Review Review

What happened to The Architectural Review [arplus.com]? I grabbed a couple of ‘vintage’ copies from the excellent Archiv warehouse off Brick Lane, one from 1962 and another from 1970. I wanted to buy more but I was feeling a bit ‘kid in a candy store… er… sweet shop’ so I managed to stop at 2 ARs and a couple of issues of Design [vads.ahds.ac.uk] from the late 60s.

So, with my interest peeked, I sought out the latest edition of said magazine. No wonder I hadn’t noticed it before. What happened? I guess almost half a decade had passed but today’s The Architectural Review feels like a magazine on the edge of extinction (and coming under Emap’s current remit they should be very weary of this). Gone are the crazy fold outs and different types of paper stock, special colours and lush blueprints (in black, natch). I’ve never seen Gill Sans looking so tired and unloved. Maybe it’s punishment for helping push the social housing agenda of the 60s. I dunno, but with the recent glut of ace architectural magazines at the moment AR needs to step up or go the way of Mondial House [lightstraw.co.uk/mondial].