The latest addition to Art Spaces series profiles one of the most famous and prestigious buildings in the world. The two-acre square, enclosed by a spectacular glass roof, transforms the Museum's inner courtyard into the largest covered public square in Europe.
Colin St John Wilson: Buildings and Projects is the definitive monograph on Sir Colin St John Wilson, one of the most important British architects of the second half of twentieth century. The book coincides with and celebrates St John Wilson's 85th birthday, spanning projects from throughout his career, from early works, to perhaps his most celebrated building, the British Library in London and its extension to his current project, the masterplanning of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. St John Wilson's peers include the likes of Reyner Banham, Philip Johnson and Louis Kahn, and he is one of the few living architects to have befriended both Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto. St John Wilson is also recognised as a leading theorist and teacher. Colin St John Wilson: Buidings and Projects presents detailed, newly commissioned scale drawings of all of St John Wilson's major work. This 496 page hardback book is beautifully illustrated with over 450 colour and black and white illustrations. Fascinating texts by respected architects and writers including Professor Roger Stonehouse and Eric Parry fully elucidate St John Wilson's contribution to modern architecture. St John Wilson himself contributes an essay on the making, writing and teaching of architecture. This erudite, comprehensive publication is the perfect companion to Black Dog Publishing's re-issue of St John Wilson's seminal The Other Tradition of Modern Architecture: The Uncompleted Project.
A landmark in the history of the British Museum and one of Norman Foster's most significant projects to date, the Great Court has reclaimed and reinvigorated one of London's most important public spaces, transforming the Museum. Published to coincide with a major retrospective of Foster's work held at the British Museum, this volume brings together essays, design drawings and photographs to provide an account of the development and completion of Foster's project. An introductory essay by Deyan Sudjic presents the Great Court as the culmination of centuries of change within the Museum - a reconciliation of past and future which has both restored and transfigured the heart of this public institution. Spencer de Grey, a partner at Foster and Partners, documents the design and construction of the individual elements within the Great Court and the vast glazed canopy which surmounts them. The volume is introduced by Norman Foster and illustrated with photographs of the Great Court during its construction and in its spectacular finished state.
Daljit Nagra possesses one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary English poetry. British Museum is his third collection, following his electrifying version of the epic Ramayana, and marks a significant departure of style to something quieter, more contemplative and inquisitive, at times valedictory. His political edge has been honed in a series of meditations and reflections upon our heritage, our legacy, and the institutions that define them: the BBC, Hadrian's Wall, the Sikh gurdwaras of our towns, the British Museum of the title poem. With compassion and charisma, Nagra explores the impact of the first wave of mass migration to our shores, the Arab Spring, the allure of extremism along with a series of personal poems about the pressures of growing up in a traditional community. British Museum is a book that asks profound questions of our ethics and responsibilities at a time of great challenge to our sense of national identity.
Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objectsare all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of BeninCity, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.
An exciting, wide-ranging exploration of the power and diversity of female figures of worship in world cultures and belief systems, from the ancient world to today.
This carefully researched survey examines how architects now use digital tools and physics to build spatial constructs that would have been inconceivable even ten years ago. Architecture has always relied on mathematics to achieve visual harmony, structural integrity, and logical construction. Now digital tools and an increasing interest in physics have given architects the means to describe and build spatial constructs that would have been inconceivable even ten years ago. This carefully researched survey of forty-six international projects offers an overview of how different strategies are being employed through accessible illustrations and clear text. Each section presents case studies of projects by globally recognized architects in diagrams, photographs, and texts.
As one of the world's greatest museums approaches its 250th anniversary, the British Museum has undertaken a massive development programme, largely facilitated by the removal of the British Library from Bloomsbury. The Great Court, commissioned by the British Museum from Norman Foster and Partners following a prestigious architectural competition, is at the centre of plans to position the Museum for the new millennium and to present it as a great new civic space. A 6100 square metre glass canopy will cover the new cultural plaza that has been designed around the dome of the famous Round Reading Room. A link between the Museum's important architectural history and building design of the future, the Great Court project is destined to be one of the great architectural sights of Europe.
A major publication on Hokusai's remarkable late work, incorporating fresh scholarship on the sublime paintings and prints the artist created in the last thirty years of his life