Tag Archives: England

Future Of Homebuilding: “Cork House” By Matthew Barnett Howland (2019)

From Architect Matthew Barnett Howland website:

Matthew Barnett Howland Cork HouseCork House embodies a strong whole life approach to sustainability, from resource through to end-of-life.  Expanded cork is a pure bio-material made with waste from cork forestry.  The bark of the cork oak is harvested by hand every nine years without harming the tree or disturbing the forest.  Matthew Barnett Howland Cork HouseThis gentle agro-industry sustains the Mediterranean cork oak landscapes, providing a rich biodiverse habitat that is widely recognised. This compelling ecological origin of expanded cork is mirrored at the opposite end of the building’s lifecycle.  The construction system is dry-jointed, so that all 1,268 blocks of cork can be reclaimed at end-of-building-life for re-use, recycling, or returning to the biosphere.

Completed in 2019, Cork House was designed by Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton.

Cork House is a brand new and radically simple form of plant-based construction.  Monolithic walls and corbelled roofs are made almost entirely from solid load-bearing cork.  This highly innovative self-build construction kit is designed for disassembly, is carbon-negative at completion and has exceptionally low whole life carbon.

To read more: https://www.matthewbarnetthowland.com/

New Museum Exhibitions: “Troy – Myth And Reality” At The British Museum

From The British Museum website:

The British MuseumFrom Helen of Troy’s abduction to the deception of the Trojan Horse and the fall of the city, tread the line between myth and reality in this phenomenal new exhibition.

Troy Myth and Reality British Museum ExhibitThe story of the ancient city of Troy, and of the great war that was fought over it, has been told for some 3,000 years. Spread by travelling storytellers, it was cast into powerful words by the Greek poet Homer as early as the eighth to seventh century BC – and into powerful images by ancient Greek and Roman artists. Just as it enraptured audiences in the past, it still speaks to us today and it’s easy to see why. It’s a story that has it all – love and loss, courage and passion, violence and vengeance, triumph and tragedy – on a truly epic scale.

Spanning several decades, the tale is set in Greece’s mythical past. At its heart is the powerful city of Troy on the western coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), besieged for 10 years by the Greeks, who sailed across the Aegean Sea to take revenge for a grave insult – the abduction of a woman. This ancient world war features a stellar cast of characters. Even the gods are involved.

To read more: https://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-myth-of-the-trojan-war/

Book Review Podcasts: Nicholas Buccola (“The Fire Is Upon Us”) Discusses A Great Intellectual Debate In 1965 (NY Times)

The Fire Is Upon Us Nicholas BuccolaIn 1965, James Baldwin, by then internationally famous, faced off against William F. Buckley Jr., one of the leading voices of American conservatism, in a debate hosted by the Cambridge Union in England. The debate proposition before the house was: “The American dream is at the expense of the American Negro.”

Nicholas Buccola’s “The Fire Is Upon Us” tells the story of that intellectual prizefight as well as the larger story of Buckley’s and Baldwin’s lives.

 

Special Magazine Issues: Country Life “Victorian Houses- The Masterpieces”

From a Country Life online article:

Country Life Victorian Houses - The Masterpieces 2019First published in 1897, Country Life is itself a late-Victorian institution. What could be more appropriate, therefore, than to celebrate this anniversary with a collector’s issue of articles and photographs from the magazine’s archives?

An opening timeline offers an overview of the Victorian Age, but the focus of what follows is exclusively architectural. The coverage of country houses has always been central to the magazine, but it can also claim to have been a pioneer in the study of Victorian architecture through the work of two former Architectural Editors, Mark Girouard and Michael Hall.

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, respectively in May and August, 1819. Their marriage 21 years later in 1840 was long arranged and, after a difficult beginning, grew to be unexpectedly happy. With perfect symmetry, it lasted 21 years, until Prince Albert’s early death in 1861.

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During that time, the couple established a completely new mode of Royal Family life and redefined the role of Britain’s constitutional monarchy. All of this happened as Britain developed at an astonishing speed into the most powerful nation in the world. When the Queen died in 1901, there was no question that a remarkable age of British history had come to a close.
Read more at https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/focus-greatest-victorian-houses-britain-featu:red-magnificent-one-off-magazine-207774#cLqLhWZ6ouDLuAM1.99

Automotive Nostalgia: 1940s British Van “Morris Commercial” Relaunches With All-Electric Model

From a AutoCar online article:

Morris Commercial Electric VanThe van is new from the ground up, sitting on a new modular platform and featuring a 60kWh lithium ion powertrain said to endow it with a “power-to-weight efficiency that fully maximises the range of the vehicle”. It can fast charge to 80% in 30 minutes. 

Morris Commercial ranks it alongside the Mini, Morris Minor and Land Rover Defender as a “truly iconic post-war British automotive design”.

Revived thanks to unnamed UK and European financial backing, Morris Commercial’s first production model since the 1960s has a 200-mile range, a 1000kg payload and a 2.5-tonne gross weight.

Company website: https://www.morris-commercial.com/

It’ll be priced from £60,000 and set to be built in the UK at an undisclosed location, with the design an engineering taking place in a facility in Worcestershire.

