Owen Hatherley

3 weeks ago | thequietus.com | Bobby Barry |Owen Hatherley

The other ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was composed by Allan Gray, for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death. It consists of a short, slightly dissonant, uneasy piano phrase, repeating before being accompanied by sparse, equally queasy strings; the sound of being somewhere between, the sound of stasis, suspension and uncertainty.

Dec 16, 2024 | jacobin.com | Owen Hatherley

In the center of the English industrial port of Grimsby is a public library of great richness. From a distance, the building appears to be a simple concrete box, but go up close and you will notice five human figures, representations of “the Guardians of Knowledge,” carved into the facade. At the corner, an abstract […] Sorry, but this article is available to subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.

Dec 12, 2024 | architectsjournal.co.uk | Owen Hatherley

Simon Jenkins begins his popular summary of architecture in Britain with his own version of Pevsner’s definition of architecture. Rather than ‘Lincoln Cathedral’ and ‘A Garden Shed’, Jenkins points to two neolithic structures. These are Stonehenge (religious, prestigious – architecture); and the interlinked stone rotundas at the Orkney village of Skara Brae (merely functional – not architecture).

Nov 14, 2024 | tribunemag.co.uk | Owen Hatherley

Until the last few years, most people of working age in Britain would have had little experience of inflation, at least outside of the usually (and inexplicably) exempted case of housing.

Nov 5, 2024 | artreview.com | Owen Hatherley

Russia’s recent strike on Kharkiv’s Constructivist complex represents an attack on a radical yet largely forgotten legacy of anti-colonialismThe Derzhprom building, a vast Constructivist complex in the centre of the Ukrainian second city of Kharkiv – which received a direct hit from a Russian rocket at the end of October – was on something called the UNESCO ‘tentative list’, the longlist of buildings which are considered for World Heritage Status after a proposal from a national state.