@williamtozer.bsky.social
Critic, educator, researcher, architect | Posting daily about architecture | Bartlett UCL PhD | also studied RMIT, University of Auckland | Founder of William Tozer Associates @williamtozerassoc.bsky.social
Jealous House by Owain Williams Architects.
‘It’s called the Jealous House, a reference to Iago’s description of jealousy in Shakespeare’s “Othello” as “the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.”’
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/r...
I’ve long thought there is a curious circularity to the Pritzkers contributing to the internationalisation of architecture through their Hyatt hotels, and then rewarding starchitect internationalism through the Pritzker Prize.
www.dezeen.com/2026/03/05/p...
Hoping someone at Dwell doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘literally’, otherwise this is a terrifying story.
Eero Saarinen facade retained, external alterations and addition by David Chipperfield, and lavish interiors by French designer Joseph Dirand.
Too many cooks?
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘he sponsored a yearlong seminar and studio at the Yale School of Architecture in 2000 and 2001 . . . the seminar began with lectures from leading architects and the studio ended with students proposing conceptual designs for a possible house . . .’
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/r...
Calder’s work was about negative space,” says Herzog, “so our process was one of excavating and carving, rather than creating positive form.’
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘The townhouse he updated . . . with attention to its midcentury roots is part of a residential complex that emerged in Norway's postwar housing boom.’
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/g...
As they have grown in size, Adjaye’s projects have all too often given the impression of someone in a hurry . . . the Princeton museum [is] leagues ahead’
I wonder if this is partly because they lost a lot of projects when this one was being realised.
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘contrary to the suburban stereotype, [Irvine’s] neighborhoods are layered with a diversity of single-family homes and multiunit buildings’
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/b...
‘It would be hard to design a more menacing building if you tried.’
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
“it was kind of a sign that the market is shifting and that these very tight solutions are becoming the norm.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/r...
‘differences in the composition of income growth and its translation into housing demand—as opposed to differences in housing supply—can explain both the higher average price growth and low growth in quantity in some metro areas relative to others’
www.frbsf.org/research-and...
‘a fascinating new exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, which explores the development of modern architecture in the first decades of communist China.’
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Congratulations, Niall McLaughlin!
This seems like a refreshing change of direction for the RIBA Gold Medal. In recent decades it’s been a bit of a race with the Pritzker to be first to recognise an international starchitect.
www.dezeen.com/2026/01/29/n...
‘Farrell grew disenchanted with high-tech Modernism — an architecture that, as the architect Colin Fournier wrote in 2011, tolerated “no contradictions, no jokes, no attempts at seduction, no symbolic references, no slang, no local dialects”’
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/a...
What architectural style is this?
‘John Merz could not shake the sense that what was happening now was a defamation of his parents’ legacy. His parents understood their domestic space as a shared civic commodity.’
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/s...
The Roses is pretty good entertainment, but the architecture angle is a bit cringey. The only fun bit for architecture viewers is his architect friends eviscerating his museum design, and another friend then pointing out how unintelligible they sound.
youtu.be/XkgMaS5gbaA?...
‘From dark, sound-proofed rooms to clever storage solutions, families with autism and ADHD are finding inspired ways to adjust their environments’
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘A RIBA report says “stark displays of sexism” are driving women from the profession. If we don’t fight this systemic misogyny, we won’t just lose dazzling designs – we’ll have a world only fit for 6ft tall policemen’
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
‘housing policy should be understood not only in terms of supply, affordability, and efficiency, but also in terms of social architecture.’
epsig.substack.com/p/why-modern...
‘Still, the water rises and more houses tip their contents — fiberglass insulation, toxic chemicals, a novelty pillow — into the sea.’
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/m...
‘The origins of the Stahl house date to May 1954, when CH “Buck” and Carlotta Stahl bought a hilly patch of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles for $13,500.’
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Looks almost exactly the same as the door of the first architect I worked for (in the mid ‘90s). Private investigator vibes.
Excellent access to the fire escape too!
Just saw a one-sentence journalist bio describing them as a ‘skilled and knowledgeable journalist’.
Similar vibe to fast food ads proclaiming their food, ‘fresh and tasty’ because it’s all they can really say, and people even need reassurance on that.
‘Through Ruys’s influence, this approach to gardening became the basis of the modernist garden aesthetic of the 20th century and onward.’
www.dwell.com/article/mien...
‘ . . . the specific teachings of one ultra-Orthodox community have led to more generous council housing for everyone.’
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Surely a large part of this is just survivorship bias. The ‘traditional’ buildings around us today are the best ones, which have survived demolition for that reason.
www.dezeen.com/2025/10/30/t...
