Articles by Phineas Harper

“We’re seeing an unprecedented mobilisation of architects in the fight against climate change”

June 11, 2019 Phineas Harper 0
Great Mosque of Djenné

With architects changing their ways in response to global warming, Phineas Harper asks: what does radical architecture look like in the era of climate change? A whole host of Stirling Prize-winning architecture practices have declared an emergency in response to accelerating climate change. Calling for a “paradigm shift”, they unveiled 11 pledges to bring architectural practice

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“The vision of the home as a tranquil respite from labour is a patriarchal fantasy”

April 18, 2019 Phineas Harper 0
Nuclear family home

Is the nuclear family home an architectural tool of repression and social control? asks Phineas Harper. The nuclear family house is one of the most successful architectural inventions ever. It has, spread across the world and is now the default template around which the vast majority of domestic architecture is designed and planning policies written.

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“The arms race for cultural dominion has reached new levels of absurdity”

March 13, 2019 Phineas Harper 0
London Centre for Music by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

The decision to build the London Centre for Music less than 300 metres away from an existing concert hall is the latest unnecessary example of global high-culture one-upmanship, says Phineas Harper. It has been 60 years since Welsh theorist and critic Raymond Williams wrote that “culture is ordinary”. Williams, who had grown up in foothills of the

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10 architecture breakthroughs you might have missed in 2018

December 28, 2018 Phineas Harper 0
Floating University Berlin

From a floating university to a network of black female architects, Phineas Harper offers an alternative guide to the year’s most important happenings in architecture. A barrage of “top 10” articles come out at the end of every year, trumpeting the best films, plays, exhibitions and so on of the previous 12 months. It’s a

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“The world’s most sustainable office building isn’t enough to save the planet”

October 12, 2018 Phineas Harper 0

Awarding the Stirling Prize to Foster + Partners for its Bloomberg building sends the wrong message and risks runaway global warming. We need a new approach to sustainability says Phineas Harper. Sustainability has been seen for years by architects as a worthy but tedious constraint. Tick-box regulations have been adopted by a compliant but begrudging

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“What if houses were designed like bikes?”

August 10, 2018 Phineas Harper 0

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the factory-built Futuro House, it’s time for a radical rethinking of architectural manufacturing, says Phineas Harper. The UK government is pouring billions into pre-fabricated architecture yet naysayers turn their nose up at the prospect of mass-produced homes. Ingenious designers of the past saw the potential of industrial fabrication. It doesn’t

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“Forensic Architecture winning the Turner Prize would risk turning sensitive investigative work into insensitive entertainment”

May 4, 2018 Phineas Harper 0

Forensic Architecture’s Turner Prize shortlisting is a warning for architects to be vigilant of the arts world co-opting their work as grizzly entertainment, argues Phineas Harper. Here we go again. Once more an architectural collective has been nominated for the Turner Prize. Once more they stand just outside the profession with neither the organisation nor its

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“Architecture schools are the punching bags of the industry”

March 16, 2018 Phineas Harper 0

It’s time to stop blaming architecture schools for systemic problems like poor diversity and the mental health crisis, says Phineas Harper. The Architectural Association recently concluded its long search for a new director with an internal election. Eva Franch i Gilabert emerged triumphant with 587 of a possible 1,077 votes. In her manifesto, Franch painted

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“Architects are not just relaxed about cultural appropriation, we’re experts”

January 8, 2018 Phineas Harper 0

A movement is growing against cultural appropriation, but we mustn’t let it spell the end for historical references in architecture, says Phineas Harper. Compared to other art forms, architecture gets an easy ride in the court of public opinion. Filmmakers, pop musicians and fashion designers know, one ill-judged move and they’ll be hung out to dry by a

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