Epic Space ― The Architectural Diaries

Epic Space is a hilarious take on contemporary culture as viewed through the twisted prism of "Martin," amoral architectural consultant with a penchant for a long lunch and powerful friends, including members of the Cabinet and HRH the Prince of Wales. Written in weekly diary form, Martin’s world is a mad and woozy version of our own: one in which Martin and his friend, the nanofuturologist Beansy, can invent Kryptogel—a new building material developed using "hard air." It’s a world where the property wing of the Church of England builds buy-to-let almshouses while "bouncy mega-mosques" have helium-stiffened minarets. An arts correspondent is fired by a Sunday newspaper and replaced with his own overdressed architectural dachshund. Soot becomes a valuable stock market commodity. A hipster skyscraper is called the Blard. Big questions are asked: Is texture the new fragrance? Is modern modernism just post-modernism but with a neo-modernistic coat on? How fat is your faceprint? And, reassuringly, there are still plenty of boozy lunches.