More Comment – Page 327
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OpinionIan Martin
“Owzat? Is architecture the new cricket? Darcy Farquear’say steers a cultural metaphor to the boundary”
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OpinionIkea’s brand comes first
One of the great benefits of Ikea’s hulking out-of-town superstores is that once you have realised the error of going once, it is not easy to be lured into making the same mistake again.
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Opinion
Remember the floods of ’53
As John Prescott presses on with plans to build tens of thousands of houses on the flood plains of the Thames Gateway, history tells us the North Sea has a record of devastating the coastal areas of England and the Netherlands with deadly regularity.
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Opinion
Pringle is our hero
Jack Pringle’s recent words to BD and the changes at RMJM bring into focus the great professional debate. Are architects part of the arts community, providing the public something they never knew they wanted until they see it, or are we servicing a daily societal need?
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Opinion
Court in the act
It feels heinous to tell architects that the British Museum Great Court doesn’t work as a visitor experience when the roof is so sublime (News, September 2)
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Opinion
Eyes on the prize
I share Ellis Woodman’s admiration for Haworth Tompkins’ student housing (Works, September 2) and also his misgivings about the Stirling Prize. It goes to “the architects of the building which has been the most significant for the evolution of British architecture in the past year” so what does its shortlist ...
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Opinion
Keynes reminder
Peter Stewart is right to call for a fresh approach to the structuring of urban growth with something like a new town revival (Soapbox, August 26).
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Opinion
We’re no Nimbies
Your article about plans for the relocation of a homeless/rough sleepers centre in York requires clarification (News, September 2).
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Opinion
Turning the tide
Rest assured, Derek Abbott, our “ambitious” residential project on the foreshore at Folkestone (Letters, August 26) is not tempting providence with our attitude to the UK’s temperamental coastal conditions. We have spent considerable effort designing the scheme in consultation with the local authority and the Environment Agency to withstand ...
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Opinion
Wot, no design?
I was fascinated to see Sean Griffiths (Soapbox, September 2) refer to “a partner of a design-led practice”.
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Opinion
Expect more twists in the Holyrood mystery
The Edinburgh architects behind the Scottish Parliament might have expected a quiet life after the storm of working on one of the most controversial schemes of our time.
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Opinion
School daze for the next generation
Here’s a story about a young(ish) practice whose work is not to everyone’s taste but which has something of a reputation, stretching beyond these shores, for doing challenging and innovative work.
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OpinionConcrete Boots
Winchester architect Robert Adams has a motto on the wall of his office that reads: “Thunk Bug”.
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Opinion
Ian Martin
Into the Vestibule of Rebirth is borne the seraphic figure of Mr Fred Trousers, Primus Excumbent Et Couchant
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OpinionA challenge to the silent majority
Thank you for Zoe Blackler’s interview of Humphrey Lloyd, which frames nicely most of the points at issue.
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Opinion
In Arb’s shadow
I was pleased to see that BD is following the fashionable trend of allowing printed images to bleed through the page and influence the reverse side. But was it intentional that Humphrey Lloyd’s ghostly image should appear from behind Dracula’s castle?I am beginning to think there is more to ...
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Opinion
Martin’s a treasure
Now my RIBA presidency is finally over, one of the few things I shall really miss is the regular leg pull that I received from Ian Martin over the past two years or so. In spite of his caustic satire he should be listed as a grade I national treasure. ...
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OpinionStop rationalising
I went to a lecture last night [August 24], one of the Architecture Foundation’s Summer Nights series. Jonathan Woolf of Woolf Architects began by dragging us through some of his influences and references: from Palladio through some obscure oil painters. Why? Why do architects do this? Is it because they ...
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Opinion
Celebrity culture
There has been extensive discussion recently on the subject of the over-dominance of “celebrity in architecture” (Letters August 12). Celebrity of course has its connotations, invariably negative (especially when considering current popular culture). But where great minds are at work, surely the faces behind the building are as recognisably important ...