David Wild is an architect and writer. He studied architecture at Portsmouth, the Architectural Association in London, then worked for several firms before starting independent practice, teaching, and writing. He entered politics during the Vietnam war, producing and distributing 20,000 NLF flagbags to raise money for medical aid; designed and edited the outside-left architectural magazine ARse (1969–72), and designed the first Big Red Diary (1974). His practice has concentrated on domestic buildings, and his own self-built house in London is his best-known work; most recently he designed Cypher House. He has written many critiques and reviews for the British architectural press (especially Architecture Today and Architects’ Journal ) and is the author of Fragments of utopia and Jazzpaths. (Our author is the architect David Wild. There is also a ‘jazz David Wild’ [see here] and a ‘pop David Wild’ [see here]).