Mapping modern Cambridge architecture
A modern Cambridge architecture map offers immersive tours through the British city’s 20th century gems

Nigel Green - Photography
This map of modern Cambridge architecture explores more than 40 buildings throughout the British city, touring its rich art deco, brutalist, postmodern and high-tech building heritage. Covering both the local and international architects that have made their mark here, Modern Cambridge Map refocuses our attention, moving it away from the well-documented historic university buildings, and onto more contemporary forms, as well as the city's extensive modernist architecture legacy.
‘You’ll see the city in a whole new light,’ says architecture, design and culture writer Harriet Thorpe, the map's author and a former Wallpaper* staff member. The selection spans from the angular Arup Associates-designed David Attenborough Building to the boxy extensions of the Cambridge School of Architecture and its university housing, designed by Alex Hardy and John Wilson; this is a layered survey of 20th-century design.
Judge Business School
A modern Cambridge architecture map
The space-age Murray Edwards Building, designed by Chamberlain, Powell and Bon, is also included in the map, while injections of colour come from John Outram’s Judge Business School. Elaborate forms and spindly structures can be found courtesy of the Architects Co-Partnership-designed Wolfson-Trinity building and Corpus Christi. Denys Lasdun's Christ’s College New Court offers an intriguingly layered form.
The images for the map are taken by artist and photographer Nigel Green, and add visual prompts to Thorpe’s words, letting us explore gems of the built environment with ease, from hidden concrete staircases to fountains and glass roofs.
Churchill College
The map is part of a wider series of publications by Blue Crow Media, exploring the finer architecture features of different cities. Brutalist architecture maps of Berlin, Paris and London pinpoint a wealth of both iconic and lesser-known buildings. Meanwhile, the modernist map series offers easy tours for architecture enthusiasts the world over.
Fitzwilliam College
Murray Edwards
David Attenborough Building
Modern Cambridge Map, by Harriet Thorpe with photography by Nigel Green, published by Blue Crow Media celebrates 20th century architecture in Cambridge
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Martha Elliott is the Junior Digital News Editor at Wallpaper*. After graduating from university she worked in arts-based behavioural therapy, then embarked on a career in journalism, joining Wallpaper* at the start of 2022. She reports on art, design and architecture, as well as covering regular news stories across all channels.
-
Teresa Pągowska's dreamy interpretations of the female form are in London for the first time
‘Shadow Self’ in Thaddaeus Ropac’s 18th-century townhouse gallery in London, presents the first UK solo exhibition of Pągowska’s work
By Sofia Hallström Published
-
We preview Expo 2025 Osaka: what to expect and who will be there
Expo 2025 Osaka prepares to throw open its doors in April; we preview the world festival, its developments and highlights
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
The new MASP expansion in São Paulo goes tall
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) expands with a project named after Pietro Maria Bardi (the institution's first director), designed by Metro Architects
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
The new MASP expansion in São Paulo goes tall
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) expands with a project named after Pietro Maria Bardi (the institution's first director), designed by Metro Architects
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
Manchester United and Foster + Partners to build a new stadium: ‘Arguably the largest public space in the world’
The football club will spend £2 billion on the ambitious project, which co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has described as the ‘world's greatest football stadium’
By Anna Solomon Published
-
Marta Pan and André Wogenscky's legacy is alive through their modernist home in France
Fondation Marta Pan – André Wogenscky: how a creative couple’s sculptural masterpiece in France keeps its authors’ legacy alive
By Adam Štěch Published
-
'Bold and unapologetic', this contemporary Wimbledon home replaces a 1970s house on site
This grey-brick Wimbledon home by McLaren Excell is a pairing of brick and concrete, designed to be mysterious
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Modernist churches: we give praise for the genre’s concrete geometries
Modernist churches offer awe and architectural inspiration, blending concrete geometries with spiritual reverence; we take a tour
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The little-known story of Welsh modernism
'Cabin Crew', a new book published this spring by The Modernist, brings the spotlight to Cardiff-based practice Hird & Brooks
By Emma O'Kelly Published
-
The modernist home of musician Imogen Holst gets Grade II listing
The daughter of the composer Gustav Holst lived here from 1964 until her death, during which time the home served a locus for her own composition work, which included assisting Benjamin Britten
By Anna Solomon Published
-
This modern Cotswolds home draws on its ancient woodland context
This contemporary Cotswolds home, designed by NCA Architecture with interiors by Echlin, is a slice of the Mediterranean in the English countryside
By Tianna Williams Published