Through a series of examples - a close reading of penny chews; a history of half timbering; the chemistry of Starbucks foam - Sam Jacob's talk tours some of the sites of everyday pop-vernaculars in an attempt to unravel their codes, meanings and politics. Jacob also looks at the legacy of a variety of Pop-isms, argues about the relevance of architecture's abandoned post-modern project, the construction of meanings against the abstraction of modernism, and how Pop-esque strategies might allow architecture a more relevant, engaged and critical stance a means of escape from abstract formalism. Sam Jacob is an architect and critic. He is a founding director of FAT, where he was most recently partner in charge of the Hooglivet Herlijkheid project, a park and cultural building in Rotterdam. He is also architecture editor of Contemporary, and writes for magazines including Icon, Art Review and Metropolis. He has taught at a variety of universities, most recently at Yale as the Louis I. Kahn Visiting professor.