David Knight
@drdavidknight.bsky.social
Designer, teacher and writer. Director of DK-CM @dk-cm.bsky.social. Module leader and faculty at the London School of Architecture. South Downs and East London. Writing and drawing at The Spring Line: https://knightdavid.substack.com
‘An urban rule, far from being a mere restriction on creativity, can on occasion be the most creative act.’ Other Plans #4 explores the portici of Bologna. open.substack.com/pub/knightda... #thespringline
Other Plans #4: Portici
A public network of privately-owned covered places; created by legislation and delivered by thousands of individual acts of construction.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
‘An urban rule, far from being a mere restriction on creativity, can on occasion be the most creative act.’ Other Plans #4 explores the portici of Bologna. open.substack.com/pub/knightda... #thespringline
Loved this book: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
Vaim by Jon Fosse review – the Nobel laureate performs a strange miracle
In the Norwegian master’s latest example of ‘mystical realism’, one man makes a dreamlike, hypnotic voyage through life
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Loved this book: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s event at the Architecture Foundation where we spoke and listened to/about oral history at the Art Workers Guild - a screen-free conversation about conversation & the practising of history. Thank you Mary Chamberlain & Jerry White, and my cohost Cristina Monteiro.
October 22, 2025 at 11:16 AM
I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s event at the Architecture Foundation where we spoke and listened to/about oral history at the Art Workers Guild - a screen-free conversation about conversation & the practising of history. Thank you Mary Chamberlain & Jerry White, and my cohost Cristina Monteiro.
‘Where English churches imitate the sacred groves of the forest, early Cornish churches, with their ribbed and curved roof timbers, imitate boats or even the skeletons of fish.’ - Roger Deakin, Waterlog.
Its a nice thought - any Cornish churches that reinforce this idea greatly appreciated.
Its a nice thought - any Cornish churches that reinforce this idea greatly appreciated.
October 14, 2025 at 11:40 PM
‘Where English churches imitate the sacred groves of the forest, early Cornish churches, with their ribbed and curved roof timbers, imitate boats or even the skeletons of fish.’ - Roger Deakin, Waterlog.
Its a nice thought - any Cornish churches that reinforce this idea greatly appreciated.
Its a nice thought - any Cornish churches that reinforce this idea greatly appreciated.
Reposted by David Knight
The best gig I ever saw cost £4. Spiralling concert prices are a cultural disaster | John Harris
The best gig I ever saw cost £4. Spiralling concert prices are a cultural disaster | John Harris
Tickets for big tours have vastly outstripped inflation, while smaller artists and venues struggle. The magic is in danger of being snuffed out entirely, says Guardian columnist John Harris
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The best gig I ever saw cost £4. Spiralling concert prices are a cultural disaster | John Harris
Reposted by David Knight
SPEAKING OUT: ORAL HISTORY FOR ARCHITECTS | With Cristina Monteiro I am hosting an exciting event for the Architecture Foundation, focussing on oral history in relation to place and architecture. With brilliant oral historians Mary Chamberlain and Jerry White. More info + tickets:
Speaking Out: Oral History for Architects | Architecture Foundation
A conversation with leading oral historians at the Art Workers Guild
architecturefoundation.org.uk
September 25, 2025 at 1:15 PM
SPEAKING OUT: ORAL HISTORY FOR ARCHITECTS | With Cristina Monteiro I am hosting an exciting event for the Architecture Foundation, focussing on oral history in relation to place and architecture. With brilliant oral historians Mary Chamberlain and Jerry White. More info + tickets:
@oldweirdalbion.bsky.social have you got, or have ever seen, a map of the land that Vera Pragnell bought/owned? I have all the historic mapping for the lifespan of the sanctuary in its pure form. but not its extents.
October 8, 2025 at 5:01 PM
@oldweirdalbion.bsky.social have you got, or have ever seen, a map of the land that Vera Pragnell bought/owned? I have all the historic mapping for the lifespan of the sanctuary in its pure form. but not its extents.
