My discovery of the day are German Tanzlinden - rural linden trees turned into places to dance, the oldest of which dates from 1686. This one is in Peesten north of Nuremberg
This view on Swan Street in Manchester captures the madness of a city frantically monetising all of its available left-over spaces. The old city becomes a mere stage set - and an extremely fragile-looking one at that.
Surely the most unexpected building in Manchester: Gorton Monastery, rising above the surrounding low-rise 1980s housing of East Manchester like a inexplicable gothic dream
One of the most extraordinary photographs I've ever seen: Edward Burtynsky's image of the Uralkali Potash mine in Russia. These are not giant ammonites, but the marks left by the tunnelling machines.
The astonishing font in St Nicholas' church in Burnage, Manchester. The building and its interior fittings were all designed by N. F. Cachemaille-Day and the church was opened in 1932.
Completely blown away by the scale of the abandoned Dinorwic slate quarry in North Wales. Here's the former cutting works, located right at the top of the quarry in a windswept and desolate place.
The graceful curve of Brighton station, surely the finest of all terminus stations (outside of London?) and one that offers the perfect space for arrivals to and departures from this hedonistic seaside locale.
I love these medieval floor tiles in Winchester cathedral, particularly their irreplaceable patina of wear and tear - centuries of friction between terracotta and innumerable human feet.
The Singing Ringing Tree on a hill above Burnley. Completed in 2006 and designed by Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu, the hollow steel pipes hum with the wind.
Today, my research takes me to inventive uses of scaffolding in architecture, and this quite astonishing tower built by the anti-roads protestors at Claremont Road in east London in 1994. No architect could produce anything as radical as this.
Animal Architecture
#2
, CAT: the cat ladders of Bern. Documented by Brigitte Schuster, these informal scaffold-like structures help felines negotiate the vertical walls of multi-storey apartment buildings. Anarchist architecture for cats. Read more here:
My advance copies of Architecture & Anarchism have arrived and it's looking truly splendid. Here's a preview of a few pages. If you like what you see, order your copy here
Today, I'm writing about bats and architecture. Here's Charles Cambell, chiropteran enthusiast, standing on the monumental bat house he built in San Antonio in 1914. I particularly like the cross on the roof - a nice reference to the long association of bats with the demonic.
After much procrastination, I've now published The Stones of Manchester, which, in 2500 photographs, explores the built environment of Greater Manchester. I'd be hugely grateful for any shares and also feedback on how it works on all the usual devices