All West Midlands articles
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ReviewReview | The Church Architecture of Richard Twentyman
Andy Foster reviews a new book celebrating the work of one of the Midlands’ pre-eminent modern architects
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OpinionBirmingham used to know how to undertake community partnerships. It needs to relearn… quickly
The value that local authorities bring is partly in their institutional memories. But if a council forgets what it once used to do well, then it’s in trouble, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionThe Crooked House is gone. It can’t be reinvented
Any attempt to rebuild the Crooked House would merely produce a ‘worthless fake’, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionCan Birmingham learn from past mistakes by keeping more of its old buildings?
Two separate campaigns to save Birmingham buildings tell the story of how conservation and attitudes to sustainability have evolved in the city, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionIs Birmingham’s vision for a greener, high-density city centre achievable?
Birmingham’s Our Future City vision raises as many questions as it answers, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionThe art of heritage placemaking lies in listening to what the site has to tell us
By listening to what heritage sites have to tell us about character and history, we can build better and more sustainable places, writes Georgina Bignold
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OpinionBirmingham’s tall buildings policy is in danger of becoming a free-for-all
The city’s unquestioning love of high-rise development is related to its long history of seeing tall buildings as totems of prestige, writes Joe Holyoak
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Building StudySpringfield Campus by Associated Architects: a building that absorbs history itself
A project by Associated Architects for Wolverhampton University reminds us of the value of ‘persistent architecture’, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionLendlease’s Birmingham Smithfield masterplan risks failure if it seeks to micromanage
A masterplan that thinks it can predict and control how people use a space is likely to fail, writes Joe Holyoak
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ReviewHorror in the Modernist Block: The dystopian underside of the modernist vision
Contemporary artists shine a light on the haunting aspects of building design, writes Joe Holyoak
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OpinionRetrofit and conserving our architectural heritage can go hand in hand
Efforts to retrofit older homes can run into conservation concerns, writes Joe Holyoak
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ReviewReview | Birmingham: The Brutiful Years
Joe Holyoak welcomes a new book on Birmingham’s modernist architecture, but despairs at a civic culture that fetishises the wrecking ball
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OpinionCan the BBC and creator of Peaky Blinders help save Digbeth?
Joe Holyoak ponders whether Birmingham can save one of the last remnants of its small-scale industrial urbanism
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OpinionWhere was the architecture in Coventry’s year as City of Culture?
Why has Coventry turned its back on its rich 20th century architectural heritage, asks Joe Holyoak
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OpinionBirmingham’s Smithfield regeneration project risks marginalising the communities who use its markets
Birmingham has a once in a generation opportunity to repair the damage done to its historic markets quarter in the 1970s, but risks further harm if it simply gentrifies the area, writes Joe Holyoak