SPEAKING OUT: ORAL HISTORY FOR ARCHITECTS | With Cristina Monteiro I am hosting an exciting event for the Architecture Foundation, focussing on oral history in relation to place and architecture. With brilliant oral historians Mary Chamberlain and Jerry White. More info + tickets:
Speaking Out: Oral History for Architects | Architecture Foundation
A conversation with leading oral historians at the Art Workers Guild
architecturefoundation.org.uk
September 25, 2025 at 1:15 PM
SPEAKING OUT: ORAL HISTORY FOR ARCHITECTS | With Cristina Monteiro I am hosting an exciting event for the Architecture Foundation, focussing on oral history in relation to place and architecture. With brilliant oral historians Mary Chamberlain and Jerry White. More info + tickets:
My first childhood explorations of woodcraft described (with holiday photos taken by my Nan!) in a new essay The Remains of a Circle open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
The Remains of a Circle
Telling my daughter about the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry
open.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 4:09 PM
My first childhood explorations of woodcraft described (with holiday photos taken by my Nan!) in a new essay The Remains of a Circle open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
Strange and wonderful things that happened in a New Forest woodland. knightdavid.substack.com/p/the-remain...
The Remains of a Circle
Telling my daughter about the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry
knightdavid.substack.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Strange and wonderful things that happened in a New Forest woodland. knightdavid.substack.com/p/the-remain...
Reposted by David Knight
Like Jeremy Corbyn and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, I grew up in Woodcraft Folk. Here’s how it changes children’s lives | Phineas Harper
Like Jeremy Corbyn and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, I grew up in Woodcraft Folk. Here’s how it changes children’s lives | Phineas Harper
The leftwing alternative to Scouts turns 100 this year. If Keir Starmer wants to empower Britain’s young people, it has much to teach him, says writer and curator Phineas Harper
www.theguardian.com
August 16, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Like Jeremy Corbyn and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, I grew up in Woodcraft Folk. Here’s how it changes children’s lives | Phineas Harper
A piece of my writing about the beautiful & influential Arquitectura Popular em Portugal (1961), exploring its role in subverting oppressive state power in dictatorship-era Portugal to develop a progressive, locally-inflected architecture in challenging times. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
The Subversive Survey
What Arquitectura Popular em Portugal - a mid-century survey of vernacular architecture – can teach us about the potential of architectural research to shift culture.
open.substack.com
August 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A piece of my writing about the beautiful & influential Arquitectura Popular em Portugal (1961), exploring its role in subverting oppressive state power in dictatorship-era Portugal to develop a progressive, locally-inflected architecture in challenging times. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
Found John I. Williams’ biography of CLR James both inspiring and enlightening. Like all good biographies it feels like a study of an era and a culture as much as of a single human. And who knew that much of The Black Jacobins was written in Portslade of all places?
August 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Found John I. Williams’ biography of CLR James both inspiring and enlightening. Like all good biographies it feels like a study of an era and a culture as much as of a single human. And who knew that much of The Black Jacobins was written in Portslade of all places?
Good stuff on the relevance of the club/trades hall model to contemporary venues and community spaces from @thequietus.com - class is an important consideration here. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...
How Community Ownership can Save our Grassroots Venues | The Quietus
The sprung wooden floor of The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge is no stranger to dancing. It’s hard to imagine today, but its modest upstairs hall was built in 1924 for graceful ballroom affairs – all wa...
thequietus.com
August 12, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Good stuff on the relevance of the club/trades hall model to contemporary venues and community spaces from @thequietus.com - class is an important consideration here. thequietus.com/opinion-and-...
Other Plans #2 explores a squatted settlement on former common land in Oxfordshire, where the houses cluster around the public house. knightdavid.substack.com/p/other-plan...
Other Plans #2: Juniper Hill
A ‘squatted’ hamlet encircling a public house.
knightdavid.substack.com
July 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Other Plans #2 explores a squatted settlement on former common land in Oxfordshire, where the houses cluster around the public house. knightdavid.substack.com/p/other-plan...
