Category: cities

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

Glasgow is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and we went to see the Hunterian Gallery's reconstruction of the house he designed for himself at Southpark Avenue, the exhibition at the Kelvingrove Museum about the Glasgow Style, and The Hill House, his most important domestic project, made for the publisher … Continue reading CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH →

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND, LISBON

On the way back from Belém and MAAT we looked in at Village Underground, a space in the dock area that has been taken over for a new cultural initiative using old containers and buses. It's under the 25 April bridge and next to the converted warehouses used for creative industries and new businesses. This … Continue reading VILLAGE UNDERGROUND, LISBON →

MAAT, LISBON

In Belém we visited the new Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, which brings together artists, designers, architects and visionaries in Amanda Levete's dramatic, shark-shaped building. The displays focus on global threats, environmental change and mass population movement. Tomás Saraceno's Thermodynamic Imaginary (above) is a sustainable housing future of balloons that draw energy from the … Continue reading MAAT, LISBON →

WEDGWOOD’S VASES

In my post on the Vase Mania that swept the country after the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum, I mentioned that, as the craze faded away, Wedgwood decided to go down market and to sell his vases more cheaply to the middle classes. "The Great People have had these Vases in their Palaces long enough … Continue reading WEDGWOOD’S VASES →

QUERUBIM LAPA

On a visit to Lisbon I found that the azulejo tradition is not only more deeply rooted in Portugal's culture than I realised but that it remains alive and is being continually renewed. The Lisbon metro has been decorated in azulejos over the last twenty years, using modern techniques like screen printing and styles and … Continue reading QUERUBIM LAPA →