More Comment – Page 371
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Opinion
Late again
The Scottish, meanwhile, had a nagging feeling of déjà vu.Like the Parliament building, Holyrood architect Benedetta Tagliabue also overran massively on her presentation to the conference. Oh, the irony.She was also overheard the previous evening, objecting to meeting a member of the RIAS at 8am the following day. “Is 8.30 ...
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Opinion
Given the slip
Architect Niall McLaughlin has secured new work of an unusual and rather unwelcome kind. A banana-mad minicab driver has taken to parking directly outside McLaughlin’s London office. Unfortunately, the late-night cabbie deposits a potentially dangerous pile of banana skins on the street, leaving public-spirited McLaughlin to deal with it each ...
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Opinion
Theatre of dreams
Director of Netherlands-based practice S333, Chris Moller, certainly has a way with words. Discussing plans to regenerate Oldham, reported in last week’s First Look, the New Zealander was asked to describe his design for the new Oldham Coliseum theatre.“The theatre is in the sky, so to speak,” he said. ...
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Opinion
Scratched out
Wondering about the ones that got away in our Power 40? Most disappointing for our Edinburgh contributor Malcolm Fraser will be the exclusion of reggae great Lee "Scratch" Perry. Malcolm reckons he proves "it's not things that matter, not notes or walls, but the space between them, the emptiness that ...
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Opinion
One world? No thanks
Architecture has reached a new level of political potency in the UK, but it takes a tussle between two foreigners this week to reveal it.
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OpinionJonathan Ball
The co-founder of the Eden project has come up with what he hopes will be another world-class visitor attraction for Cornwall. But this time there'll be no legal wrangles he says
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Opinion
We must be master of all trades
Oh, come on Claire Barton and others (News Analysis April 23), have you not heard of the Universal Man? You need to understand that as an architect, you do have to be good at everything.To suggest anything else is simply to go along with today’s acceptance of mediocrity, where everyone ...
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Opinion
Egan's angels
Punchy journalism may force you to simplify the debate about the Egan Review (BD April 23). But it might be more helpful if the profession allowed itself time for careful deconstruction of generic skill vs core competence, to wonder whether they are really so different and exclusive.Here's a story to ...
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Opinion
Social awareness
I am delighted that the social aspects of housing design (April 30) featured so prominently and so soon after the previous debate on John Prescott’s National Centre for Sustainable Communities. But Cabe’s Alex Ely and suburban masterplanner Roger Evans need to widen their sights to include the greenfield/brownfield debate, not ...
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Opinion
Stand up comrade
It was an interesting coincidence that on the back of the page featuring Charles Jencks's letter about terrorism and architects (Letters April 23), there was an advert for Barbour Index featuring "comrade" Lenin and Russians.The corollary is that, architects – with all their good intentions and valuable function as the ...
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Opinion
Philly friends
It is strange to read the statement that the legacy of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown has been, “to remove any idea of the social or political relevance of architecture...” (Letters April 8). Let me tell you about Chad (Charter High School for Architecture & Design) in Philadelphia – ...
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Opinion
Mysterious girl
It is good to see that the Landscape Design Trust has celebrated Peter Shepheard’s full and varied career with a new monograph (Culture April 30). Shepheard was a beacon of the values behind an architecture of the “everyday” and the role of the generalist.In today’s world of paradox that has ...
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Opinion
Table talk 1
Tony Aspinall (Letters April 23) may be assured he is not the only architect who holds his views on Alsop’s “Table for Toronto”. The sheer bad-mannered arrogance displayed by this building leaves me breathless and wondering what sort of planning authority would subject its fellow citizens to such antisocial gimmickry.
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Opinion
Table talk 2
Re Alsop’s “flying tabletop” (News April 16), I understand RIBA president George Ferguson believes a key challenge for architects is to have a “visually educated public” – or have I got it the wrong way round?
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Opinion
So macho
Sarah Wigglesworth’s experience of machismo (In Practice April 23), I am happy to say, is not universal. In 40 years, I have been fortunate enough to meet courtesy in most situations, including on site. As the student working with me keeps pointing out, how other people treat one depends largely ...
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Opinion
We’re motoring
And so the baby’s head was wetted. BD’s relaunch party in London on Tuesday saw Davids Chipperfield and Adjaye chatting with RIBA presidents past, present, and perhaps future in the form of Paul Hyett, George Ferguson and Richard Saxon. Bob Allies and Graham Morrison were among those who praised the ...
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Opinion
Taking his queue
Since when did the deputy prime minister have to queue for anything? Since he became an RIBA honorary fellow this week. John Prescott arrived at Portland Place in a Mercedes, but proved he was a true man of the people when he stood in line for his honorary scroll with ...
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Opinion
Fitting honour?
Another interesting fellowship went to Fergus Muir, the civil servant responsible for architecture at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. According to RIBA chief executive Richard Hastilow, one of the reasons Muir won the award was for “helping in the reconstruction of Iraq”. Um…
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Opinion
A little discipline
Staying with the military theme, RIBA president George Ferguson opened the ceremony, sharing the stage with Hastilow, a former senior Royal Navy officer. Ferguson said the fellowships would be “awarded by discipline. I don’t mean military discipline. There is not a lot of that here, except for…” the president then ...