Architecture

Glass Boxes Over Grandeur: How Soulless Modernism is Erasing Europe's Architectural Soul Across the European Union, a quiet but devastating war is being waged on our cityscapes. It's a battle between the cold, often Brutalist, pronouncements of modernism and the enduring beauty and human-centricity of traditional European architecture. Frankly, the relentless proliferation of bland glass and steel structures, often championed by a clique of self-proclaimed progressive architects and developers, is not just aesthetically jarring; it’s a profound betrayal of Europe’s rich and diverse architectural heritage and a testament to a creeping cultural amnesia. For decades, a certain breed of architect,...

Cold Steel vs. Warm Hearth: The Unending Battle Between Soulless Modernism and Scorned Tradition in American Architecture While the sleek lines of international modernism have relentlessly attempted to colonize skylines across the globe, in the United States, a persistent and often acrimonious battle rages over the very soul of our built environment. It’s a bitter clash between the stark, often sterile pronouncements of modernism and the enduring comfort and human scale of traditional American architecture. Frankly, the continuous imposition of glass boxes and impersonal concrete monoliths, frequently lauded by a self-proclaimed design elite, feels like an ongoing assault on our...

Barefoot Architects completes the largest co-housing scheme in UK Jon Astbury | Bristol studio Barefoot Architects has completed the UK's largest co-housing project in Bridport, Dorset, creating a series of brick and timber-clad blocks lined by car-free streets and shared vegetable gardens.Named Hazelmead, the development was designed for Bridport Cohousing Community Land Trust (CLT), which formed in 2008 to address a critical shortage of affordable housing in the area, where average house prices exceed 11 times the average local income. Hazelmead is a co-housing scheme containing 53 residences Located with an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) on the outskirts of Bridport, the development contains 53 new homes across nine...

Oliver Leech Architects uses neutral materials for Chalk River House London studio Oliver Leech Architects used a "soft, calm and neutral palette" of handmade bricks, lime render, timber and zinc for this family home overlooking a river in Hampshire. Located near the village of Houghton, the 515-square-metre home was named Chalk River House after its position overlooking the River Test, a rare type of river known as a chalk stream. Chalk River House's front facade is lime-rendered Oliver Leech Architects' design was informed by the dual nature of the site, which faces a conservation area at the front but is...

Glass slabs and lighting by Sicis form jewel-like pool  Promotion: mosaic tile specialists Sicis have transformed a swimming pool at a villa in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, into "a living jewel" with its Vetrite surfaces and lighting technology. Glowing, geometric patterns characterise the design of the pool, which forms the focal point of the exterior space at the Olympic Villa residence. Sicis added its Vetrite glass surfaces to a swimming pool at a Cambodian villa "Sicis transforms the pool into a living jewel: a luminous body that continuously shifts in colour and tone, turning every swim into a multisensory experience," said the brand. To complement...