive series Post War Architecture I am now able to point out that the first audio clip quoted in the programme below is taken from the opening seconds of Architecture at the crossroads : Doubt and Reassessment
“If one had to choose one symbol of the very worst kind of modern architectural crime it would surely be the crumbling housing estate. Its walls covered in graffiti, its windows smashed, its windy courtyards covered in litter, and its residents living in perpetual fear of muggers and thieves.” Meridian – Architectural Murder – 1986 – BBC World Service – listen here at 28 mins long Architectural Murder
Housing films on YouTube and Vimeo
January 17th, 2014
This page is out of date now so I’ve deleted the links. You can find working links in other articles including the Film page. Use the Search box to look for particular films.
Heritage! – The Battle for Britain’s past
January 11th, 2014
A BBC documentary series in three parts last shown in March 2013 tells the story of how the National Trust and English Heritage came about featuring well known figures such as Simon Thurley (EH), Simon Jenkins (NT), Gavin Stamp, Dan Cruikshank, Candida Lycett Green, and other well known figures shown in documentary footage such as Sir John Betjeman and Nikolaus Pevsner.
It is a fascinating series of which part three is to me the most interesting covering the post-war period and ending with the story of the Euston Arch.
The New Jerusalem
December 9th, 2013
A related BBC radio programme may be heard at the link below:-
Analysis: Labours New New Jerusalem
Things we forgot to remember – Michael Portillo – BBC Radio 4
The 1945 Labour Government
Monday 11 December 2006 20:00-20:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Clement Attlee’s government is now remembered as the founder of the welfare state. At every General Election, we are invited to recall the creation of the NHS and the building of a new Jerusalem. Just how radical was this agenda and how much of this memory is myth-making by subsequent Labour governments? Michael Portillo remembers the pragmatism, the compromises and the in-fighting of that post-war government. He meets Denis Healey, Peter Carrington and Tony Benn to uncover the forgotten choices made in a Britain exhausted by one war and on the brink of another.