Papal rebuke

27 November 2009

The Vatican invited 500 artists, musicians, architects to meet Pope Benedict XVI to create a new dialogue between the Church and the art world. But who did the Pope have in mind when he warned against a quest for “mere aestheticism” and that modern ideas of beauty were often “illusory and deceitful, superficial and blinding, leaving the onlooker dazed”. Surely not Hadid, whose new Maxxi arts centre had opened the week before.

Candy costs

Word reaches Boots that Candy & Candy is looking to recover rather more than the reported £1 million from Chelsea Barracks developer Qatari Diar.

Nick and Christian Candy are understood to be after £10 million over alleged unpaid fees for their work on the stalled scheme.

Speedy recovery

Congratulations to Glasgow architect Laura James who ran the New York City marathon for charity — just three months after a serious car crash left her in a wheelchair.

“After the accident, I was lying in A&E shouting I’ve got a marathon to run,” says James, who works for design and engineering specialist Morgan Professional Services and, with a friend, raised £13,000 for the MS Society in Ayrshire & Arran.

Thorp: nice little mover.

Strictly gadgets

Another lively architect is West Midlands-based David Thorp, a keen salsa dancer in his spare time, who is about to get his 15 minutes of fame on TV.

Thorp — who once ran for RIBA president — was last week filmed by Channel 5’s Gadget Show, dancing and then whipping out his mobile phone.

“I guess that’s the gadget connection but they didn’t really explain. We’ll have to watch on December 13 to find out,” says Thorp, who claims dancing is a great way to get over the frustrations of dealing with planners.

Public opinions

Will Alsop is expecting some difficult questions at his first talk at The Public today, after admitting the building has damaged his reputation.

“I want to go back and remind people where it came from, from my point of view.

“Any time I read things about it, the costs of the building fluctuate. That figure isn’t for the building, that is the total cost of the project… the cost of the building I would suspect is in the order of £30-£32 million — under half of what is reported. That tends to reflect on me,” he told local newspaper the Express and Star.

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