John McGuire, Architect
Architecture & Urban Design
An Architect's Rome - The book examines “pieces” of the city: some famous, some not, some large, some not. Through the book we visit a selection of Rome’s most public places, and we find many of Rome’s most secret places. All in an effort to understand what this great city is all about—its character, its mood, its feeling—the world city and the ordinary city. To further this understanding, the book links up many aspects of Rome’s history as it relates to the city as a work of architecture.
The Importance of Rome’s Urban Plan - Pope Sixtus V’s plan was quite ingenious and yet quite simple. His plan called for the extension of a series of straight streets to interconnect the important city gates and monuments—including five of the city’s seven pilgrimage churches—which lay in the empty space between the city wall and the medieval city.
This single act raised Rome out of chaos and provided the city with the most significant element of its townscape: the long uninterrupted vista anchored by an important monument or public space.
For more information about An Architect's Rome and Golf at the Water's Edge please contact me at john@johnmcguirearchitect.com
The Scottish Links - Golf has been played over Scotland’s seaside links for centuries. Links are the public lands held by the burgh for the common good of its citizens. Such linkslands provided a place where the citizens of the town or village could graze their animals, do their laundry, practice archery, and engage in a wide range of other activities, including sports. Of these, golf ultimately became the most popular.
A remarkable range and variety of courses are to be found on the shores of Scotland. Their unique appeal lies in the exhilarating feeling of freedom and the expansive sense of space. For those who play on a modern course in a more sheltered setting among groves of trees and along placid lakes, Scottish courses provide a dramatic contrast. A golfer playing on a seaside links is exposed to the elements, sometimes brutally. Playing over a natural links course in these demanding conditions requires rigor and discipline.
Over thousands of years of geological action, the seas along the shores of Scotland receded to leave a natural landscape ideally suited for the game of golf. Here have been created the classic links courses—some grand, some humble—that now occupy the unique linksland at the water's edge.