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critical reflections
Jacques Lemercier: Richelieu, Indre-et-Loire, 1631 engraving by Adam Perelle
Two Renaissance Towns: Two Seasons
2024
Granary, Grimentz, Valais, Switzerland, 16th century © Thomas Deckker 2023
Was Vitruvius Right?
2024
Aurelio Galfetti: Castelgrande, Bellinzona 1986 © Thomas Deckker 1996
Two Castles in Switzerland
2023
Nouveau plan de la ville de Paris 1828 © David Rumsey Maps
The Arcades Project
2023
Derelict Building, Kings Cross photo © Thomas Deckker 1988
Henri Labrouste and the construction of mills
2023
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux: Barriere St Martin, Paris (1785-1790) from Daniel Ramee: C.N. Ledoux, l'architecture (Paris 1847)
The Barriere de la Villette: the Sublime and the Beautiful
2022
Vauban: Neuf Brisach
Neuf Brisach: The Art of War
2022
Lucio Costa: Competition sketch for the Esplanada dos Minsterios, Brasilia 1956
Did Lucio Costa know the Queen Mother?
2022
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Entrance Court, engraving by Israel Sylvestre
Vaux-le-Vicomte: Architecture and Astronomy
2022
Edzell Castle, Ground Floor Plan, from MacGibbon and Ross: The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland
Edzell Castle: Architecture and Treatises in Late 16th Century Scotland
2022
Capability Brown: Plan for Petworth Park from Dorothy Stroud: Capabilty Brown
The Upperton Monument, Petworth
2022
Isamu Noguchi: maquette for Riverside Drive c. 1961
Isamu Noguchi: useless architecture
2022
Juergen Joedicke: Architecture since 1945: sources and directions (London: Pall Mall Press 1969)
Gottfried Boehm: master of concrete
2021
Thomas Deckker Architect: temporary truck stop, M20
Lorry Drivers are human, too
2021
Marc-Antoine Laugier: Essai sur l'Architecture
John Onians: 'Architecture, Metaphor and the Mind'
2021
Sir John Vanbrugh: Seaton Delaval, Northumberland (1720-28) from Colen Campbell: Vitruvius Britannicus vol 3 (1725)
Seaton Delaval: the aesthetic castle
2021
Jules Hardouin-Mansart: Les Invalides, Paris (1676) Section showing the double dome
The Temple of Apollo at Stourhead: Architecture and Astronomy
2021
Eric de Mare: Fishermen's huts, Hastings (1956) © Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection
Eric de Mare: The Extraordinary Aesthetics of the Ordinary
2021
Iannis Xenakis: score for Syrmos, for string orchestra (1959) © Editions Salabert E. A. S. 17516
Iannis Xenakis: Music, Architecture and War
2021
United Visual Artists: Etymologies 2017 © United Visual Artists
United Visual Artists
2020
Margaret Howell: Campaign 2020 © Margaret Howell
Margaret Howell
2020
Palaces of Darius and Xerxes, Persepolis, Iran
The Plans of Antiquity
2020
Cristobal Balenciaga: Skirt Suit, 1964 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Cristobal Balenciaga
2020
Mathias Goeritz: La serpiente de El Eco, 1953 © Sothebys
Mathias Goeritz: 'Emotional Architecture'
2020
Richard Serra: Weight and Measure 1992 © Richard Serra
Weight and Measure
2020
Tony Smith: Playround, 1962 © Tony Smith Estate
Tony Smith: Art and Experience
2020
Highway Construction © Caterpillar Archives
Landscape and Infrastructure
2020
Frank Gohlke: Lightning Flash, Lamesa, Texas © Frank Gohlke
Grain Elevators
2020
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995

Sabionetta: Summer

The lower Po basin, flat and fertile. 20 miles from Mantua, a fortified town. Was it defensive? It had walls on the trace italienne, the scientific layout of walls begun by Giuliano da Sangallo (and perfected by Vauban).
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Inside the walls, the pervasive urbanity of Italy.
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta cannot have been built for the dry purpose of defence. Federico Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, had commissioned Giulio Romano to build the Palazzo del Te (1524-34), a pavilion built for pleasure (and Romano was rumoured to have made a pornographic book to go with it). The architecture can only be considered as for pleasure. We can assume this as Sabionetta contained the first purpose built opera house.
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate photo Thomas Deckker 1995
Sabionetta: Entrance Gate
© Thomas Deckker 1995
Thomas Deckker
London 2024