Squinch magazine opens up architecture
Magnus Rena is editor of Squinch magazine, the new journal that takes a literary approach to architecture. And he says the opening editorial he wrote for the launch issue felt something like a coming out letter:
“Maybe one would expect the editor of an architecture magazine to be an architect,” he laughs. “Sorry guys, it’s not true. And I wanted to be open about that from the beginning… The editors I like are always quite self-deprecating and down to earth, because at the end of the day, they’re a kind of conduit from one person to the subject at hand. And how boring and pompous if that person is saying, ‘You need a PhD in concrete sustainability to understand this article.'”
In the podcast episode above, he explains how the idea for Squinch came to him after seeing an exhibition at RIBA about Manplan, a short-lived offshoot from the Architectural Review that ran from 1969 to 1970. Its aim was to provide an alternative to the sort of stuffy echo chamber that characterised architecture journalism at the time, and in a sense it was too successful. The renegade upstart split the office at Architectural Review and the project was shut down so that everyone could get back to doing their proper jobs.
Magnus says he was inspired by the ideas behind Manplan, and he saw a gap in today’s magazine market for a publication that both looked good, and opened up the subject of architecture for non-expert readers. (Though he was eventually persuaded that he shouldn’t call his new magazine ‘Manplan B’.)
He and designer Caitlin McLoughlin have done a fantastic job of transferring that vision onto the printed page, and the first issue of Squinch feels like it has landed fully formed, and completely sure of what it can do. I really enjoyed hearing him speak about the process of making the magazine, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too. If you’d like to hear more conversations with independent magazine makers, just search for ‘Stack Magazines’ wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us so we can deliver all our future episodes to you as soon as they’re ready.