An old text this time (2014!) celebrating Colin Ward, originally written to be delivered at the Garden Museum in London. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
On Colin Ward
Celebrating the anarchist thinker and 'propagandist' in a text originally delivered at the Garden Museum, London, in 2014.
open.substack.com
July 11, 2025 at 8:29 PM
An old text this time (2014!) celebrating Colin Ward, originally written to be delivered at the Garden Museum in London. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
@oldweirdalbion.bsky.social is bringing the Steyning-based Vine Press back to life and fundraising via sales of this wonderful anthology about the world of the Vine Press, Victor Neuburg and Vera Pragnell: oldweirdalbion.bigcartel.com/product/a-sa...
A Sanctuary: New Writing & Artwork Inspired by Victor B. Neuburg and the Vine Press
A beautiful, extremely limited edition, zine-style publication of academic research, poetry & artwork inspired by the 1920s poet, publisher...
oldweirdalbion.bigcartel.com
July 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
@oldweirdalbion.bsky.social is bringing the Steyning-based Vine Press back to life and fundraising via sales of this wonderful anthology about the world of the Vine Press, Victor Neuburg and Vera Pragnell: oldweirdalbion.bigcartel.com/product/a-sa...
Reposted by David Knight
A tribute to Robert Venturi on the centenary of his birth. His work continues to inspire me and I recently wrote an essay exploring his use of mirrors, doubling and copies. Here is the sublime Trubek House, a complex, awkward and difficult little object, but also beautiful and perfectly realised.
July 2, 2025 at 6:36 AM
A tribute to Robert Venturi on the centenary of his birth. His work continues to inspire me and I recently wrote an essay exploring his use of mirrors, doubling and copies. Here is the sublime Trubek House, a complex, awkward and difficult little object, but also beautiful and perfectly realised.
absolutely exquisite episode of @firedrawnear.bsky.social this time - Blackwater Side podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...
Blackwater Side
Podcast Episode · Fire Draw Near · 20/06/2025 · 52m
podcasts.apple.com
June 28, 2025 at 8:36 PM
absolutely exquisite episode of @firedrawnear.bsky.social this time - Blackwater Side podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...
OTHER PLANS is an occasional series of short essays on alternative methods or tactics of planning. I’ve been collecting these for 15 years and am now writing them up. The first is about Brighton’s North Laine, structured by its origins as an agricultural landscape. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
Other Plans #1: Laine
A piece of town defined by agriculture
open.substack.com
June 25, 2025 at 8:13 AM
OTHER PLANS is an occasional series of short essays on alternative methods or tactics of planning. I’ve been collecting these for 15 years and am now writing them up. The first is about Brighton’s North Laine, structured by its origins as an agricultural landscape. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
Reposted by David Knight
“I don’t feel like I want to go louder. I feel like I want to go deeper and broader, rather than projecting out. It’s like you want to get right into the ground and the shape of the hills...”
#Haress Interviewed
buff.ly/q70xXns
#Haress Interviewed
buff.ly/q70xXns
June 23, 2025 at 1:00 PM
“I don’t feel like I want to go louder. I feel like I want to go deeper and broader, rather than projecting out. It’s like you want to get right into the ground and the shape of the hills...”
#Haress Interviewed
buff.ly/q70xXns
#Haress Interviewed
buff.ly/q70xXns
My most recent short essay on the Spring Line is about the urgent need to conserve buildings which speak of Britain's history of self-build and plotland development.
knightdavid.substack.com/p/handmade-h...
knightdavid.substack.com/p/handmade-h...
June 18, 2025 at 7:29 PM
My most recent short essay on the Spring Line is about the urgent need to conserve buildings which speak of Britain's history of self-build and plotland development.
knightdavid.substack.com/p/handmade-h...
knightdavid.substack.com/p/handmade-h...
Why we should urgently be acting to protect, conserve and documenting our remaining plotland dwellings and their close cousins open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
June 11, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Why we should urgently be acting to protect, conserve and documenting our remaining plotland dwellings and their close cousins open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
I have tidied up and refocussed a lost fragment of my phd as a short(er) piece about the politics of early planning, and its complex power structures and elitisms. It is called Mean Building. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...
Mean Building
Cultural hegemony at the birth of British statutory planning
open.substack.com
June 5, 2025 at 10:18 AM
I have tidied up and refocussed a lost fragment of my phd as a short(er) piece about the politics of early planning, and its complex power structures and elitisms. It is called Mean Building. open.substack.com/pub/knightda...