I've recently created a new website and am hosting my blog over there now.  So for the most recent blog postings, please head over to www.darrenbradleyphotography.com  ..read more

Like the surrounding Barbican housing estate, the Barbican Centre was designed by the team of Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon. It was shoehorned into the complex after much of the estate had already been built, or was underway. It  wasn't opened until 1982. Photo ©Darren Bradley I have been to London at least a dozen times - sometimes for extended periods for both holidays and for work. Also, I used to live in Paris, and it was an easy weekend trip from there. But believe it or not, until just a few weeks ago I had never been to the Barbican. Sure, I knew about it, and had always bee ..read more

My favorite pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Nordic Pavilion by Sverre Fehn (1959). Photo ©Darren Bradley As you probably know if you follow my Instagram account, I just attended the opening week of the Venice Architecture Biennale. I was invited this year to exhibit some of my work, as part of the TIME SPACE EXISTENCE show at the Palazzo Bembo, which was a great excuse to finally get to see what is essentially the largest self-love event for architects in the world.  Carlo Scarpa's sculpture garden off the main pavilion at the Venice Biennale is a nice little surpri ..read more

This circular portal forms the entrance to the chapel. Photo ©Darren Bradley While in Venice last week, I had to make an obligatory stop at the enigmatic Brion Cemetery, by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa. Most people have never heard of this place, located outside a small village about an hour's drive (or train ride) north of Venice, near the city of Treviso. Most people have never heard of Carlo Scarpa, either, for that matter. But to most architects, Brion Cemetery has an almost mythical status as a pilgrimage site.  Carlo Scarpa in 1954, studying renderings by Frank ..read more

The SC Johnson Research Tower opened in 1950, 11 years after the main part of the facility. Its cantilevered floors are supported entirely by the center column. Stacked pyrex glass tubes diffuse the light coming into the labs. Photo ©Darren Bradley Ask most people how they first got into Modernist architecture (assuming, of course, that everyone is into Modernist architecture...), and the name of Frank Lloyd Wright almost inevitably comes up at some point. In fact, it's usually the starting point on anyone's journey of discovery about Modernist architecture... a sort of "gateway drug ..read more

The Benjamin Residence, or "Round House" as the locals call it, was designed by Alex Jelinek in 1956. Photo ©Darren Bradley Yes, yes. I know. On the face of it, it seems like an absurd claim. Australia's sleepy little capital city has been called a lot of things over the years, but "Palm Springs-like" is not generally one of them. The city was essentially invented in the early 20th century as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, who were both vying for the right to be the nation's capital. It's an administrative city, full of bureaucrats, technocrats, and diplomats ..read more

An abandoned bank in downtown Santa Rosa. Photo ©Darren Bradley Mid-Century Modernist architecture is far from safe these days. But there’s a growing contingent supporting its preservation, and it’s now finally starting to at least be recognized - if not valued - by the public at large. The same cannot yet be said for its generally unloved - or at least under-appreciated - younger sibling, Late Modernism. Often confused with (*shudder*) Post-Modernist architecture, which admittedly overlaps it a bit, it’s nonetheless it’s own distinct genre, and one that is more firmly planted in the ..read more

The former restaurant of what was once May Co. department store at Mission Valley Center. Photo ©Darren Bradley Anyone who's ever spent any time in San Diego will probably recognize this place. It's hard to miss. This Macy's department store at Mission Valley Center is strikingly clad entirely in formed concrete hexagons around its entire exterior. Even cooler, there's a cantilevered glass box attached to the south side, closest to the freeway, with a great bi-fold roof. The building has anchored Mission Valley Center since 1961, and it's become a landmark in the city. But with Macy ..read more

LA Forum by Charles Luckman (1967)... See what I did there with the title of the blog? I know... I crack myself up. Photo ©Darren Bradley Mention the work of Edward Durell Stone or other New Formalist architects to a die-hard Modernist and you will likely get a lot of eye-rolling or outright scoffing. They would claim - with some reason, to be honest - that New Formalism is the polar opposite of the functionalist ethos that International Modernist architecture espoused. Its classical colonnades and marble arcades were enough to send someone like Le Corbusier into gallic fits (although ..read more

The Pearlroth House (aka "Double Diamond") on Westhampton Beach, NY. Photo ©Darren Bradley Welcome to the Pearlroth House, otherwise known as the Double Diamond. Like many of the homes designed by architect Andrew Geller, this one seems to defy gravity. It's completely over-designed and over-engineered for a modest little 600 square foot beach house, and that's exactly what I love about it.  Owner Jonathan Pearlroth climbing the stairs on the side of the house. The stairs lead directly into the shower, to facilitate rinsing off the sand before going into the house. Phot ..read more