Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson is History Editor of The Architectural Review and the author of Bricks and Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made
Stories
Ahead of the curve: Office Off Course, ChinaSubscription
An archaeological park in Zhejiang province by Office Off Course juxtaposes strident angles with soft curves
Adaptive learning: O'Donnell Brown, UKSubscription
Schools in London’s Tower Hamlets have been imaginatively extended and improved by O’Donnell Brown despite limited budgets
Typology: BankSubscription
Beginning with the simple table from which they take their name, banks developed into one of the most splendid urban building types as they sought to reassure depositors. Today they are on the verge of disappearing altogether
Gilt complex: buildings that glitterSubscription
From pagodas to the lavatory, architecture’s most precious material is rich in meaning
Typology: PalaceSubscription
Big houses for feudal rulers advertised the right to power of those within, while protecting them from the people they exploited to build them – today, the tradition continues in the hands of oligarchs
Drivers' licence: the possibility of garage spaceSubscription
The simplicity of the garage’s form has allowed its owners to make of it what they will
Gasholders in London, UK, by Wilkinson EyreSubscription
Is the solution to obsolescent gasholders demolition, building housing developments within them or, perhaps best yet, parks?
Irving Street Brewery plant in Sydney, Australia, by TzannesSubscription
Parasitic orchids of zinc mesh shroud the cooling towers of this brewery conversion in central Sydney
Energiebunker in Hamburg, Germany, by Hegger Hegger Schleiff ArchitektenSubscription
Inventive reuse of a German Second World War bunker provides energy, and public space and amenities, in Hamburg
Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant in Copenhagen, Denmark, by BIG and SLASubscription
The sloping ‘hill’ design of this waste-to-energy plant, naturally, features a ski slope and requires more waste than the city produces to run at profit
