wobei das wirklich alte bücher sind die besten bücher der letzten jahre waren canberk köktürk: fascholand sarah lorenz: mit dir da möchte ich im himmel kaffee trinken otessa moshfegh: mein jahr der ruhe und entspannung mark fisher: ghosts of my life @barnabascalder.bsky.social : raw concrete

ｅｒｄｊｏｈａｎｎ@erdjohann.eurosky.social · 24h ago

2. umberto eco: der name der rose robert pirsig: zen und die kunst ein motorrad zu warten douglas coupland: generation x banana yoshimoto: kitchen jürgen roth/michael rudolph: spalt-produkte

I've set out my alternative proposal for the Rotterdam Shift Embassy: www.dezeen.com/2026/08/03/r...

"I find its architectural language embarrassing and condescending, too - sustainable architecture if you asked AI to draw it for you. In reality, sustainable architecture is new window shutters on an old house." @barnabascalder.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/barnab...

Building new buildings for sustainability. Really? How can this possibly do enough good to compensate for the harm of designing, CGI-ing building it? Two towers of "rock-like" caverns planne...

Building new buildings for sustainability. Really? How can this possibly do enough good to compensate for the harm of designing, CGI-ing building it? Two towers of "rock-like" caverns planned for Rott...

linkedin.com

I’m co-convening a conference with @aidandiable.bsky.social at the University of Warwick for doctoral and early-career researchers exploring place, civic identity, national belonging, and political imagination across historical and contemporary contexts. Get in touch for the call for papers.

Do you know of someone who might be interested in doing a #PhD on the urban, architectural and environmental history of the University of Liverpool? If so could you point them in my direction?

If you're not following Frans Saraste, it's time to take a hard look at your priorities and values. Or you could just follow him, I suppose.

Frans Saraste@franssaraste.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Birch had the lowest value as building timber as it wasn’t very weatherproof. But in mixed forests, felling fast-growing birch was part of maintenance, making space for pine and spruce. At the same time, birch was the best firewood. So birchfuel supported long-term investment in growing timber.

Please join @barnabascalder.bsky.social and me for a talk next Wednesday, 18 March, 6 pm for the Academy of Urbanism in the office of Collective Architecture, at 13 Bath Street in Glasgow, www.theaou.org/events/autho...

Authors of Urbanism: Form Follows Fuel with Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban

Join authors Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban to a look to the past for inspiration in the urgent fight against climate change

theaou.org

Maize, rice, and wheat can be stored for up to a decade or more, and from those, cities are built. "Goliath's Curse" is great to read when paired with: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/cul... by @barnabascalder.bsky.social

Book review: Architecture From Prehistory to Climate Emergency, by Barnabas Calder

ACAN’s Joe Giddings reviews Barnabas Calder’s ground-breaking new history of architecture told through the relationship between buildings and energy

architectsjournal.co.uk

Two events next week for @florianurban.bsky.social and my book with @johnczulowskiburns.bsky.social, Form Follows Fuel. Come to a discussion with @jeremytill.bsky.social and Anthony Powis at U of Westminster on Tuesday, or our London book launch Wednesday 5pm at the Bartlett. Links follow:

Book Launch: Form Follows Fuel

Join Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban for the launch of 'Form Follows Fuel: 14 Buildings from Antiquity to the Oil Age' exploring how energy has shaped architecture.

ucl.ac.uk

Thank you so much - I'm glad it's proven useful.

Rupert Cook@rupertcook.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Just finished @barnabascalder.bsky.social ‘s Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency. Highly recommended! It’s not a history of style, but of energy. From wood to oil, our fuel has dictated our forms. Now, we need a seismic shift in our approach and choices. 1/2

I was on BBC R4 today talking about the beautiful South Bank Centre. Starts 19 mins in. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Front Row - Review: Wuthering Heights film and Jack Thorne's Lord of the Flies - BBC Sounds

Former artistic director Jude Kelly on the Southbank Centre being Grade II listed.

bbc.co.uk

Here's me prompted by Matt Rendell to risk the opinion that perhaps the #winterolympics could be less #climatecrisis and ecosystem destructive: m.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhW...

Winter Olympics Report 3 - Off Track

YouTube video by New Weather Institute

m.youtube.com

Great to have @tim-waterman.co.uk speaking at Liverpool School of Architecture today. Masses of thought-provoking insights on our perceptions of our planet, and even some hopeful notes, which is quite a hard thing to achieve in January 2026.

