Adventures in Architecture, Art, Music & Design

Reykjavík is a beguiling and vibrant city. The most northernly capital city in the world, it is a colourful place both culturally, with its beautiful Harpa concert building, art galleries and museums; and literally - as the varicoloured buildings that adorn the city show. For a country that is more well known for its harsh winters and rugged landscapes, it offers much for culture/architecture lovers and enthusiasts. One building in particular, dominates Reykjavík the most, and that is the fascinatingly bizarre Hallgrímskirkja church. Shortly before I visited Reykjavík in 2015, a friend remarked casually to me about my upcoming trip to Iceland: 'look out for the big church that looks like giant pan pipes' he said. I chuckled, of course, but it wasn't until I first explored the city myself, that I suddenly realised it wasn't that far from the truth. Overshadowing this small city, it is hard to miss the Hallgrímskirkja church. The huge concrete structure is said to...

Many brutalist buildings become almost mythical in their existence; magical alluring places that brutalists and urban explorers alike fantasise about visiting. The Buzludzha Memorial House is such a prime example. I had dreamed of visiting ever since I first heard about it - on an urban exploration message forum in the heady ugly-fonted-scroll-marquee-texted days of the web. As I was eagerly clicking around, salivating over photographs like a kid in a sweet shop, I came upon images of this huge monstrous  bowl  of concrete - with what looked like a block antennae protruding out from it. What crazy structure was this? It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, certainly architecturally. It resembled a large concrete spaceship. How was this real? And unlike many of these gigantic concrete blobs, it was not standing in an urban or city setting, but of all places, right on top of a mountain in the middle of the balkans.  To understand ...