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Barnabas Calder

@barnabascalder.bsky.social
3.4K followers 1K following 323 posts

Historian of #architecture and #energy, at University of Liverpool School of Architecture. Author of Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency (Pelican, 2021), and Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism (William Heinemann, 2016).

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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thank you! Yes, I unsurprisingly agree with the sentiment that more historians should know more technical stuff and more engineers should know more history. Having a sense of how weird the present is is very motivating to reduce our massive harms.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Thank you. I really appreciate that.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Lovely to hear that it's still of use. I feel I've moved a long way since writing it, but those buildings still need using and gentle retrofit.
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erdjohann @erdjohann.eurosky.social · 05/08/2026
wobei das wirklich alte bücher sind die besten bücher der letzten jahre waren canberk köktürk: fascholand sarah lorenz: mit dir da möchte ich im himmel kaffee trinken otessa moshfegh: mein jahr der ruhe und entspannung mark fisher: ghosts of my life @barnabascalder.bsky.social : raw concrete
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
How very generous! Thank you!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Thanks Michael!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
It does open itself to unflattering comparisons.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I had wondered about that. That's why I mentioned Marble Arch Mound as well.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I've set out my alternative proposal for the Rotterdam Shift Embassy: www.dezeen.com/2026/08/03/r...
Article from Dezeen linked in the post.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Thanks for putting it on here!
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Michael Burchert @michaelburchert.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"I find its architectural language embarrassing and condescending, too - sustainable architecture if you asked AI to draw it for you. In reality, sustainable architecture is new window shutters on an old house." @barnabascalder.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/barnab...
linkedin.com
Building new buildings for sustainability. Really? How can this possibly do enough good to compensate for the harm of designing, CGI-ing building it? Two towers of "rock-like" caverns planne...
Building new buildings for sustainability. Really? How can this possibly do enough good to compensate for the harm of designing, CGI-ing building it? Two towers of "rock-like" caverns planned for Rott...
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Lovely! And completely agree.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Looks great!
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Adam Coleman @adam-coleman.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I’m co-convening a conference with @aidandiable.bsky.social at the University of Warwick for doctoral and early-career researchers exploring place, civic identity, national belonging, and political imagination across historical and contemporary contexts. Get in touch for the call for papers.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Forgot about that! It's Cardiff Central station. Thanks for the prompt!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Just worked out it's a translation of a book I know in English! Thank you for letting me know it's in German too.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Thank you! The book is gettable if relevant (cheaper than most academic books as e book or paperback), or if you can wait we're getting a bit of it made free open access thanks to the Andrew Pullin Fund at U of Liverpool.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
No age limit on it. There's a certain amount of academic experience required before starting a PhD but that's the only limiting factor.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Thank you - I think it's likely to be really revealing and there's masses of good archive and other evidence to work with.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
It's not, I'm afraid - we're looking for a good candidate to apply with Alex Buchanan and me as supervisors to a fund that might well support it. So we'd love to have interested MA students put in touch with us!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Thank you! And yes, it's a great shot, isn't it? Such an interesting moment of transition.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
We're planning to help the candidate to apply for a funding stream with quite a good chance of success, if that makes a difference.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Do you know of someone who might be interested in doing a #PhD on the urban, architectural and environmental history of the University of Liverpool? If so could you point them in my direction?
An aerial view of part of the Uni of Liverpool campus in the 1960s, showing demolitions and new buildings.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
If you're not following Frans Saraste, it's time to take a hard look at your priorities and values. Or you could just follow him, I suppose.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Enjoy him while he lasts - in the South East they've been dying out from a mosquito-born infection. 😢
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Florian Urban @florianurban.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Please join @barnabascalder.bsky.social and me for a talk next Wednesday, 18 March, 6 pm for the Academy of Urbanism in the office of Collective Architecture, at 13 Bath Street in Glasgow, www.theaou.org/events/autho...
theaou.org
Authors of Urbanism: Form Follows Fuel with Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban
Join authors Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban to a look to the past for inspiration in the urgent fight against climate change
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City Atlas @cityatlas.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Maize, rice, and wheat can be stored for up to a decade or more, and from those, cities are built. "Goliath's Curse" is great to read when paired with: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/cul... by @barnabascalder.bsky.social