Morris Commercial Electric Van

To read more: https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/morris-commercial-revived-1940s-style-electric-van?utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=&utm_content=ACAR%20ENews%20Bulletin%20-%20SUBS%20AD%20V5%20(14.11.2019)::article2_readmore&utm_source=20191114

 

Classic Car Restoration: British Icon David Gandy And His 1954 Jaguar XK120

From a Gentleman’s Journal online article:

I was involved from start to finish — with the concepting, design and specification of the car. I worked incredibly closely with the JLR team to get the exact design I envisaged. And every one of those decisions was carefully considered; from wheels and engine, to brakes, interior and suspension. We uprated the engine to 225bhp, and added better cooling. The car was changed to right hand drive, given fully adjustable suspension, better brakes, a fast-shift gearbox and bespoke interior. In all, 2,700 man hours were put into restoring it.

Classic Cars David Gandy Jaguar XK120

Classic Cars David Gandy Jaguar XK120David Gandy wears many hats. He wears his model hat. He wears his director’s hat. He wears his creative hat. Here, in fact, he’s wearing a rather nice herringbone flat cap. But we’re mostly interested, as he rolls up in his meticulous vintage Jaguar XK120, in his latest passion project — and his car restoration hat.

When Gandy, who has raced Jaguars twice in the historic Mille Miglia, decided to run a third time, he dreamt up the idea of building a one-off pre-1957 XK120 for the race. Based on the ‘lightweight’ racing versions of the 1950s and 60s, the plan was to find a car, perfectly restore it and tune it up into competitive condition in just six months. Unsurprisingly, with hat firmly on head, that’s exactly what Gandy did.

To read more: https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/article/david-gandy-explains-how-he-restored-his-dream-jaguar-xk120/

Top New Nature Books: “Turning The Boat For Home” By Richard Mabey

From a Cotswold Life online interview/review:

Turning The Boat For Home Richard Mabey cover“I suppose I started off with a fairly literal view of the world,” he says. “But, quite early on, it became clear to me that there was much more going on than simply the picture I was seeing; that the natural world had an agenda of its own; that it was going to live out life, regardless of how we viewed it and how we used it; and, indeed, regardless of the fancy metaphors that we used.”

Oh my goodness. Where to begin?

I could start with the ‘Praying Beech’ – a tree whose (‘whose’? The human possessive feels simultaneously wrong and yet just right) two branch stubs clasped each other like hands. Once, when the rain fell in an apocalyptic burst, Richard Mabey watched its bark melt in front of his eyes. It was, of course, no stranger to extremes of weather: one summer past, the tree had been split by lightning, bees hunkering down in its newly-created hollows. Sometime later, a storm had toppled it, leaving fungi free to colonise its delicious surfaces: knobbly coral spots; dead man’s fingers rising corpse-like from the tree’s own rot; white porcelain tufts, like Royal Worcester plates awaiting a delicate slice of egg-yellow sponge.

To read more: https://www.cotswoldlife.co.uk/people/interview-with-nature-writer-richard-mabey-1-6357450?utm_medium=email&utm_source=eshot&utm_campaign=newsletterlinknewtemplate

Short Films: “The Art Of Collecting” By Petr Krejčí

Filmed and Directed by: Petr Krejčí

A film commissioned by Goldsmith’s Compay for Goldsmith’s Fair 2019. This year’s theme was about collecting and collectors.

Goldsmiths’ Fair is recognised internationally as the premier UK showcase for contemporary jewellery and silver.

The Art of Collecting short Film Goldsmiths' Fair 2019

Each year, this unique event draws collectors, design lovers and luxury shoppers to the magnificent Goldsmiths’ Hall where they can browse the latest collections from this handpicked selection of craftsmen and women.

Website: https://www.goldsmithsfair.co.uk/

Automobile Nostalgia: 1950’s “Alfa Romeo B.A.T.” Concept Cars Exhibited In London Nov 20-23

From a Classic Driver online article:

Titled Trinity: B.A.T. 5-7-9 and poised to take place at Phillips Berkeley Square on 20–23 November 2019, the exhibition will highlight B.A.T. 5, 7 and 9s’ visionary aesthetics in addition to their significance in the wider context of 20th-century art, architecture and design. 

Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica concept cars

Designed for Bertone by the supremely talented Franco Scaglione in the 1950s, the Alfa Romeo-based Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica concept cars are seminal objects of 20th-century design. Widely known as the B.A.T. cars, the trio of audacious, ultra-aerodynamic and fully functional prototypes pushed the boundaries of automotive design like nothing that had come before and truly embodied avant-garde creativity.

To read more: https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/phillips-bringing-mythical-bertone-bat-concept-cars-london?utm_campaign=892019%20Aston%20Martin%20DB7%20Zagato%20EN&utm_content=892019%20Aston%20Martin%20DB7%20Zagato%20EN%20CID_a86e9a9f98d16c5ff80cce42a13cdc42&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=Phillips%20is%20bringing%20the%20mythical%20Bertone%20BAT%20concept%20cars%20to%20London

Top New Travel Videos: “Albion” Is An Aerial View Of Great Britain (2019)

Filmed, Edited and Directed by: Alex William Helin

Albion Short Travel Video In England by Alex William Helin 2019

Albion, another name for the island of Great Britain, is a journey through foggy English countryside via rocky limestone scenery to Scottish highlands.

Albion Short Travel Video In England by Alex William Helin 2019

Music: Aeons 2 by Mark Petrie/ Andrew Phralow

Website: https://www.awhelinphotography.com/