Category Archives: Reyner Banham

A Short (Architectural) History of the 20th Century. Review, Celebration and Tribute to 40 Years of “A Short History of America” by Robert Crumb

Klaus (2019). A Short (Architectural) History of the 20th Century. Click to enlarge. As you’ll probably know, if you’ve been following my work in any capacity, one of the main reasons why I persist in my cartooning career is that it provides me with a vehicle to channel my need to draw. Or, putting itContinue reading “A Short (Architectural) History of the 20th Century. Review, Celebration and Tribute to 40 Years of “A Short History of America” by Robert Crumb”

Numerus Klausus #24: Fifty Years Inside the Bubble

Click to enlarge 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of one of those ubiquitous landmarks of the 60s visionary scene, Amazing Archigram 4: The Science Fiction Issue, which saw a truncated attempt at a big-scale celebration on my part. Again, 2015 marked another 5-decade anniversary: this time, it was the publication of Reyner Banham’s ‘A Home is NotContinue reading “Numerus Klausus #24: Fifty Years Inside the Bubble”

Full House vs. Full(er) House. Illustration for MAS Context: Ownership

Click to enlarge As some of you who have been around here for a while will remember, some time ago (years, actually) my beloved Peter Reyner Banham made his entry into this blog by means of a cartoon that sprang from a suggestion by Kazys Varnelis, who was doing his annual re-reading of  Banham’s ‘The Great Gizmo’ alongContinue reading “Full House vs. Full(er) House. Illustration for MAS Context: Ownership”

A Home is not a Mouse

Click to enlarge “When your house contains such a complex of piping, flues, ducts, wires, lights, inlets, outlets, ovens, sinks, refuse disposers, hi-fi re-verberators, antennae, conduits, freezers, heaters -when it contains so many services that the hardware could stand up by itself without any assistance from the house, why have a house to hold itContinue reading “A Home is not a Mouse”

But Today we collect Banham (variation)

“The purpose of technology is to make the dream a fact… The end is to make the Earth a garden, a Paradise; to make the mountain speak”. –Arthur Drexler “… it is difficult not to suspect that presented with scenes from cultures that he does not understand he hopes to gizmo them into comprehensible form…Continue reading “But Today we collect Banham (variation)”

The Great Gizmo in the Sky

“The man who changed the face of America had a gizmo, a gadget, a gimmick – in his hand, in his back pocket, across the saddle, on his hip, in the trailer, round his neck, on his head, deep in a hardened silo.” — Reyner Banham, “The Great Gizmo” (1965) As a kind of follow-upContinue reading “The Great Gizmo in the Sky”