Mark Bessoudo

I write letters to editors.

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Canadian ice fishing huts are temporary infrastructure that carry the visual language of a vernacular folk art tradition. My latest in Canadian Architect magazine @CdnArch:

https://t.co/U41mtDmERi

Photos by Richard Johnson

[C20 Society @C20Society]

Building of the Month for September 2025:

Chapel of Reconciliation, Berlin
Reitermann and Sassenroth, 2000

@markbessoudo writes: 'It is said no other city treats memory so architecturally as Berlin. Set within the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, the Chapel of Reconciliation (Kapelle der Versöhnung) is easy to miss. A modest yet radical building of rammed earth and floating timber slats, and a reflection of its communitarian design and construction process.'

➡️Read the full article on our website: https://t.co/TCYveH9QOo...

[C20 Society @C20Society]

EVENT: C20 Open Mic Night

📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍The Gallery, Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 Book tickets: https://t.co/mUNepMuZXK

C20 Open Mic is back! Returning after a hugely popular debut, this event is an evening of short talks by young and early-career specialists in twentieth-century heritage.

Focussing on the theme of housing and the domestic sphere, our five speakers will explore such topics as public art commissioned by Sainsbury's; Trellick Tower and community housing; UK housing and value; and Silver End, a 1930s new town built by Crittall Windows.

Featuring:

• Mark Bessoudo - writer and engineer

• Skye Langmuir - urban designer at Alan Baxter

• Laura Bucero Descalzo - urban designer at Broadway Malyan

• Krista Evans - postgraduate researcher and Construction Manager at Hackney Borough Council

• Helen Warner - heritage consultant at Alan Baxter

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

@Tom8enjamin @modernistmag @sainsburyarch According to @artukdotorg it was moved to the Westhampnett Road store in 1986. After it was the only item to survive a 1993 fire, it was re-sited at the new store in 1994. Lots more photos and info here: https://t.co/VVGXylCpNT

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

"Come for the meal deal, stay for the history lesson."

My photo essay in @modernistmag explores the surprising history of public art commissioned for Sainsbury's supermarkets across the UK.

https://t.co/JZL6LVxhrd

@sainsburyarch

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

'Public Art Outside the British Aisles'

My photo essay in the latest issue of @modernistmag explores the surprising history of public art commissioned by Sainsbury's supermarkets across the UK starting in the 1960s.

On sale now: https://t.co/a4uL0q0Adi

[Johnny Marr @Johnny_Marr]

The latest @modernistmag out now. Great work.

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

My latest 'First Person' essay for The Globe and Mail reflects on my years volunteering at an Oxfam charity shop—and why, when it comes to work, "think local, act local" might be the most radical thing we can do right now.

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

Volunteering at a charity shop was exactly what I needed when I needed it https://t.co/wvoUBPUcim

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

Volunteering at a charity shop was exactly what I needed when I needed it https://t.co/wvoUBPUcim

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Looking out the window of an airplane is one of life's little joys.

My letter in The Globe & Mail: https://t.co/1C8R3pHkZY

#saskatchewan #tajikistan

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

"Hellish and exciting" is the perfect description of the cooling towers for the UK's last coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which was closed last month. What should happen to these "cathedrals of industrial power"? My letter in the @FT

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

My letter in the New York Times https://t.co/Ovovb38JtQ

Everyone would benefit if those in the liberal arts and humanities were also taught practical subjects that are rooted in reality and were exposed to ideas that are less ideologically charged.

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Photography can change our experience and perception of the built environment — can it also play a role in changing cities for the better?
https://t.co/sp6dvLFCT6

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Supporting the widespread adoption of cycling is about considering the social with the environmental, the physical with the cerebral, and the material with the spiritual. https://t.co/91ls4U7OaK

@theAoU

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Bicycles are 'the nearly divine epitome of sustainability’.

In "Life, Cycle, Analysis", my latest for The Academy of Urbanism @theAoU, I explore the philosophy of cycling and the city: https://t.co/91ls4U7OaK

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

Supporting the widespread adoption of cycling isn’t just a matter of cold quantitative calculations of carbon emissions or commute times; it’s also a matter of qualitative attitude. https://t.co/91ls4U7OaK

@theAoU

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

I wrote an essay about doughnuts. The philosophy of doughnuts. Tim Hortons doughnuts. The philosophy of Tim Hortons' Old Fashioned Plain doughnuts.
https://t.co/va2OiNemAv

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

Be warned: A double-double is not always a double-double at an overseas Tims https://t.co/3QhAueD2af

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

I wrote an essay about doughnuts. The philosophy of doughnuts. Tim Hortons doughnuts. The philosophy of Tim Hortons' Old Fashioned Plain doughnuts.

[The Globe and Mail @globeandmail]

Be warned: A double-double is not always a double-double at an overseas Tims https://t.co/3QhAueD2af

[New York Times Opinion @nytopinion]

“It is possible, as I do, to support and sympathize with ordinary Palestinians, and strive for a future of peaceful coexistence, while also recognizing the unequivocal depravity of these terrorist attacks.” #NYTLetters

Read: https://t.co/xwjnZUZUhe

[Mark Bessoudo @markbessoudo]

"How the Left Is Reacting to the Hamas Atrocities"

My letter in the New York Times
https://t.co/MHglAbrey8