More Comment – Page 226
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OpinionShould architects be proud of the British Pavilion?
Yes, says John Tuomey, it is a serious show that considers the architect’s place in society; while Nigel Coates argues that by ignoring the brief, it is a missed opportunity
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OpinionHigh standards despite ratios
Architecture degrees leap in popularity (News September 5) revealed that the annual number of students studying architecture has jumped by 10,000 in four years.
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Opinion
Not consulted
In response to ACA’s publication of its own appointment document (News September 5), Richard Brindley is quoted as being “disappointed” because “the ACA was extensively consulted in the initial development of the RIBA contracts”.
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Opinion
The public’s plan
Saul Metzstein in his comments on Kevin McCloud & The Big Town Plan TV programme (Culture September 12) did not mention the role of the public in finding solutions to Castleford’s regeneration.
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Free range choice
Boundaries can either confine ideas and produce pedestrian work or can provide the impetus for tangential solutions and creative ideas. This is true both in schools and in the workplace.
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OpinionGood and bad
Wasn’t Barking town centre one of the examples Margaret Hodge chose (News Analysis March 20) to illustrate what she believes is good modern architecture as opposed to bad Robin Hood Gardens?
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OpinionSaarinen style
I feel I should correct Dennis Sharp’s piece on the American Embassy (Debate August 29) when he calls Eero Saarinen a “Finnish” architect. His father may have been, but Eero was an American when he competed for the embassy project.
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OpinionOh Callcutt!
John Calcutt’s view of architects is not flattering, as the architects who heard him speak in the British Pavilion on Saturday discovered.
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Opinion
Brief exposure
More frayed tempers at Peter Murray’s dinner at Harry’s Dolce after a brave George Ferguson jumped to his feet and attempted to defend the British Pavilion as a “good exhibition if a little earnest”.
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Opinion
Hairy Pollocks
John Callcutt is a man who likes to know what things are really worth, so walking around the Jackson Pollock exhibition in New York recently he set himself a task he told architects in Venice.
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OpinionCorrect on the classicists…
I am one of the few surviving from the Bartlett of the fifties — the last school of classical architecture in the apostolic tradition of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.
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OpinionDoes traditional architecture still have a place in Britain?
Yes, it’s sustainable and a pleasure to draw, says Francis Terry; while Ian Wroot argues that we cannot return to simpler times
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Opinion
..or habitual prejudice?
All traditionalists must be grateful for the editor’s call for balance. It is interesting, however, to see that the editorial itself is a concise sample of habitual professional prejudice.
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Opinion
Checking criteria
I was disturbed to read that it will be a requirement for local authorities to report on the design quality of new housing by marking performance against Cabe’s set of 20 criteria (News August 29).
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Murphy’s law
Perhaps Richard Murphy has spent so long “building down back lanes or in people’s back gardens” that he has lost sight of the rare characteristics that make Edinburgh such an inappropriate location for ego-driven architecture (Solutions, September 5).
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Opinion
Power surge
Heathrow is indeed too bossy by half (Jonathan Glancey, September 5). Apart from anything else, a flight path over Greater London has always been close to madness on safety grounds.
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Opinion
Height of fame
When illustrating A Rich Harvest (Culture September 5) with the BT Tower, it was amiss of Liz Bury not to attribute the building design to the late Eric Bedford, chief architect of the Ministry of Works.
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Opinion
Costly Hadid
When are you going to learn that commissioning a Zaha Hadid building (News September 5) always produces the same tale of a rising budget for an overambitious, “iconic” structure?