James Dunbar
LightNews LightNews
banner
jamesad.bsky.social
James Dunbar
@jamesad.bsky.social
140 followers 94 following 280 posts
architect, phd student (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL), traveler, photographer, future architectural historian, part-time punk (semi-retired), critiques of ISM
Posts Replies Media Videos
jamesad.bsky.social
but also Intervale and Wilkins intersected (the triangular area below), so there's a lot of reality to the legend:
another clip from a 1935 map of the Bronx showing Intervale and Wilkins' intersection
November 7, 2025 at 4:27 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
Stebbins doesn't show up on the modern map. It looks like it wasn't too far (I think) from the park - here's a clip from a 1911 map titled Business District of New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City
here: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
November 7, 2025 at 3:41 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
Wilkins used to be a much longer street - here's a clip from a 1927 map titled Mayor's Committee on City Planning The City of New York: Predominant Residential Age
here: www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...
November 7, 2025 at 3:27 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
from all the (humorous) articles about Trotsky in the Bronx, I only see the Triangle Dairy Restaurant on Wilkins. From Joshua Rubenstein's book:
Screen cap from a biography on Trotsky: "As part of his daily routine, Trotsky liked to frequent the Triangle Dairy Restaurant on Wilkins Avenue in the East Bronx"
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
graffiti in Venice, Nov. 2nd. "Zona antifa" and International Squatters' symbol spray painted in black paint underneath "DETERRITORIALIZE" in orange paint:
"Zona antifa" and International Squatters' symbol spray painted in black paint underneath "DETERRITORIALIZE" in orange paint
November 5, 2025 at 4:45 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
last efforts to finish reading & cross-referencing on a Friday night and very surprised to see my name in the postscript of @stevewright1977.bsky.social's Storming Heaven (2nd edition).
Thank you -- and critical engagements to follow!
[Also, I am very much enjoying The Weight of the Printed Word].
Screenshot which reads: A second overlooked milieu - that of theorists of space, design and capital - has attracted considerable attention in recent years amongst those attentive to the so-called Venice Group and/or the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Florence. Useful accounts of the nuances amongst thinkers as diverse as Massimo Cacciari, Claudio Greppi, Francesco Dal Co and Manfredo Tafuri can now be found in books by Gail Day (2010) and Pier Vittorio Aureli (2008), a thesis by Emre Ozyetis (2013), as well as shorter texts by Amit Wolf (2012), Alexandra Brown (2010) and James Dunbar (2016). With any luck, this research will soon be extended to a critical engagement with the journal Contropiano, with which many of these Italian theorists were also linked.
October 24, 2025 at 6:06 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
and not a place to be in reverse in the first place
Google Street view of the accident's location (along Old Town street) - the damaged area is adjacent to a driveway and gate, but the wall that the car drove into is behind a relatively wide sidewalk and a few feet of planting - meaning the car drove over a curb, across the sidewalk, and over the planting area before colliding with the building at enough speed to damage the heavy timbers
October 21, 2025 at 12:56 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
first went to Utrecht in 1994 to see this - and it was closed. returned about 10 years ago on a scheduled visit. an incredible place - the detailing and mechanics of all the moving parts is just lovely. (photo from 1994)
exterior of the Rietveld-Schroder house (1994) [Olympus OM-10 with 50mm f1.8 on very grainy black and white film]
October 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM
jamesad.bsky.social
The Frogs are organizing at the US Embassy in London:
US Embassy in London - photo of two frogs amidst others dancing US Embassy in London - photo of tyrannosaurus rex amidst others dancing, one holds a sign that reads "Tyrannosaurus Against Tyranny" US Embassy in London - photo of a frog holding a sign "The water is hot and the Frogs are organizing" US Embassy in London - photo of a protester's sign that has an image of Trump and above it "ANTIFA-👑"
October 18, 2025 at 4:19 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
then they can also afford to fix their windows!
image showing a hammer-shaped car window breaker in action - a 'spider web' of broken glass from a laminated glass windshield. NB: the side windows are tempered and easier to break than laminated glass.
October 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
i think it comes in a tin?
October 11, 2025 at 11:35 AM
jamesad.bsky.social
relatedly (from the same source):
"... and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, and be governed by the civil powers."
Seventh. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and their own State, or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game, and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, and be governed by the civil powers.
October 2, 2025 at 4:28 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
THE core right, going back before the Bill of Rights was adopted; see here a discussion on the constitutional amendments in a New York daily newspaper from December 25, 1787 with specific limits on the government's militia:
Eleventh. That the power of organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia (the manner of disciplining the militia to be prescribed by Congress) remain with the individual States, and that Congress shall not have authority to call or march any of the militia out of their own State, without the consent of such State, and for such length of time only as such State shall agree. That the sovereignty, freedom and independency of the several States shall be retrained, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this Constitution expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.
