Reflections: Bagsværd Church
Jason Sayer2025-08-29T09:48:33+01:00John Pardey on Jørn Utzon’s Bagsværd Church, Copenhagen (1976) – a rectilinear, industrial-looking building that conceals a sequence of vaulted concrete ‘clouds’ inspired by nature.
Reflections: Red House
Jason Sayer2025-07-29T17:28:40+01:00John Pardey on William Morris and Philip Webb’s Red House in Bexleyheath – a home that looked to embody ‘truth’ in craftsmanship and construction and which to some, is the very first modern house.
Reflections: Gemeentemuseum
Jason Sayer2025-07-08T17:31:13+01:00John Pardey on Hendrik Petrus Berlage's Gemeentemuseum in The Hague (1934) – a building that can be read as a European evolution of Frank Lloyd Wright's work and reconsidered the decorative use of stone and brick.
Reflections: National Bank of Denmark
Jason Sayer2025-05-20T22:40:45+01:00Architect John Pardey looks back on Arne Jacobsen’s National Bank of Denmark as the Danish master’s most complete gesamtkunstwerk – a building that distils the same unity, elegance and precision found in his iconic furniture.
Reflections: Grande Arche de la Défense
Jason Sayer2025-04-22T22:14:32+01:00John Pardey on Johan Otto von Spreckelsen's La Grande Arche in Paris (1989) – a monumental, yet elegant building laced with symbolism that was part of President Mitterand's Grands Projets.
Reflections: Casa del Fascio
Jason Sayer2025-03-17T10:05:33+00:00John Pardey on Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio (1936) in Como, Italy – a building that manages to embrace classical proportions and Modernist abstraction while mediating between solid and void as a means of expression.
Reflections: Neue Nationalgalerie
Jason Sayer2025-02-04T17:04:18+00:00John Pardey reflects on Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie (1968) in Berlin – a temple to glass and steel that was the German architect's realisation of 'universal space' and his swan song.
Reflections: Kimbell Art Museum
Jason Sayer2025-01-14T15:07:02+00:00John Pardey reflects on Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum (1972) in Fort Worth, Texas – a building with classical qualities that offers a series of exquisite vaulted galleries and which embodies Kahn's approach to space and weight in architecture.
Inheritance
Jason Sayer2025-01-14T12:47:02+00:00Architect John Pardey introduces his series of short essays, Reflections, where he gives an account of some of the 20th Century's greatest buildings.