Sad to find that FNAC is like WH Smiths now, books and films in a corner of a store full of electro-junk.

Ps Bobigny Town Hall has to be one of the most beautiful in the world.

Tourist tat fridge magnets are all AI slop now.

Congratulations to @rproctor.bsky.social whose book 'Percy Thomas: Modern Architecture as a National Service' has been shortlisted for the @thesahgb.bsky.social Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion! Discover more about this fascinating book and read the full shortlist: www.sahgb.org.uk/features/202...

very pleased to be shortlisted for the @thesahgb.bsky.social Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion in a very strong year for 20th Century architectural history titles, with fantastic books from @alistairfair.bsky.social @holsmith.bsky.social @rproctor.bsky.social & others www.sahgb.org.uk/features/202...

Shortlists revealed for the 2026 Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize - SAHGB

The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history – the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize – have been revealed.

sahgb.org.uk

save-gsa.uk Keeping an eye on this, late though it is; petition setting up shortly, apparently.

Very exciting news that 'Building Modern Scotland' has been shortlisted for the @thesahgb.bsky.social's Alice Davis Hitchcock award alongside excellent titles by @holsmith.bsky.social @matthewwhitfield.bsky.social @rproctor.bsky.social and others! www.sahgb.org.uk/features/202...

The SAHGB Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion book shortlist has been announced, and I'm delighted to find that my book on Percy Thomas is included, alongside brilliant new books by @alistairfair.bsky.social @holsmith.bsky.social @matthewwhitfield.bsky.social and others. www.sahgb.org.uk/features/202...

Shortlists revealed for the 2026 Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize - SAHGB

The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history – the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize – have been revealed.

sahgb.org.uk

Struggling to read a poorly written and badly edited academic book from a while ago, had to laugh when the last sentence just cuts off halfway through, 2/3 the way down a page, like the author reached a deadline at 5.00 so just stopped work and sent it in.

Entering l'Antigone. It's a pomo new town. Odd atmosphere though pedestrianised, so that's one up on Poundbury.

Park the bus now, yes?

QAA benchmark statements blatantly written with AI, advocating use of AI, I see. Classy.

Spent most of the day working in an archive in the basement of a historic building in Bath 15C lower than the outdoor temperature with no air conditioning, walked outside and ... quite like it actually.

Jože’s Bizarre Adventure: Jože Plečnik’s Church of the Holy Spirit in Vienna (1911-13), surreal spatial moments and strange columns that are at once Doric and Cubist:

Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️@jgbollard.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The two flood control structures by Otto Wagner are both underrated, but obviously should eat second after Steinhof and the bizarre Plecnik churches.

Sure I've mentioned this before somewhere, but why on earth did C20 architects think "pack donkeys" couldn't go in straight lines?

And the brick buildings on the right are by Leslie Martin.

Hugh Jones@hbsj.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of @uniofhull.bsky.social The brick building on the left is the Venn building, named for the eponymous mathematician and diagrammist, who came from Hull If you like this image, I’d really appreciate a repost - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

Love a potentially infinite building with interesting section, teak window frames, and flat concrete plane at apparently arbitrary end slice. (Royal Berks Hospital, Reading).

Everybody stop sending me emails at the same time challenge.

Palace of the Ether is out (and about). Thanks to the team @lhartbooks.bsky.social for producing such a lovely artefact & to the many archivists, librarians, colleagues and friends who got me to this point.

'Meticulously researched, erudite, and with a compelling thesis.' An interesting review of @rproctor.bsky.social's 'Percy Thomas: Modern Architecture as a National Service' in the latest C20 Magazine @c20society.bsky.social Read more about this 'indispensable volume': www.uwp.co.uk/book/percy-t...

New article idea brewing but I have to write the other one first conundrum.

Got my reserved seat on a CrossCountry train: no window, filth on seat, sewage stench, as usual.

Join the C20 Society. Not that there was anything more we could have done to prevent this shameful waste.

C20 Society@c20society.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Monday blues: Bye-bye to Bath Fire Station (1938-39) How did it come to this? A rare pre-war building by a female architect, Molly Taylor; survived the Baedecker Blitz; located within two UNESCO World Heritage Sites; recommended for listing by C20 & Historic England, yet rejected by DCMS in 2025.

Well good to know that a plus side to deciding not to submit a paper proposal to the Society of Architectural Historians Annual Conference in Mexico this year was that I didn't get caught up in a mass shooting at an ancient pyramid, but rather shocked and sorry for anyone who was there.

Mildly amused by news story about Duncan Sandys, later of Civic Trust and sponsor of Conservation Area legislation, visiting a city as minister in 1956, ceremonially sitting in a bulldozer and demolishing a house in a slum clearance scheme.

Ugh, Outlook changing all the calendar colours from boring to bright and saturated, not what I needed on migraine Friday.

I know we all hate AI writing but I just asked the copilot button to turn all my underlined headings in a Word doc into proper headings so I could navigate around them more easily because I was too lazy to remind myself how to do it, and it did it. More of *that* kind of AI would really be useful.

Bath at the wrong end of the scale.

Bath, the Golden Plaice.

Reading Alison Ravetz, 'Remaking Cities', 1980, and although in many ways it's been superseded, it really is wonderfully rich and prescient. Some points I've been impressed by so far. ->