Category Archives: Stories

Tours: ‘Sliding House’ In Suffolk County, England

Having spent his formative years working as an actuary, Ross Russell knows a thing or two about calculated risks. As such, there was no better client to commission an experimental house with a 20-tonne sliding shell that can be removed to reveal roofless rooms and a behemoth conservatory-like structure beneath it. Here Ross takes a deep dive into the house’s design and reflects on life in truly versatile living spaces.

The house has been described by drMM as one for all seasons. During the warmer months, the structure can slide over the terrace to give shade to alfresco diners, while in winter it provides as extra insulation. Then there are the adaptable rooms inside the house, designed so they can either be sheltered or open to the sky, depending on the weather. One of the highlights is the bathroom, where people can soak under directly the sun or stars. When guests come to stay the first thing they typically ask, Ross says, is: “Can we have a bath?”

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Swiss Views: Corippo – The Village That Turned Hotel

In the Swiss canton of Tessin, a young family is transforming an entire village into a hotel. The abandoned houses of Corippo are being turned into guest rooms, the narrow lanes are becoming the hotel’s corridors. More and more villages in the Alps are dying out, young people are choosing to move to the cities.

At the northern end of artificial lake Lago di Vogorno, Corippo is about 12 kilometers from Locarno. You’ll probably see Corippo on the way to Lavertezzo. Italy is only 20 kilometers away.  

Previews: Country Life Magazine – August 31, 2022

‘We are still a nation of horse lovers’

Kate Green talks to Baron de Mauley, Master of the Horse, about equine lives good and bad

Now that’s what I call country music

The splash of a stream, the clip-clop of hooves, the lark’s song: we should cherish our sounds, avers John Lewis-Stempel

Where horses meet houses

Country-house eventing creates unique and envied amphitheatres for the sport, says Kate Green

Wild riding

Octavia Pollock finds liberty is all as she gallops across Dartmoor

Within these walls

The six acres of the Holkham Walled Garden, Norfolk, have been restored and are again productive. David Hurrion visits

Previews: The Guardian Weekly – September 2, 2022

The cover of the 2 September edition of the Guardian Weekly.

Burn out: Inside the 2 September Guardian Weekly

The spiralling cost of living has been an increasingly urgent problem in the UK. But for many people, huge rises in energy bills are about to turn a difficult situation into an impossible one.

Previews: Times Literary Supplement – Sept 2, 2022

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This week’s @TheTLS, featuring Ben Hutchinson on the Jena Set; @misbehavingmonk on his father’s Alzheimer’s; John Lloyd on liberalism; @RohanMaitzen on Maggie O’Farrell; @TomCook24 on Bishop and Heaney; M. C. on Salman Rushdie – and more.

News: Trump Obstruction Evidence, Nuclear Plant Inspection, U.S. Flooding

The Department of Justice revealed striking evidence that former President Trump obstructed a federal probe related to classified documents.

International nuclear experts are set to assess the status of equipment and well-being of staff at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Heavy rain and flooding has left the residents of Jackson Mississippi without safe drinking water.

Fermentation: The Future Animal-Free Meat Source?

Silicon Valley venture capital is feeding a budding business in fermented, animal-free proteins, creating bacon, turkey and egg white from yeasts and fungus. San Francisco correspondent Dave Lee considers its potential over a few slices of fungus salami.

Cover: The Architectural Review – September 2022

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AR September 2022

As students all over the world head back to school this month, this issue maps the different sites for learning – both inside and outside academic institutions. From rainforests to classrooms to disused water basins, spaces for education come in all different forms, but face similar challenges and are subjected to the same damaging forces: of marketisation, racism and colonialism, and asymmetries of power. Architecture schools are no exception, as this issue lays bare.

Wolff Architects | Alison Brooks Architects | Feilden Fowles| Níall McLaughlin Architects | Wright & Wright | Henley Halebrown | Comunal | Raumlabor | Joar Nango | bell hooks

Stories: World Real Estate Markets Wobble, Cities As War Zones, What ‘Data’ Is

As interest rates rise, lots of pandemic-era property trends are fading—but not every market is equally vulnerable as the boom peters out.

Generals have long avoided fighting in cities: it is messy and dangerous. Increasingly, though, they have no choice. And our language columnist on the subtle question of whether “data” is plural or singular.

Opinion: Sanctions On Russia, Debt Forgiveness, Work Commute Waste

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, are sanctions on Russia working? Plus, Joe Biden’s sweeping debt-forgiveness plan (10:00) and in defence of commuting (15:10).