Tuschinski Theatre

This photo of the Tuschinski Theatre Amsterdam Netherlands, was a recent sale for me in a UK National Newspaper. Built in the 1920's the exterior is a strange amalgamation of sinewy Gothic and amorphous Art Deco. It was built by Jewish entrepreneur Abraham Tuschinski who later died in the Nazi concentration camps in the second world war with most of his family. It is a poignant memorial to a remarkable man who started life as a tailor and ended up creating a movie theatre empire. Further to restoration in 2002 it is now open and if your in Amsterdam you can go and book a movie here and experience a remarkable building both inside and out.

More of my images of the Tuschinski Theatre

Beverley Minster

Went to Beverley, East Yorkshire UK over the weekend. It is the best kept secret in the UK - a beautiful town with heaps of history and architecture. The Minster is remarkable and has wonderful examples of the Early English and Decorated periods of Gothic. The photo I took above (click for larger) is of the Nave looking eastwards which took 40 years to build in the C14th and is from the Decorated period.

Whilst I was there I came across a man who was curiously looking at bits of stone work with his torch and marking information down on a piece of paper. I guessed he might be looking for stone masons marks and I was right (examples at Rosslyn). Stone Masons marks are cuts in stone by the mason during erection as a record of what work he has completed.

The gentleman with the torch kindly showed me a few which were over 700 years old. The most remarkable one being a full signature of a surname (Maldon or Morton I think). By recording all the marks in the Minster they hope to see if there was any pattern in construction which might throw light on the construction sequence of events.

Happy Anniversary!

Charlotte and I got married 12 months ago to this day in one of the most romantic (and er.. ahem... architecturally significant) locations on earth - Venice.

After the grand occasion at the Palazzo Cavelli we had lunch in a simple trattoria around the corner. For starter's we had Champagne and Parma Ham with oven baked aubergine. It's a taste I will never forget. At the ceremony, in typical Italian style, we had to vow to live up to Italian beliefs and bring our children up in the Italian way - no problem.

Charlotte's Mum and Dad and my Mum and Dad came along aswell as Sam and Emmy.

I said to Charlotte's Mum that it was Italian tradition that once married, the groom had to throw the Mother In Law into the Grand Canal - but she was having none of it;)

Tonight we celebrate with an Italian extravaganze - with champagne, parma ham, aubergines and much much more.....

Liverpool Light and Shadow

Went to Liverpool this morning and it is nice to see that the grandly entitled Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (ie the catholic cathedral) has now had its main entrance, promenade and visitor centre completed.

Further afield I note that the real catalyst for contemporary architecture is Liverpool University with several new buildings of various sizes and dispositions.

Aldham Robarts Learning and Resource Centre, Mount Pleasant, 1994, Austin Smith Lord

I noticed the shadow's of the trees against the plain white backdrop of the University of Liverpool's Aldham Robarts centre, and it got me wondering whether some architects are actually able to plan certain shadow and light effects on the surfaces of new buildings. As an architect, this would be a wonderful area to explore - especially in this age where a building can be placed into a virtual world with sunlight and shadow.

Take this even further and you could plan certain shadows from various sculpted points in the landscape to reach certain parts of the building at certain times. Imagine also surfaces which react to slight variations in temperature and change colour or leave an imprint for a short time just like a pinhole camera.

Hang on - hasn't this light and shadow trick been done before - Stonehenge?

More recently I was impressed by the way tree landscaping formed shadow effects on Tadao Ando's screen in Manchester - see below..

View More Images of Liverpool

View More Images of Tadao Ando's Screen

Roofing Sale

Latest sale is of a traditional tiled roof and leaded sweeping valley on a building next to Lendal Bridge York UK. Sold for educational use.

Click here to view some more roof images