I know we all hate AI writing but I just asked the copilot button to turn all my underlined headings in a Word doc into proper headings so I could navigate around them more easily because I was too lazy to remind myself how to do it, and it did it. More of *that* kind of AI would really be useful.

Bath at the wrong end of the scale.

Bath, the Golden Plaice.

Reading Alison Ravetz, 'Remaking Cities', 1980, and although in many ways it's been superseded, it really is wonderfully rich and prescient. Some points I've been impressed by so far. ->

Looking up some buildings on Google Streetview, found the view blocked by a covid-era bus.

Santo Volto church, Turin (Mario Botta, 2006), which we visited with a group from @c20society.bsky.social. Located in a regenerated former industrial area, this centralised church is beautifully illuminated from above by natural light. A repurposed chimney serves as a bell tower.

Victorian Grunge Gloucester.

Polite Modern Gloucester.

So appropriately enough for a person writing a book about The Future That Never Was, here I am at the University of Bath to give a talk about New Labour. Looks a lot like Leeds or Oslo unis, or Harlow town centre. (1/2)

Brutal Gloucester.

Broken pediment, Gloucester.

Bonjour Herbert Dombrowski

Something jollier from Coventry: the delightful confection of Festival fru fru that is Alfred H. Gardiner’s Christ Church, Coventry (1953-8).

Thing about Townscape is that it's less about architecture, planning, etc. than just fun excuses to make and appreciate Cartier-Bresson style street photography with a taste for the surreal. (Here Gordon Cullen's text and Hubert de Cronin Hastings's photo).

If Hans Asplund having daddy issues meant he gave us buildings like this, maybe it’s okay actually! 🍷 Hall A at Eslöv Civic Hall (1955-57), sometimes love and longing drives you to make a once-in-a-lifetime building:

Today is publication day for my new book. Bristol’s modernist & brutalist buildings are rarely celebrated. Some are listed, many are threatened, a few are already gone. This book is a record and an appreciation of the buildings and the era that made them possible. www.eberlin.co.uk/store/p/mode...

Coming across vast tracts of uncatalogued archives for a thing I want to do. Good because nobody's been looking at it. Bad because neither can I.

I have just discovered that there's a real institution in India called the Lovely Professional University. Makes me wish I'd gone there myself. Instead I got a degree from the Rigorous but Slightly Dingy University.

Colston Street and Christmas Steps, Bristol.

Still waiting.

On the shelf.

1/2 Had to go see this one for myself! The former St Attracta Catholic Church, now being colorfully maintained by Church on Fire International, "the home of supernatural intervention." A certified banger, even with all the blue & yellow stuff. Architects: John L Bartolomeo & Assoc, 1960 Cicero, IL

Rusticated Renaissance palazzi, Florence.

It’s most well-known for its endless mosaic collection, containing over 41 million mosaic tiles!

In Florence, depictions of people are for some reason usually above eye level. If you point the camera straight, it frames the feet. There are a lot of expressive feet in Florence.

Florentine Golgotha.

Now out, an Open Access article on Essex's 1973 "Design Guide", which fundamentally shaped the design of housing in England: doi.org/10.1080/0266.... Thank you to @rproctor.bsky.social @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social & others for encouragement & comments, and @britishacademy.bsky.social for funding

Just been to Siena. OMG.

Conserving historic monuments is very important. Not too late to join our MSc in Conservation of Historic Buildings. But if you do, please avoid doing this to buildings when I'm visiting them.

There are crag martins nesting in the giant rosettes at Milano Centrale.

Important reading. Thomas Sharp, English Panorama, 1936 (Architectural Press edition 1950).

I love it when I have an inkling that some small thing in the past must have been true, then look it up in the old newspapers, and find it was.

EVENT: Join C20 for a Bank Holiday weekend in Bristol. We’ll see the recently refurbished Grade II* Clifton Cathedral (1973), the last major cathedral built in Britain; the ‘Bauhaus, Breuer, Bristol’ exhibition and more. 🗓️ Thu 30 Apr - Sat 2 May 🎟️ Tickets: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx?t…

Film of the year so far. La Grazia. Really great.

Latest thing on LinkedIn is diatribes against AI written with AI. Think I'm being trolled by the algorithm.

Briefly back reading newspapers again, failing to find useful information.

Love a really obscure archive catalogue section heading.

We are the champions. The idea of someone willingly playing this at me gives me chills.

Important to have mid-C20 books to hand in my office to demonstrate good quality buildings and drawing methods to Gen Z architecture students, I find.

Less than a week left to apply!

Did some research this week. I think I'm on to something. Keeping it quiet, though, you never know who's listening.

Is that bad?

Latest thing on LinkedIn seems to be people using AI to write criticisms of other people using AI.

Reading a book from 2013 with useful archive references, except the archive changed all the numbers in 2016 so I can't find them any more.

Sad to hear recently of architect Desmond Williams's passing. Fond memories of exploring his dramatic 1960s churches. Now preparing some photos for the Manchester Modernist Society. Obituary by his son here: www.ribaj.com/intelligence...

Corsham, Wilts. A fine town. Speaks for itself, really.

Trawling a well-organised archive catalogue to draw up a list for a future visit is a bittersweet pleasure. So many tantalising documents, so little time.

Another post-war Catholic Church in danger of demolition. Future generations will shake their heads at our idiocy if this mini-Liverpool Cathedral turns to dust.