architectsjournal.co.uk
Book review: Architecture From Prehistory to Climate Emergency, by Barnabas Calder
ACAN’s Joe Giddings reviews Barnabas Calder’s ground-breaking new history of architecture told through the relationship between buildings and energy
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
All the credit for that to Christina! Amazing work!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/eve... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/architecture-energy-climate-panel-discussion-tickets-1982186592457 #architecture #energy #environment #climatecrisis #ecology #sustainability
ucl.ac.uk
Book Launch: Form Follows Fuel
Join Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban for the launch of 'Form Follows Fuel: 14 Buildings from Antiquity to the Oil Age' exploring how energy has shaped architecture.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Two events next week for @florianurban.bsky.social and my book with @johnczulowskiburns.bsky.social, Form Follows Fuel. Come to a discussion with @jeremytill.bsky.social and Anthony Powis at U of Westminster on Tuesday, or our London book launch Wednesday 5pm at the Bartlett. Links follow:
ucl.ac.uk
Book Launch: Form Follows Fuel
Join Barnabas Calder and Florian Urban for the launch of 'Form Follows Fuel: 14 Buildings from Antiquity to the Oil Age' exploring how energy has shaped architecture.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Why did UCL settle? As you say, it was grotty luck to be a student during the pandemic but we didn't have any choice but to move online, and resumed studio as soon as we were allowed. Whom do I get to sue for the fact that it wasn't great for my children of 1 and 5 at lockdown 1?
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Thank you so much - I'm glad it's proven useful.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I was on BBC R4 today talking about the beautiful South Bank Centre. Starts 19 mins in. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Front Row - Review: Wuthering Heights film and Jack Thorne's Lord of the Flies - BBC Sounds
Former artistic director Jude Kelly on the Southbank Centre being Grade II listed.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Here's me prompted by Matt Rendell to risk the opinion that perhaps the #winterolympics could be less #climatecrisis and ecosystem destructive: m.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhW...
m.youtube.com
Winter Olympics Report 3 - Off Track
YouTube video by New Weather Institute
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Yes, that's a weird one. Acknowledging the architectural origins, choosing a very odd source to cite for it, and then jumping to neoliberalism, is quite the rollercoaster.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Mutually so - thank you so much for coming.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Great to have @tim-waterman.co.uk speaking at Liverpool School of Architecture today. Masses of thought-provoking insights on our perceptions of our planet, and even some hopeful notes, which is quite a hard thing to achieve in January 2026.
Prof Tim Waterman lecturing to an audience in Liverpool.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Am I right in thinking it's all heat-treated as part of the processing? How much does that affect its embodied energy consumption?
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
It's nice, isn't it? I'll have to have a look at the Paddington one. It's weird how little I've used Paddington in my life.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
The correct answer was:
Cardiff Central Station
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Snap! And the carpet commissioning policy, too. But yes, another casualty of 2016.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Hahaha! Excellent trolling, then!
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
I will once I've given people longer to not recognise it first.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Nope! Sounds worth a visit, though.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Guess #whatbuilding:
A light fitting and the top of a pilaster
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Brilliant to see the BBC picking up Ranald Lawrence and Dean Hawkes' fabulously interesting and important #environmentalhumanities work on #HardwickHall. They measured solar gain to understand Elizabethan comfort tech. The original articles are hugely worth reading too. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
bbc.co.uk
'The past is an underused tool': An Elizabethan mansion's secrets for staying warm
In a deadly cold period known as the Little Ice Age, clever Elizabethan designs kept a magnificent stately home unusually warm – with lessons for how we can heat our own homes better.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Did anyone snap the Foster/Holcim Essential Homes prototype at the Venice Biennale 2023? If so might I be able to use your photo for an article? I'm not getting replies to my request for permission.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
The wonderful @johnczulowskiburns.bsky.social has joined Bluesky! Do give him a follow. He's the architect who produced the digital models of our buildings for #FormFollowsFuel, which enabled us to calculate #embodiedenergy for each of them. Also the stunning cover image. @florianurban.bsky.social
Form Follows Fuel - a book by Florian Urban and Barnabas Calder about the energy history of architecture.
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Barnabas Calder @barnabascalder.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Thank you Michael! Great to hear that ours is in your top 4! The others look great. More to add to my toppling "to read" tower...
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Michael Burchert @michaelburchert.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Fav books '25 No particular order, just bangers, no prisoners taken. * Straw Bale Building Redefined strawbuildingbooks.com * Form Follows Fuel @barnabascalder.bsky.social @florianurban.bsky.social * Building for People @holz-bau.bsky.social * Die Exponentialgesellschaft @deutschmann.bsky.social
4 Books and a straw OSB on a chest.
1. STRAWBALE BUILDING REDIFINED
2. FORM FOLLOWS FUEL
3. Building for People
4. Die Expontialgesellschaft
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