Back in stock, ‘Building Stone Atlas of Sussex’. This atlas describes, illustrates, maps, and analyses the traditional building stones of Sussex. It is an essential guide and reference for those interested in the building stone landscape of Sussex. In addition to the indigenous rocks of Sussex, stones used for buildings from elsewhere in the British Isles, as well as those imported from France, Belgium and some more exotic rocks from elsewhere, are carefully illustrated and detailed. Nor were the bricks and tiles of Roman construction omitted. The 148 pages of this, very reasonably priced, outstanding book, truly leave ‘no stone unturned’.

Available in store and online.

Inspired by the surreal accounts of the explorer and ‘man of a million lies’ Marco Polo, Imaginary Cities charts the metropolis and the imagination, and the symbiosis therein. A work of creative nonfiction, the book roams through space, time and possibility, mapping cities of sound, melancholia and the afterlife, where time runs backwards or which float among the clouds. In doing so, Imaginary Cities seeks to move beyond the cliches of psychogeography and hauntology, to not simply revisit the urban past, or our relationship with it, but to invade and reinvent it.

Following in the lineage of Borges, Calvino, Chris Marker and Kenneth White, the book examines the city from global macrocosm … More

Owen Hatherley in conversation with Ben Thompson, Thurs, 2nd May at PM Bookshop. Author Owen Hatherley has carved out a niche for himself as one of the UK’s foremost commentators on matters architectural and political; his work exists at the point where these intersect with aesthetics; and his latest chunky tome, a fascinating volume from Repeater Books, tackles all three in a work that is lively, trenchant, informative and never dull!

Hatherley has a particular interest in modernist, brutalist architecture and also the Eastern Bloc countries as they attempt to survive … More

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a place that really existed, but it is long dead. By now, the word “Soviet” should be as meaningless as “Hapsburg”. Yet it endures, as in the wave of “de-communisation” in Ukraine or the strange idea that the capitalist government in Russia is “Communist”. But does the Soviet experience have anything to teach us today, or was it just an enormous cul-de-sac, a nuclear-armed reincarnation of the Russian Empire?

This book tries to find out, through walking the towns and great cities of the USSR, in an itinerary that … More

A passionate and personal book about the writer’s own love for a controversial architectural style. Whether you love or hate brutalist buildings, this book will explain what it is about them that elicits such strong feeling. You will understand the true power of concrete and of mammoth-sized buildings, but also some of the more subtle aspects of brutalist buildings that you may not have known or considered.

Brutalist architecture, which flourished in the 1950s to mid-1970s, gained its name from the term ‘ Beton-brut’, or raw concrete … More

Another new release due tomorrow. ” The impact of global capital & foreign investment on local communities is being felt in major cities across the world. Since the 2012 Olympics was awarded to the British capital, East London has been at the heart of the largest & most all-encompassing top-down urban regeneration strategy in civic history. At the centre of this has been the local government, Newham Council, & their daring proposal: an “Arc of Opportunity” for developers to transform 1,412 hectares of Newham.”

This proposal was outlined in a short film, London’s Regeneration Supernova, and shown to foreign developers and businesses at the … More

New release from Iain Sinclair, in store tomorrow. “We shape ourselves, & are shaped in return, by the walls that contain us. Buildings affect how we sleep, work, socialise & even breathe. They can isolate & endanger us but they can also heal us. We project our hopes & fears onto buildings, while they absorb our histories. In Living With Buildings, Iain Sinclair embarks on a series of expeditions – through London, Marseille, Mexico & the Outer Hebrides.”

He explores the relationship between sickness and structure, and between art, architecture, social planning and health, taking plenty of detours … More

Toibin’s book is deeply told through the prism of his personal encounters with the Catalan people. He writes particularly of the region’s famous citizens, including architect Antoni Gaudi, Modernism’s “most famous exponent”, artists Joan Miro & Salvador Dali. And he writes of the people who came to the city, among them Picasso & George Orwell, who told of his own experiences in Homage to Catalonia.

Colm Toibin’s Homage to Barcelona celebrates one of Europe’s greatest cities – a cosmopolitan hub of vibrant architecture, art, culture … More

Preorder Iain Sinclair’s new book due out 20th September 2018. Buildings affect how we sleep, work, socialise & even breathe. They can isolate and endanger us but they can also heal us. We project our hopes & fears onto buildings, while they absorb our histories. In Living With Buildings, Sinclair embarks on a series of expeditions – through London, Marseille, Mexico & the Outer Hebrides.

He explores the relationship between sickness and structure, and between art, architecture, social planning and health, taking plenty of detours … More