Beauty & history of the built world | Deep dives on humanity’s most mesmerising buildings & places | Work in Construction IRL 🧱🛠️
Joined December 2018
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May 18
In 1755, Europe's largest ever earthquake crushed Lisbon.
An hour later, a 20ft tsunami rolled in. Then, 6 days of raging fires scorched the rest.
85% of the city. 1 in 3 people. Gone.
But from the ruins rose one man who rebuilt the city into an icon.
The Marquis of Pombal.
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Jun 6
Less order. More life.
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Jun 5
While we’re on the topic of beautiful learning institutions…
The University of Sydney, Australia.
A building I’ve had the privilege of helping restore and maintain through various projects over the years.
Simply stunning.
Jun 4
AI would never recreate this amount of beauty. Anyway, build learning institutions like this again.
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Jun 5
Wild story about this place…
After years of exile, Medici rival Filippo Strozzi returned to Florence in 1466 determined to build a palace grander than any Medici residence.
But he died before construction finished.
Then the Medici’s confiscated it for the next 30 years.
🤌
Strength and power —communicated with rusticated honey-colored stone.
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy.
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Jun 4
This isn’t Athens or Rome.
You’re looking at Baalbek. An ancient temple complex in south-east Lebanon.
After the Romans annexed the region under Augustus, construction began around the 1st century BC.
But here’s the wild part:
Beneath the Temple of Jupiter sits the Trilithon… three limestone blocks, each stretching 20 metres long and weighing 800 tonnes. Raised 7 metres above the ground.
To this day, nobody knows exactly how the Romans lifted them.
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Jun 2
Modern architecture is dead boring.
The excuse: “Beautiful buildings are too expensive.”
You've been lied to.
In 1960s Uruguay, Eladio Dieste had no capital and basic materials. Yet created gravity-defying structures of astonishing beauty.
Here’s his most inspiring work.
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Jun 2
Dieste balanced beauty, economy and the mystical:
“A building cannot be profound as a work of art unless it has an earnest and subtle fidelity to the laws of matter.”
In reimagining humanity's oldest building material, he inspired an unlikely phrase:
“As light as brick.”
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Jun 2
Thanks for reading.
If you’re fascinated by architecture, cities and the unexpected history behind them, drop me a follow @jakemrichards for more.
Behind every great building is an even better story.
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Jun 1
A bishop once question Gaudi on the Sagrada Família:
“Why do you care so much about the top of the towers? After all, no one will ever see them.”
Gaudi responded:
“Your Grace, the angels will see them.”
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May 29
21st century boy:
Chases 4 minutes of TikTok fame.
Ancient Babylonian King:
Inscribes his name into clay bricks to build the greatest city of his era. 4,000 years later, his name is still spoken.
Men are mortal. Buildings endure.
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May 28
Unexpected Roman history fact:
Their roads actually get stronger every single year.
Each stone is engineered with a pointed base that sinks deeper into the earth with every footstep.
Plus the irregular shapes lock together like a puzzle.
Still standing 2000 years later.
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May 27
In 1986, Nike sent designer Tinker Hatfield to Paris for inspiration.
But Hatfield isn’t just a designer. He’s a trained architect. And in Paris, one building blew his mind.
A year later, he turns its architecture into a sneaker… The Air Max 1.
Here’s the full story 🧵
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May 27
Fun fact, I used to live directly across the road in Paris.
I could see the Centre Pompidou from my kitchen window.
Here's a photo of me at one of the expo's a couple of years back.
It's closed for renovations for the next 7 years but when it reopens…
You MUST visit!
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May 27
Thanks for reading.
If you’re fascinated by architecture, cities and the unexpected history behind them, drop me a follow @jakemrichards for more.
Behind every great building is an even better story.
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