Biography
Colin Davies is an architect, a teacher, a writer and a
historian. He is a former editor of The Architects’ Journal
and a regular contributor to architectural magazines world-wide,
whose books include ‘High Tech Architecture’ and
monographs on the work of Norman Foster, Michael Hopkins,
Nicolas Grimshaw and other contemporary architects. His recent
book 'The Prefabricated Home' treats its subject broadly,
fusing cultural criticism with technical analysis. He teaches
across a wide range of disciplines, including design, architectural
history and theory, building technology, and architectural
practice. His research interests are also varied. He writes
books and articles on technical or semi-technical subjects
but he also regularly reviews books on architectural theory
for the Architectural Review. He believes that technology,
history and theory are closer than is normally supposed and
often overlap.
Selected Readings:
From: The British Airport at the Turn of
the Century. The Architecture of British Transport in
the Twentieth Century,
Yale 2005:
Stansted may have been the turning point in British airport
design,
the moment when the beast that is the modern airport
was at last tamed and turned into humane architecture, but
it was only the overture. For the full opera we have to leave
the British Isles and fly to the recently ex British colony,
Hong Kong, where Foster has ... read
more
The American Diner,
Lessons at the Roadside,
Architectural Research Quarterly, 2005: Looked at coldly, the diner is
a very curious building type. For one thing, there is the confusion about wheels.
Does a prefabricated restaurant have to have wheels
to qualify as a diner? And what are the wheels for, exactly?... read
more
Eisenman Inside-Out.
Selected Writings 1963-1988.
Book review for the Architects’ Journal, 2005: Peter
Eisenman’s writings are like his designs – ordered
and logical but hard to understand and referring to very little
beyond themselves. You won’t find any ordinary things
like clients or money or building regulations mentioned in
these essays. For Eisenman architecture is a game. Its object
is not to produce useful things but almost the opposite: ... read
more
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