Dirty Old River - Tom Emerson, Ingrid Schroder

Dirty Old River brings together 12 essays by architect Tom Emerson written over the past two decades. The title is borrowed from the opening line of the Kinks’ ‘Waterloo Sunset’, probably the best pop song about London and the most evocative three words about the city. The Thames is just one character in a cast of places, architects, artists, writers and objects that come together in a collection that explores how architecture is produced. Included here are texts that echo the unruliness of London in sun-washed LA, follow the picturesque ha-ha from the gardens of Stowe to the New Town of Milton Keynes, and ask how the delicate paper models by Monika Sosnowska produce violent sculptural deformations in steel. Each text is individual and distinct, but together they represent the point of view of an architect and writer who is deeply, affectionately and perpetually curious about the nature of the things we make.

Tom Emerson is an architect and co-founder 6a architects in London with Stephanie Macdonald. Alongside practice, he is professor of architecture at ETH Zurich, where he leads a design studio exploring the relationship between making, landscape and ecology.

Ingrid Schroder is Director of the Architectural Association.