Posted on
2014-05-19
ARCA, Archive for Rural Contemporary Architecture,
launches its first book – a guide to the UK’s strange and often
over looked rural architectural sites. Launched exclusively
at the Margaret Howell Wigmore Street flagship, the book
provides a unique guide to contemporary architecture of the
twentieth century, including cold war relics and functional
typologies, as well as the poetic and aestheticall y daring
structures that have left indelible marks on Britain’s landscape.
The title, Slacklands, refers to the per imeter around which
the site boundaries create conditions of unease and backdrops
of uncertainty – not the landscapes of conventional aesthetics.
These challenging landscapes raise critical awareness of the
narratives of industrial demise, the relics of cold war structures
and the Brutalist aesthetic of Britain’s power stations and how
they have impacted on the landscape . Slacklands invites the
reader to take a jour ney to these sites or m use on their
existences through the publication.
An exhibition, art directed by graphic design group
Mass Observation, featuring selected photographs from the
guide book will r un from Friday 9 May – Sunday 1 June at
Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, London W1.
Open daily from 10am – 6pm (12pm – 5pm Sunday).
Slacklands is available exclusively from all Mar garet Howell
stores and online during the exhibition period, priced £18.95.
www.margarethowell.co.uk
