Author Archives: Robert Kronenburg

About Robert Kronenburg

I am an architect, author and glider pilot. My books on architecture include Spirit of the Machine, Architecture in Motion, Portable Architecture and Flexible Architecture. I also write about popular music venues and spaces and these books include Live Architecture and This Must be The Place. Under my pen name Robert Kaye, I have also just released my first novel The Shadow House. Drawing has been a life-long pleasure for me and on my website I explain how it has changed the way I see the world.

There’s Live… and there’s Virtually Live

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Robert Kronenburg

On a recent trip to London, I set out to look at how live music venues had been affected by two years of intermittent shutdowns. I had expected to find changes, hardships, and closures, and indeed there had been well-known, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged alltogethernow, architecture, music performance, popular music, temporary stages, venues | Leave a comment

Soaring Inspiration

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Robert Kronenburg

I have always been fascinated by aviation. Although architectural design has been my chosen profession, which I have found fascinating, like many others not fortunate enough to make their career as a pilot, I have spent huge chunks of my … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., aviation, contemporary architecture | Tagged architecture, design, gliding, inspiration, literature, soaring | Leave a comment

A Week in the Shard

Posted on July 6, 2021 by Robert Kronenburg

The Shard, London ©Robert Kronenburg I recently found out that I am one of six winners of an RIBA competition in which entrants were asked to reflect on the impact of the pandemic on their lives, practice and the general world … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., contemporary architecture, music, Uncategorized | Tagged architecture, music performance, popular music | Leave a comment

Unlocking Live Music

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Robert Kronenburg

Back in July 2020 the UK’s first official post-pandemic indoor live music performance took place in London when Beverley Knight performed live at the London Palladium in a pilot that would ostensibly show how music and theatrical events might be … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., music, portable | Tagged grass-roots music, live music, lock-down, outdoor gigs | Leave a comment

This Must Be The Place: CBGB and OMFUG

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Robert Kronenburg

My book This Must Be The Place: An Architectural History of Popular Music Performance Venues (Bloomsbury, New York) is published today 7th March 2019. It tells the story of the places and spaces where popular music has been performed and … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., contemporary architecture, music, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thinking, Doing and Making at HELLO WOOD

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Robert Kronenburg

This summer I spent eight hot days in rolling farmland a few hours from Lake Balaton in rural Hungary. Up a farm track, amidst a matrix of huge fields was a triangle of land which became, over just a few … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., contemporary architecture, flexible | Tagged architecture, building, education, self-build, sustainability | Leave a comment

Tiny House

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Robert Kronenburg

One cold March a few years ago I was travelling through New England on a short holiday after a week’s work in New York. I didn’t have any rooms booked or arrangements made and this had led me on a round-about … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., contemporary architecture, flexible, traditional architecture | Tagged architecture, building, self-build, simple construction, small, sustainability, Thoreau, tiny houses, Walden | Leave a comment

Political Architecture: The ‘big’ and the ‘flexible’

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Robert Kronenburg

A few years ago I was in Bucharest helping judge a competition to design a large-scale temporary installation in one of the city’s squares. The organisers set the judging panel up in the Palace of the Parliament constructed in … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., contemporary architecture, flexible | Tagged adaptable architecture, architecture, Bucharest, political architecture | Leave a comment

Ephemeral Cities

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Robert Kronenburg

In the late 1970s, when I was a student of architecture, I took part in a school trip to Paris. The staff had arranged visits to what they considered important buildings: Villa Savoye (we were impressed), the new Ricardo Bofill’s … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., portable, traditional architecture | Tagged architecture, cities, fairgrounds, festivals, Paris, temporary stages | Leave a comment

What Makes a Music City?

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Robert Kronenburg

‘Music City’ is a term that seems to be coming more and more common. Once it might have been used to loosely describe a place that has a good vibe for popular music activity – fun venues, a lively local … Continue reading →

Posted in all together now..., music | Tagged architecture, Melbourne, music performance, popular music, temporary stages, venues | Leave a comment