Squinch #1

Squinch publishes radical criticism, fiction, poetry, long-form essays, interviews, and photography, encompassing a range of landscapes and buildings, spaces inhabited and emptied, spectacular and mundane.

Squinch in a new ‘literary/architecture’ magazine, featuring writing by authors that occupy—and occasionally straddle—both sides of the disciplinary divide. Created with the intention of repackaging architectural discourse as something to be enjoyed by amateurs and experts alike, inside you’ll find short stories, poetry, critical essays, photography and interviews ‘encompassing a range of landscapes and buildings, spaces inhabited and emptied, spectacular and mundane.’

This openbound debut edition features a collapsing tower block on the cover, borrowed from artist Veronika Desova’s striking series ‘Unstable Structures’, recording the demolition of Glasgow’s Wyndford Towers. Inside, Charlie Porter sits in conversation with climate journalist Issey Gladstone to discuss his debut novel ‘Nova Scotia House’—set in an imagined East London council estate of the same name—and its architectural roots, patterned off Bethnal Green’s Dorset Estate; Fraser Curry pens an opinion piece ‘In Defence of Slough’, sparked by an irksome Instagram reel featuring a pair of Australian and Canadian influencers remarking on its irredeemable boringness; Phineas Harper reflects on Britain’s controversial ‘New Towns’ and ruminates on the contemporary developments in the works under our current labour government; and writer John Tottenham shares an extract from his debut novel ‘Service’, following the plight of a disgruntled LA–based bookseller contending with his inaptitude to earn a living, and harking back to the pre–gentrified past of his local area.

Plus, discover a smattering of ornamental drawings of squinches—defined as ‘arch, niche or load–bearing’ structures that connect a dome to a square base—by architect Nabil Haque throughout the issue.