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Exhibition by Robert Harbison in London, UK

London Metropolitan University Architecture Exhibition

9 Nov 2009

Travels with Bob

Robert Harbison is no ordinary architectural historian. His command of the apparatus of history is unassailable but he never allows it to mask the true nature of his subject.

For him the important thing is the direct experience of the building or work of art. To look at a building with Bob, in the lecture hall, in the pages of his books or out in the city street, is always to see something fresh and immediate. The encounter is never routine or prejudiced. We feel a closeness to the spirit of the work that can be revelatory.

For twenty years now Bob has unobtrusively asserted his intellectual authority in the architecture school at Londonmet, gaining the respect and affection of his colleagues and of generations of students. Now he is nearing retirement it is beginning to dawn on us that he is irreplaceable.

But at least we have his new book Travels in the history of architecture to console us, and to accompany its launch Travels with Bob, an exhibition of photographs taken by his wife, Esther Whitby. In some of these pictures we see Bob at work, in close communion with buildings and landscapes, but we see many other things too, funny and poignant, captured for us by a quick, observant eye.

Colin Davies

ASD Exhibitions
Department of Architecture
and Spatial Design
London Metropolitan University
Spring House
40 – 44 Holloway Road
London N7 8JL
T 020 7133 2201

Exhibition opening times:
19 – 25 November 2009
Mon – Fri 10am – 7pm
Sat 10am – 2pm

For more information visit
www.asd-realtime.org

Travels in the History of Architecture Book

Travels with Bob images / information from Robert Harbison

The publication of Travels in the history of architecture, the opening of Travels with Bob, an exhibition of photographs taken by his wife Esther Whitby, and his first twenty years as a teacher at London Metropolitan University are all to be celebrated.

Travels in the history of architecture is published by Reaktion Books. Copies of the book will be available at a discounted price at the opening.

Travels with Bob, a catalogue of the photographs in the exhibition with an introduction by Esther Whitby and an essay by Robert Harbison, is published by Isle of Wight Architecture Press.

Location: London, England, UK