Archistorys
narratives of architecture and design where people and movement meetThe books reviewed…
Food on the Move:
Jonathan Bell in WALLPAPER*, April 2011
‘a labour of love, a piece of intense research that fuses design and social history with a rare passion for the subject matter…a slice of esoteric history of the kind that should survive the digital era’s drive to standardise the size, shape, form and content of our reading matter’.
Owen Hatherley in Building Design, 26 March 2011
‘the coffee table book as all-day breakfast, which you delve into with ravenous relish…It’s a lovelorn history, all glutinous colours, rum anecdotes and moments of sheer exhilaration. The ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ is an excellent, evocative and hilarious piece of writing, and the highlight of this generous, overstuffed book’.
Chris Turner in Truck & Driver March 2011
‘this book held our attention to the point where our other Truck & Driver duties started to suffer…a fascinating, lively and thoughtfully conceived piece of social history…lavishly illustrated, thoroughly researched, elegantly presented’
Will Wiles in ICON February 2011
‘a real treat… a journey through the British psyche and into an astonishingly varied and bold architectural culture. Lawrence’s history of the service area would be interesting enough on its own, but there’s a good deal more here. There are contributions from Alain de Botton, Iain Sinclair and other writers. There’s also an intriguing “phenomenological” chapter, a meditation on the service area written with the artist Richard Wentworth while actually in a service area. Consistently illuminating and readable, the overall effect of Food on the Move is stumbling across a superb and unheralded documentary on BBC4. Commissioning editors, take note.’
Bright Underground Spaces:
Owen Hatherley in Building Design 26 March 2011
‘the photographs were haunting, Bill Brandt-like nocturnes so thirties London Hitchcockian you could practically smell the Woodbines…’
