Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Friday, 8 February 2013
Just built
This little shed, for the gardeners at Hope Park in Keswick, Cumbria is just a mixture of odd bits, that have been altered over time, with little additions, perhaps badly done, certainly not designed but I find it really beautiful. Even the felt shingles, which are surely just a cheap replacement for natural slates look beautiful here.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Exposure
The effect of weather on even a hard and durable material like concrete. This is part of the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank. The bottom photo showing the original shutter finished concrete, left natural and undecorated. The top shows the south side of the same column, all the texture has gone leaving only the edge of the shuttering boards just visible.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Lime pointing
Last week I ran a two day lime training event organised by the NECT HSI. After a lecturing about lime mortars, slaking some putty, mixing several mortars with different sands, having a good look at the existing pointing on the barns at Low Luckens, we eventually got our hands dirty and did this.
From left to right; raked out, pointed and knocked back about four hours later.
From left to right; raked out, pointed and knocked back about four hours later.
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Graffiti No.2
On a backstreet in Nelson, Lancashire. The painted wickets have many layers from decades of regular repainting.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
V&A
Acknowledging historic damage can be an important part of social history...
...but thoughtless temporary fixings are not.
...but thoughtless temporary fixings are not.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Carrock Fell, Cumbria
Images from Google Earth and and survey by Collingwood 1937. Site of an Iron Age hillfort. It is believed that it was never occupied as a settlement. At 640m it must be the highest hillfort in the country. Apart from the boundary embankments which are massive and made from massive stones there are few distinguishable features. There are some ridges and dips but these are hard to make any sense of because of the extent of moss and peat. It's a 450m climb from the valley but only about 1.5km distance from the road. The valley is covered with fallen boulders, many as big as a van and some the size of houses. Appropriately it's named 'Apronful of Stones' and it's a well known place for climbers to practice bouldering.
The effect of frost on stone
These naturally cleft rocks are at the top of Carrock Fell. They look like they could be jemmied back into place, with a bit of effort, like a giant geological jigsaw puzzle.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Signage
I like just about everything about this. The black and white checkers along the top look like part of a film strip, like it's a small clip from a road movie. The dots on the arrow and letters are 'cats eyes' so they reflect the headlights. I can imagine the driver of an Austin 7 squinting through his rain soaked windscreen at the faint shine of the numbers. I don't often wish this, but I hope it's listed.
Monday, 14 February 2011
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