The Battle of Waterloo might have transformed London, turning Hyde Park Corner into what the Mechanics’ Magazine in 1830 called the capital’s ‘grand entrance’. There was to be a triumphal arch, triumphal statues, and I don’t know what, all 'triumphal'. But this wasn’t Paris, and very little got done Decimus Burton’s Wellington Arch only arrived by accident, when George IV’s megalomaniac plans for Buckingham Palace went pear-shaped. July 4 will see the unveiling of a Wellington Arch equivalent in Atlanta, Georgia, designed by Hugh Petter of Robert Adam Architects.
American planners and philanthropists have found that monuments are a spur to urban regeneration. Our own efforts have been mixed. The best of the recent examples is Liam O'Connor's Commonwealth Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill. I wish I could summon more enthusiasm for the Australian memorial (blocks of granite) and the New Zealand memorial (slabs of bronze) on Hyde Park Corner. I’ve only just realised they are memorials at all. As for the monstrous Animals in War Memorial in Park Lane, one has to ask, as one contemplates it at greaterlength than one might wish from the window of a stationary vehicle: why?
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Small engines, big batteries: The quiet revolution of car designMore and more cars on the road are electric, and some unusual shapes and sizes glide past silently. But what does it all mean for design?
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14 ways to keep your dogs cool in the heat, by A-list dog trainer Ben RandallDogs can't regulate their body temperatures as well as humans can, so at this time of year they need your help keeping cool, whether you're on the road, out and about or leaving them with someone else while you go away.
