Matthew Cook

Basil Spence's 1979 executive wing to the New Zealand parliament aka the beehive. Photo is taken from close with trees and steps in the foreground as entrance sequence

Basil Spence's 1979 executive wing to the New Zealand parliament aka the beehive to the left in the background, Parliament House from 1922 in an Edwardian Neoclassical style is in the foreground on the right

Basil Spence's 1979 executive wing to the New Zealand parliament aka the beehive to the left in the background, Parliament House from 1922 in an Edwardian Neoclassical style is in the foreground on the right

Basil Spence's 1979 executive wing to the New Zealand parliament aka the beehive. Photo is taken from close with trees and steps in the foreground as entrance sequence

Recently I saw NZ's Beehive parliament in the flesh, driven by curiosity after @cinemashoebox.bsky.social's twitter parliament culture war. Basil Spence's bit is cool by itself but the way it plays with the classical form it extends is exquisite. Those trads have no idea what they are missing!

A row of cars parked along a street where roadworks are taking place, each car has a traffic cone placed on the roof

In Wellington badly parked cars are given dunce caps

dat is wat ik was geleerd!

In the UK maybe not yet, however I am currently involved in an urban design project in Eindhoven that aims to do exactly this.

A picture of a TUI 787 from the terminal building, from the front in line with the starboard engine. A deicing truck is cleaning snow from the plane. A guy in a cherry picker basket is spraying a white misty liquid onto the engine casing

@flightradar24.com it's snowed again at Schipol but it looks like they have enough deicer today. PH-TFL is off to Bonaire, where I'm sure it will be a bit warmer!

Case in point, I live between two supermarkets of the same brand. They are only 500m apart! They wouldn't do this if they didn't have the customer density. I also live in a small apartment block and don't own a car

This is intertwined with a lack of building density. You can't build pleasant density if you have to store all the cars, but you need the car if everything is distant.

Maybe we could give trump a large perspex 'ice' key to greenland and an ownership certificate like those ones that said you owned a bit of the moon?

A quarter of Geert Wilders' PVV party have broken away due to disagreements with his leadership. This could be concerning for the UK's radical right, but luckily for them it has no history of infighting or splits!

The temple of vaccinia, a small outbuilding in a wooded part of a garden. Made from rubble stone walls with a thatched roof. It has a big wooden door with a gothic arch and the door is flanked by whole tree trunk slices as decorative cladding

The corner of the chancel of a small church. Next to the alter is a small blue card marking the family tomb of the jenners

Edward Jenner, pioneer of vaccination, is not celebrated nearly enough IMO! Last week I visited the first vaccine clinic (aptly named the Temple of Vaccinia) and his tomb (under the blue card by the alter). The temple was recently put on the heritage at risk register but funding has now been found

An old photo of a terrace of rural cottages, the middle one is whitewashed stone. A big sign says 'the town cinema'

An old photo of inside the cinema, it's about 4-6 seats wide, maybe about 40 seats total

My first cinema visit was to the electric picture house in Wotton-under-edge, you used to get a sandwich bag with a handful of jelly babies with your admission

We have a dog delighted to be heading overland from Rotterdam to the UK via metro and ferry

Not helpful with the issue at hand but this reminded me to check your stock, the XL having been sold out last time, and I see it's back in. So you've made at least one sale from this and my dad can wear it out whilst roaming the wetlands.

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting NOS.nl - Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet

It's still going strong in the Netherlands and even has a digital version. Judging by my morning metro ride it's quite well used, and not just by the original generation of users

nos.nl/teletekst/101

It's so delightfully incongruous with the rest of the city, really top notch

A picture of several trees. The one in the foreground has blossom, the one in the background is only just turning yellow. Other threes are completely bare. It is december

New game: What season is it? - anthropogenic climate change editon

Jean-Louis Cohen - Wikipedia

It's also a sad reminder of the sudden death of Jean-Louis Cohen in 2023, who was still early in his work cataloguing Gehrys career and didn't get to complete it. I was lucky enough to be taught by Jean-Louis & enjoyed bus rides with him from Delft to Rotterdam
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Cohen

Screenshot of a post that reads Frank Gehry 1929-2025, itself with a screenshot of a joke news article from 2002 headlined 'Frank Gehry no longer allowed to make sandwiches for grandkids and a picture of a mad pile of sliced bread and sandwich fillings looking like a Gehry building

Daft, the amount of times I hear about a significant death via a dumb joke like this

A full size whiteboard, standing on the short end, with a family tree style diagram of the various splits in the church from top to bottom. By the end it's an always sunny style made scribble

I asked my boss what the difference between gereformeerde and hervormde churches is and 15 minutes later he had drawn this diagram for me, starting around 500 ad and ending in madness

Interestingly the Netherlands is a long way behind the UK (but catching up) despite being kings of small country logistical advantages. I miss British packed sandwiches a surprising amount, as seen by a slightly shocked Pret worker last time I was home.

A picture of the express building in Manchester, showing its main corner. It's a sunny day with a blue sky

Stumbled across the express building today and was delighted by it. Hard to imagine what it must have been like seeing this go up in the 30s

Exterior of the whitworth, made from dark red bricks in a Jacobean style

Interior of the new extension. A man stands in front of a glass wall that looks directly out onto autumnal leaves of the trees in the park

The play space for kids. Tables for drawing and materials to build structures surrounded by framed art on the wall

A wood panelled gallery/learning space with art on the walls and green work tables. The walls have been painted green and a large Gilbert and George piece hangs on one

I visited The Whitworth in Manchester yesterday, it's a marvelous gallery. The newish extension is excellent. I loved how kids have a space to play in the heart of the building surrounded by art. Personal highlights were the George Shaw curated exhibition on trees, and Turner's watercolours

(the) Gig (economy), in there?
Gigs, huddled up in Buc-ees or Amazon, in there?

When you get your Breugel the Elder mixed up with your Hieronymus Bosch

Many thanks to Matthew Cook for posting these up-to-the-minute pics of the Justus van Effen Estate. (I've added a few to the blogpost.)

Many thanks to Matthew Cook for posting these up-to-the-minute pics of the Justus van Effen Estate. (I've added a few to the blogpost.)

Many thanks to Matthew Cook for posting these up-to-the-minute pics of the Justus van Effen Estate. (I've added a few to the blogpost.)

Yes of course, I would be very happy for you to use them. If you need the original images feel free to DM. Credit with my name is fine

Deck access gallery of the Justus van effenblok. The communal courtyard is below with a bright yellow gingko tree. There are two chairs in the foreground on the deck

Deck access gallery of the Justus van effenblok, on the bridge above the entry road. The deck is about 4m wide here and half of it has been occupied with amazing potted plants

Deck access gallery of the Justus van effenblok. Somebody has made a collection of bonsai trees and they are all growing, in various states of progress, on a raised display bench next to the entrance of the communal stairs

The deck opens out to the street in the corners creating views outside the block. This is also wider, about 4m, and residents are able to put benches and tables here

Last ones showing the gallery access. It really has been a very successful renovation. It's not exactly the weather now but the deck is well used and very neighbourly

Interior of an unfurnished flat. It's a kitchen/living space with a large wood framed window looking into a communal courtyard

The communal stairwell of the service block. The finishes are raw concrete, painted masonry, and raw masonry where the plaster has been removed

A view of the communal courtyard from the balcony of the service block. Three towers designed by the architects SOM are on the horizon

A view from the office window looking north along the main road of the block. The photo is taken from the fourth floor level and you can see solar panels on the roof of the blocks opposite

A few more pictures of/from the interior spaces