Published: May 24, 2021 16:15 Matthias Debureaux The dome of the Heinens building in Cleveland Image Credit: Erik Drost
In Westbourne, on the southern coast of England, a temple of consumption lives up to its name. It’s a Tesco minimarket – in an old Methodist church. Tesco Express in Westbourne Image Credit: Alexandre Tabaste
The location choice was controversial, and one customer still makes the sign of the cross when he enters the store. The stained glass is original, but the church’s candles and liturgical objects have been replaced with crates of spirits, cigarettes and draw tickets. In another building conversion hotly disputed by locals, a Despar supermarket opened last winter in an old theatre on the Strada Nuova, in the historic heart of Venice. The project drew as much praise as criticism. The neo-gothic architectural gem, which first housed a theatre, became a universi