More Comment – Page 328
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Opinion
Poplar landmark
It was with great interest that we saw the first images of the Hawkins Brown scheme for Poplar, east London (News August 12).
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Opinion
Why does Prescott ignore your talent?
Is John Prescott’s Communities Plan unravelling? Planning committee chairmen in several east London boroughs have admitted their colleagues will do almost anything to block Prescott-inspired plans in their areas.
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Opinion
It’s time to return to the new town
Why is it that, in spite of all the interest in urbanism and place-making, we are continuing to build so much of our housing in the form of commuter suburbs? Isn’t there room in the Sustainable Communities Plan for us to build a new town or two? Come to ...
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OpinionConcrete Boots
Zaha Hadid got some extremely rough treatment in the Daily Telegraph last week in a profile that was not so much a hatchet job as an axe murder.
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Opinion
The 60,000 contest is a losing battle
John Prescott is a house-proud sort of chap. His country home has a turret, and this week he showed his pride in his short summer’s lease at Number 10 while the Blairs take a holiday when he surprised a group of tourists and invited them on an impromptu tour.
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Opinion
Cheaper building is not the only goal
The announcement of a shortlist for the £60,000 house contest certainly demonstrates that an offer of assembled and permitted land is a powerful inducement for builders to offer cheaper houses, and it may identify useful innovations in materials and construction techniques. But are those really the questions we need to ...
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Opinion
French dressing is all part of the zoo
It is difficult to understand why Gavin Stamp thinks that London “shouldn't be some exotic zoo” (Soapbox August 5).
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Opinion
No a-gender
BD and the panel of judges should be congratulated on making the difficult decision to award the UK’s top graduates on the basis of merit and not gender or some other politically correct agenda (Class of 2005 July 29 and Letters August 5).
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Opinion
Ditch the slum
It is regrettable to see that the overused word “slum” still has currency (News Analysis August 5). Although the intentions behind the United Nations’ efforts to “improve slums” may be good, the word still evokes the practice of labelling an area as a “slum” as a reason for eradicating it ...
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Opinion
A bad repeat
It is stating the obvious to say that the whole point of demolishing a hideous building, such as Portsmouth’s Tricorn centre, is to enable a good architect to design a better building and avoid making the same mistake again.If it is replaced by something just as bad or worse (News ...
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Opinion
Wrong question
I have to take issue with the compiler of last week’s Architest. Question 4 itself is not correct so neither will be its answer.
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Opinion
Dont gag the king
In reply to Ian Louth’s letter (Letters August 5)), Ian Martin is the king of architectural satire and must never, ever be gagged or otherwise censored.
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Opinion
Saving heroes
I look forward to the 2005 Architect of the Year awards, but my anticipation would be greater if the award categories included a Conservation Architect of the Year. Across the country there are architects doing excellent work in the conservation and creative re-use of historic buildings, but conservation remains the ...
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Opinion
Who decides?
Is it surprising that design statements are often “no better than a pack of lies” (News July 15)? Even if put together with insight and real commitment are they understood or even read?
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Opinion
Design rocks
For crying out loud, will rock gods, movie stars and television presenters please just leave architecture alone. The profession is fine without you.
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Opinion
Homes hijack
When Prescott wasn’t launching his £60,000 house on an unsuspecting world this week, he was taking surprised tourists on tours of Downing Street.
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Opinion
Form a queue
But Prescott managed to wrangle the agenda away from terror and back to housing. In an uncharacteristic moment of goodwill, Prescott said of the £60,000 home competition: “Everyone is lining up to criticise the winners of the competition, but I welcome the criticism.” Prescott welcoming criticism? See, he is a ...
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Opinion
Smoke stack
Swiss Re may be trying to discourage the “gherkin” tag for its HQ, but maybe they should be thankful. Pimlico School architect John Bancroft likes to refer to 30 St Mary’s Axe as “Clinton’s cigar”.
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Opinion
Life on Mars
Architect Georgi Petrov has drawn up plans for a small settlement with homes made from local materials, adequate parking and skylights. Doesn’t sound too sensational? Well, think again because the settlement is planned for the planet Mars.