October 2, 2025 at 4:19 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
serendipitous that the next page i turn to is this from Agamben's Homo Sacer:
screencap from Giorgio Agamben's Homo Sacer: § 3 Life That Does Not Deserve to Live
September 29, 2025 at 5:17 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
I can't find the Medway Oil on any map from that era, but here's North Street in Charlton, right where the Thames Barrier is today:
crop from a 1904 map of Charlton (south side of the Thames)
September 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
a screencap from the Simpsons episode (S12, E10) of a prisoner's painting of a unicorn in outer space, which sets up this pun: Warden: "I'm askin' you, what's it breathing?" to which Homer replies "air?" and the Warden says "ain't no air in space" Homer says "there's an air in space museum"
September 26, 2025 at 1:57 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
or :The 'Work of Art in the Age of .)1tfechanical ReproductiotL
OCR failure: screenshot showing the title as :The 'Work of Art in the Age of .)1tfechanical ReproductiotL
September 16, 2025 at 8:32 AM
jamesad.bsky.social
it was open in the evening, not sure when it'll be removed
a group of people taking photos (and someone sketching) at the Royal Courts of Justice where the Banksy is (for now) a close up of the work
September 9, 2025 at 7:21 AM
jamesad.bsky.social
$25M homes are abundant (wine cellars! saltwater pools!)
screen shot from Zillow showing partial image of a home for sale ($24,988,000) with Saltwater pool and spa, and a second home for sale ($25,500,000) with a Wine cellar
September 5, 2025 at 8:52 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
been reading about it since the early 90s at school:
cover of the book The End of Architecture? Document adn Manifestos, with a Lebbeus Woods drawing as the background and a list of contributors including: Coop Himmelblau, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Carme Pinos, Lebbeus Woods (and Frank Gehry, not noted on the cover)
August 13, 2025 at 7:27 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
@katewagner.bsky.social would love McCrery's residential portfolio, I think:
A screen capture from McCrery Architects website showing a (very bad, even awful) residential project
July 31, 2025 at 9:51 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
and larger than 1-1/2 football fields:
from The Measure of Things website: 90,000 square feet is about one-and-three-fifths times as big as a Football field The size of a Football field is about 57,600 square feet. (American) (per NFL regulation) Per NFL rules, a football field should measure 109.728 m (120 yards) long by 48.768 m wide, for a total area of 57,600 square feet.
July 31, 2025 at 8:49 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
90K sq. ft. is larger than the White House...
from The Measure of Things website: 90,000 square feet is about one-and-three-tenths times as big as The White House The size of The White House is about 67,000 square feet. (Washington, DC) (including wings) Housing the presidency, the White House occupies six stories and a total of 67,000 square feet of floor space. This space includes 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, and 3 elevators, as well as a tennis court, bowling alley, movie theater, jogging track, swimming pool, and putting green.
July 31, 2025 at 8:45 PM
jamesad.bsky.social
The Zeiss lens used to film Barry Lyndon (from a Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum in London a few years ago), originally designed for NASA and retrofitted for the film. Magic.
July 30, 2025 at 1:38 AM
jamesad.bsky.social
"exceptionally attractive young female spa attendants" per Mark Singer:
page 70 from Mark Singer's Character Studies: "...called the Greenhouse Spa, proven specialists in mud wraps, manual lymphatic drainage, reflexology, shiatsu and Hawaiian hot-rock massage, loofah polishes, sea-salt rubs, aromatherapy, acupuncture, peat baths, and Japanese steeping-tub protocol. Evidently, Trump's philosophy of wellness is rooted in a belief that prolonged exposure to exceptionally attractive young female spa attendants will instill in the male clientele a will to live. Accordingly, he limits his role to a pocket veto of key hiring decisions. While giving me a tour of the main exercise room, where Tony Bennett, who does a couple of gigs at Mar-a-Lago each season and has been designated an "artist-in-residence," was taking a brisk walk on a treadmill, Trump introduced me to "our resident physician, Dr. Ginger Lea Southall" - a recent chiropractic-college graduate. As Dr. Ginger, out of earshot, manipulated the sore back of a grateful member, I asked Trump where she had done her training. "I'm not sure," he said. "Baywatch Medical School? Does that sound right? I'll tell you the truth. Once I saw Dr. Ginger's photograph, I didn't really need to look at her resume or anyone else's. Are you asking, 'Did we hire her because she'd trained at Mount Sinai for fifteen years?' The answer is no. And I'll tell you why: because by the time she's spent fifteen years at Mount Sinai, we don't want to look at her."
July 29, 2025 at 11:22 PM