The correct answer was:

Barnabas Calder@barnabascalder.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Guess #whatbuilding:

Guess #whatbuilding:

Brilliant to see the BBC picking up Ranald Lawrence and Dean Hawkes' fabulously interesting and important #environmentalhumanities work on #HardwickHall. They measured solar gain to understand Elizabethan comfort tech. The original articles are hugely worth reading too. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

'The past is an underused tool': An Elizabethan mansion's secrets for staying warm

In a deadly cold period known as the Little Ice Age, clever Elizabethan designs kept a magnificent stately home unusually warm – with lessons for how we can heat our own homes better.

bbc.co.uk

Did anyone snap the Foster/Holcim Essential Homes prototype at the Venice Biennale 2023? If so might I be able to use your photo for an article? I'm not getting replies to my request for permission.

The wonderful @johnczulowskiburns.bsky.social has joined Bluesky! Do give him a follow. He's the architect who produced the digital models of our buildings for #FormFollowsFuel, which enabled us to calculate #embodiedenergy for each of them. Also the stunning cover image. @florianurban.bsky.social

Fav books '25 No particular order, just bangers, no prisoners taken. * Straw Bale Building Redefined strawbuildingbooks.com * Form Follows Fuel @barnabascalder.bsky.social @florianurban.bsky.social * Building for People @holz-bau.bsky.social * Die Exponentialgesellschaft @deutschmann.bsky.social

The great @milesglendinning.bsky.social has joined bluesky! Please follow him if you're interested in #housing, #heritage and #architecturalhistory.

Malcolm Fraser architect backs keeping Argyle House, Edinburgh. Redevelop don't demolish. #brutalist #architecture @barnabascalder.bsky.social #embodiedcarbon

EdinburghMinute.com@edinburghminute.com · 9mo ago

In an open letter shared with The Edinburgh Minute, architect Malcolm Fraser, known for his work on the Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre, DanceBase and Dovecot Studios, argues against plans to demolish Argyle House: www.edinburghminute.com/three-reason...

@florianurban.bsky.social found for our book Form Follows Fuel that it's v hard to get #embodiedenergy figures for buildings today. #embodiedcarbon is widespread, yet it's much less clear, and more vulnerable to distortion. Here's our argument: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/is-embo...

Is embodied carbon a vanity metric?

With ambitions for regenerative architecture increasing, it is vitally important that we measure the right things in trying to get there, say Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban

architectsjournal.co.uk

David wins some big bragging rights for this. Staggering!

David Brady@antiprofessor.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Cannot find an architect's name for die neue Flensburg Bahnhof, 1928, unless it is Emil Freiß?

A super-tough #whatbuilding for you.

This summary piece of Barnabas Calder's thinking about energy and architecture (in Dezeen, form 2023) is a blast of sense. There's mention too of Yasmeen Lari's important work. #architecture

Barnabas Calder@barnabascalder.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I offered a dissenting voice in this article about "beauty" in #architecture, though little of it got in. Essentially, I can't see why style wars should wang on self-promotingly through a climate emergency. www.ft.com/content/fd8a... I put the case here too: www.dezeen.com/2023/01/12/a...

I offered a dissenting voice in this article about "beauty" in #architecture, though little of it got in. Essentially, I can't see why style wars should wang on self-promotingly through a climate emergency. www.ft.com/content/fd8a... I put the case here too: www.dezeen.com/2023/01/12/a...

Who should decide what makes a building beautiful?

Everyone agrees that we need more homes, and fast — and that we want them to look good. But who should be the judge: architects, governments or the general public?

ft.com

on the plane home from conferences on #sufficiency and #passivhaus I read "Form Follows Fuel" by Florian Urban and @barnabascalder.bsky.social. It has remarkable relevance to both, a brilliant book demonstrating that we cannot get a real grip on upfront carbon without embracing sufficiency.

A tale of two conferences and a book, "Form Follows Fuel"

I attend a Sufficiency conference in Edinburgh and a Passivhaus conference in Belfast, and read a new book relevant to both.

lloydalter.substack.com

This will be really interesting and fun if you can get to Chester this weekend: learning to build medieval gothic vaults from very accurate foam replicas. I can't wait! chestercathedral.com/events/event... #architecture #medievalarchitecture #vaulting #chester

In a slightly abstract twist, where were we yesterday?!

#architectureandenergy Thanks to the 100+ people who joined our book launch event last night at the Glasgow School of Art! Well done Chloe and Kieran @architectsdeclare.bsky.social for organising this event, and thanks to @barnabascalder.bsky.social and www.instagram.com/john_joseph_...