UME

Editors Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper own and publish UME. The magazine was launched in 1996 in Australia.

UME expounds a critical position: architecture is particular to place and time; it finds its form through typology and its aesthetic expression through tectonics.

A key intention of UME is to present the drawings architects make to build their designs – usually the working drawings – and through them to elicit cultural and critical commentary.

Architectural editing is a cultural act. Architectural magazines may consciously provide a crucial intermediary step in the progression of ideas from hypotheses to theories to built demonstrations. We foster and direct architectural research through the act of editing and publishing, selecting architectural works and texts, writing critiques and promoting theoretical propositions and practical outcomes.

It is our experience as editors that architects and students read magazines and books in order to copy ideas: we think this wholesome. We intend readers to use UME as a resource to investigate other architects’ design ideas and develop them in their own work.

What you won’t find in UME is a journal of record or architectural trends.

UME is an independent publication. It carries no advertising and has no sponsorship or institutional affiliation.

UME began in 1992 as an experimental magazine in a box. Three handmade, loose-leaf portfolios were produced. In 1996 UME was launched as a print magazine, designed by Garry Emery (www.emerystudio.com.au).

From the outset, UME carried no advertising, relying solely on bookshop sales and subscriptions.

Between 1996 and 2007 (when UME went online), 21 issues were published as high-quality print copies, 72 pages. UME 8-21 can be purchased: please see Orders on this website.

With UME 22, the publication went fully online. All issues of UME are available as pdf downloads, free.

Eighteen issues of International Architect – the magazine owned, edited and published by Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper in London, 1979-86 – are also online as free pdfs. You can view and download them on the UME website.

Haig Beck, editor/publisher  Born Brisbane 1944. Studied architecture at Queensland Institute of Technology (co-edited Scarab magazine); and at the Architectural Association School, London, 1971-73. Assistant Technical Editor on the Architects’ Journal, 1970-71. Appointed joint editor (with Martin Spring) of Architectural Design, 1976; sole editor, 1977-79. Turned AD around with eclectic thematic issues that were critiques of Modernism. Launched International Architect with Jackie Cooper in 1979, promoting discourse on regionalism, national identity and cultural continuity in architecture. Returned to Australia 1986. Appointed professor and head of school at the University of Melbourne (1993-96). Launched UME with Jackie Cooper, 1996. Has written widely on architecture.

Jackie Cooper, associate editor Born London 1950. Raised in Australia. Studied communications at Polytechnic of Central London, 1969-72. Worked in the Architectural Association Communications Unit led by Dennis Crompton (video, exhibitions, publications) until 1979. Assisted Haig Beck in the production of AD. Launched International Architect with him, 1979, publishing 18 issues in London before returning together to Australia in 1986. Collaboration with Haig Beck include map guides, articles, chapters and books on architecture, as well as writing and publishing UME.

At the heart of the UME website is a database developed by Mark Carew of Magic Wand Department, Brisbane (markcarew@magicwanddept.com.au). To explore the database, go to the UME home page and click Index.

To order UME

Order UME 8-21 from us directly. For contact and payment details, go to the UME home page and click Orders.