Tim Abrahams

1 week ago | wallpaper.com | Tim Abrahams

The criticism Annabelle Selldorf received for her National Gallery Sainsbury Wing conversion plans was unprecedented when they were first presented. In October 2022, eight former presidents of the RIBA signed a letter to Westminster City Council criticising the proposals of her New York-based practice Selldorf Architects’ proposals for changing 'a finely conceived space into an airport lounge'. Critics and conservation bodies waded in.

3 weeks ago | thecritic.co.uk | Tim Abrahams

This article is taken from the April 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. For 200 years Giorgio Vasari’s book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (published 1550) dominated how we thought about architecture. Vasari detailed the means by which Brunelleschi, Michelangelo and others not only conceived, but importantly drew and built imaginative work.

4 weeks ago | engelsbergideas.com | Tim Abrahams

There are 21 garden cities in Brussels, built largely during the interwar period. The twin sites of Le Logis and Floréal are perhaps the finest; a stunning amalgam of Flemish craft, pops of colour and a layout styled on an English village. A visit is strangely unsettling, walking a familiar urban plan built out in a slightly different language. White harled cottages lurk behind privet hedges, but with French-style wooden external shutters on the windows.

1 month ago | superurban.substack.com | Tim Abrahams

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Hello Superurbanists, This week we have a fascinating story for you: one which builds on the strange early history of Venice and aerial bombardment. Jonathan Glancey, former architecture editor at The Guardian and, more recently, author and inhabitant of Venice, has just published Operation Bowler. It is the story of one of the forgotten episodes of World War II during which the Allies threatened La Serenissima with destruction.

2 months ago | thecritic.co.uk | Tim Abrahams

The Saudis are taking culture more seriously than one might think The celebrated film composer Hans Zimmer was not in fact approached to write a new national anthem for Saudi Arabia, as was reported recently. He was invited by a leading adviser to the Saudi crown to work on a film project about The Battle of Yarmuk. This was a decisive Muslim victory that ended Roman rule in Syria after about seven centuries and allowed the advance of Islam into the near East.