Editorial: Lost for words

How we understand architecture, how we share its values and how architecture is situated within our changing world, is literally unthinkable without the written word.

Written and curated

Architectural journals are powerful agents in the story of architecture.

Profit, publish, and perish

Words in the university sector

Humour is a universal language

Sharp wit and a touch of well-timed sarcasm can be the first door for a populist audience to walk through in contemplating what is right and what is fundamentally wrong with our modern built environment.

Between words and images

In the digital age there’s every reason to think that the photograph is taking over as the medium for how we read and understand architecture.

Communication and disruption

The architecture profession has a growing challenge with how we communicate our knowledge. This challenge is a broad one that spans universities to practice, public outreach and advocacy. While our ideas and knowledge are as vital as ever, our ability to effectively communicate them is changing.

Without words

The diversity that formed such an essential part of our collective architectural identity – and which has fuelled often ferocious debate – appears to be flattening under a series of washed-out filters.

Words make you accountable

As the slow world of formal writing seems to fade into history, the question before us is whether architects will continue to write, as they have for centuries, or will memes and emojis become the universal measure of appreciation and success.