Architecture

Discover the history, legends and folklore of Britain’s most intriguing landmarks

This beautifully illustrated book reveals the secrets and stories of fifty icons of Britain’s landscape.

Some are natural wonders, such as Cheddar Gorge, Sherwood Forest and the white cliffs of Dover. Others were made by our distant ancestors: the standing stones of Avebury and Calanais, the Uffington White Horse, the burial mounds of Sutton Hoo.

Discover how they came to be, the legends and traditions that surround them, and how they have inspired famous writers and poets. Reconnect with our ancient landscape with this fascinating and surprising guide.

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Unbuilt tells the stories of the plans, drawings and proposals that emerged during the 20th century in an unparalleled era of optimism in architecture.

Many of these grand projects stayed on the drawing board, some were flights of fancy that couldn’t be built, and in other cases test structures or parts of buildings did emerge in the real world. The book features the work of Buckminster Fuller, Geoffrey Bawa, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and Archigram, as well as contemporary architects such as Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Will Alsop and Rem Koolhaas.

Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, maps, collages and models from all over the world, it covers everything from Buckminster Fuller’s plan for a ‘Domed city’ in Manhattan to Le Corbusier’s utopian dream of skyscraper living in central Paris, from a proposed network of motorways ploughing through central London to a crazy-looking scheme for ‘rolling pavements’ in post-war Berlin. 

This is an important book, not just for the rich stories of what might have been in our built world, but also to give understanding to the motivations and dreams of architects, sometimes to build a better world, but sometimes to pander to egos. It includes plans that pushed the boundaries – from plug-in cities, moving cities, space cities, domes and floating cities to Maglev, teleportation and rockets. Many ideas were just ahead of their time, and some, thankfully, we were always better without. 

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Over 2,000 years of settlement give London its unique architectural heritage. Unlike Haussmann’s Paris, neither monarch nor politician imposed their will; private ownership and enterprise shaped the city and defined its parts. Elegant West End squares and crescents hallmark the Classical townscape that emerged between 1600 and 1830, but medieval, Tudor and Victorian enclaves identified by occupation, class or guild make their own design statement, notably in the City and East End. From its renewal after the Great Fire of 1666 as a centre of commerce, culture, finance and as a railway hub, the seat of power and law, How to Read London reveals through the built environment how London’s domestic, civic and commercial landscape has evolved and adapted from imperial capital to global city.

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BRUTAL NORTH offers the first photographic exploration of modernist and Brutalist architecture across the North of England.

During the post-war years the North of England saw the building of some of the most aspirational, enlightened and successful modernist architecture in the world. For the first time, a single photographic book captures those buildings, in all their power and progressive ambition.

Over the last few years acclaimed photographer Simon Phipps has travelled and sought out the publicly commissioned architecture of the post-war North. From Newcastle’s Byker Wall Estate, voted the best neighbourhood in the UK, to the extraordinary Park Hill Estate in Sheffield, from Preston’s sweeping bus station and Liverpool’s Royal Insurance Building, these structures have seen off threats to their survival and are rightly celebrated for the imprint they leave upon the skyline and the cultural life of their cities.

This inspiring invitation to explore northern modernism includes maps and detailed information about all the architecture photographed.

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Thinking of buying a Victorian or Edwardian house? Or maybe you already own one? Either way, this clearly written manual explains all you need to know about the care and repair of these classic properties. Today, many houses of this age are in need of extensive updating and maintenance, having suffered years of neglect. Some have been damaged by misguided home improvements or botched repairs using the wrong materials. Even newly refurbished properties can sometimes conceal dangerous structural alterations and shoddy build-quality. This unique manual provides detailed, expert advice, backed up with clear how to colour photographs, describing where to check for the critical danger signs and how to fix all common defects. Each chapter is devoted to a key part of the house in the style of a professional home survey, guiding you safely through the whole building. The author also investigates potential dangers from subsidence, damp, beetle infestation, fungal decay, lead paint, lead pipes, asbestos and toxic mould . Every old house has a story to tell, and one of the joys of owning a valuable antique building is discovering its history stripping back modern finishes to reveal long lost original features. So the manual also includes a wealth of fascinating information about 19th & early 20th century houses everything from the immeasurable contribution made by Victorian toilet pioneers such as the legendary Thomas Crapper, to why horse hair and dung were common ingredients in building materials. Coming right up to date, the book shows the best ways to upgrade and extend your home for 21st century lifestyles, and reveals which improvements add real value and the ones to avoid. * Discover how your house was built its age, materials and history, also where Victorian building work was sometimes skimped. *The DEFECT / CAUSE / SOLUTION format helps you quickly identify and solve all common defects *Step-by-step photo features show the correct way to carry out repairs and maintenance *Common sense solutions to damp and timber problems *Assessing cracking when to start worrying *How to avoid expensive mistakes and quick fix scams *How to boost thermal efficiency to make your home warm with lower energy bills

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• Examines a wide variety of British building types dating from 1945 to 1979, with exquisite photographs of them as they were originally conceived
• Includes the works of an important array of architects, including Richard Seifert, Alison and Peter Smithson, and Erno Goldfinger
• Published to complement the display Futures Found at the Royal Academy in February 2017

Lost Futures looks in detail at the wide range of buildings constructed in Britain between 1945 and 1979. Although their bold architectural aspirations reflected the forward-looking social ethos of the postwar era, many have since been either demolished or altered beyond recognition.

Photographs taken at the time of their completion are accompanied by expertly researched captions that examine the buildings’ design, creation, the ideals they embodied and the reasons for their eventual destruction. Lost Futures covers many building types, from housing to factories, commercial spaces and power stations, and presents the work of both iconic and lesser-known architects. The author charts the complex reasons that led to the loss of these projects’ ambitious futures, and assesses whether some might one day be recaptured.

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“Not only has Alan Partridge created an entirely new storytelling structure, it’s very funny indeed.” Jon Ronson

‘Partridge… has become the man our time deserves. Aha!’ The Times

In Big Beacon, Norwich’s favourite son and best broadcaster, Alan Partridge, triumphs against the odds. TWICE.

Using an innovative ‘dual narrative’ structure you sometimes see in films, Big Beacon tells the story of how Partridge heroically rebuilt his TV career, rising like a phoenix from the desolate wasteland of local radio to climb to the summit of Mount Primetime and regain the nationwide prominence his talent merits.

But then something quite unexpected and moving, because Big Beacon also tells the story of a selfless man, driven to restore an old lighthouse to its former glory, motivated by nothing more than respect for a quietly heroic old building that many take for granted, which some people think is a metaphor for Alan himself even though it’s not really for them to say.*

Leaving his old life behind and relocating to a small coastal village in Kent, Alan battles through adversity, wins the hearts and minds of a suspicious community, and ultimately shows himself to be a quite wonderful man.

* The two strands will run in tandem, their narrative arcs mirroring each other to make the parallels between the two stories abundantly clear to the less able reader.

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