Issue 55 ORDINARY

In this issue Guest Editor Leanne Cloudsdale wants you to pause and examine the ORDINARY. That wooden clothes peg, a milk bottle, pebbledash. Cast aside the jazzy stuff for a minute and put the ORDINARY on a pedestal. 

the modernist magazine is available on-line and at selected magazine shops. 

the modernist issue 55 was published in October 2025 and features essays, interviews, articles and pictures: 

Leanne Cloudsdale presents an ‘in conversation’ piece where Phineas Harper, Alex Gore and Amalia Skoufoglou discuss the ordinariness of the Vanbrugh Park Estate. 

The fascinating back story behind Vitsoe shelving features in Leanne's second article, where an interview with Mark Adams sheds light on the ongoing relevance of Deiter Rams’ design ethos.    

Rupert Evans-Harding invites us to reflect on the ordinary as a set of principles that 'were a common ground shaped by routine, repetition and broadly shared values’ and to consider why we might value those same principles today. 

Marcus Oakley’s illustrations of Dalgety Bay show us where residents live with everyday radioactivity... David Bickle reveals a little-known origin story behind the three-pin plug and one of its key designers, Dame Caroline Haslett, a pioneering electrical engineer.  

Richard Chivers offers a powerful set of images from a collection entitled ‘London Passing Time’ that documents everyday and ordinary urban spaces.  

In his poem ‘Extraordinary’ Huw Williams takes on the blandification of architecture and the legacies of twentieth century modernist thinking. 

Daniel Hewitt’s photo series ‘Geology + Geometry II’ juxtaposes rocky landscapes of northern England with Brutalist architectural sites.  

Craig Oldham, in ‘All Fur Coat and No Knickers,’ reflects on his upbringing in working-class Barnsley, South Yorkshire, to argue for the recognition and appreciation of everyday acts of creativity.  

Justin Quirk transports us to airport hotels which, when well-designed, ‘work brilliantly as functional convenient spaces’ despite their often 'bland, bleak, beauty.'  

Danielle Pender offers a love letter to the most mundane of materials, pebbledash. All hail the concrete crust! 

Charlie Monaghan draws on his experience of living in the Berthold Lubetkin designed Bevan Court to underline how “Nothing is too good for ordinary people.” 

In ‘Infrastructure for the Imagination’ Nic Quinn of Sum Place reflects on the role, purpose and meaning of artworks in ordinary, public places.  

Chloe Oades uses Span housing as an exemplar of ‘How Standard Spaces Can Create Extraordinary Places,’ offering a future path for architects to perfect systems and technologies that create workable, livable, vibrant homes.  

the modernist magazine is available on-line and at selected magazine shops. 

Image Credits 

Three-Pin Plug, image Lothar Wiessmann.

Vanbrugh Park Estate, image Meyya Ndakwala Boketi.

Dalgety Bay, illustration Marcus Oakley.  

Hand-made record sleeve © Craig Oldham. 

Dieter Rams and Mark Adams ©Vitsœ.