More Comment – Page 355
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OpinionConcrete Boots
Demolition manBD columnist Ian Martin pokes weekly fun at the profession through his back-page column, but little did he expect that one of his architectural fantasies would come true. Martin recently wrote about a new show called Detonate in which the country’s worst buildings would be blown up. Now Channel ...
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Opinion
Ian Martin
MondayWorking breakfast (via videophone) with Norman, still aglow at getting Building of the Year for his Lewinsky Tower. “The only way is up, Norm,” I tell him. “These sausages are great.”His voice drops. Did I know he’s currently working on the “largest project on the planet”? I have three guesses. ...
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Opinion
Green shoots of sustainability
Here’s a statistic for you. Every year in the UK, 3.5 billion bricks are made and 2.5 billion are destroyed. It doesn’t take a genius to work out the absurdity of such an equation, especially as the construction industry comes under growing pressure to do more than just curb its ...
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OpinionNottinghams Lace disgrace
As an architect who works for a practice based in Nottingham’s Lace Market, I was bitterly disappointed by Caruso St John’s scheme for a new art gallery on our doorstep (First Look October 8). This is not the sour grapes or the vitriolic “should have been us” knee-jerk reaction that ...
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Opinion
Pointless challenge
Zoë Blackler rightly draws attention to the fact that the costs of all challenges to Arb legitimacy are being passed on to subscribers (Editorial October 1).
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Opinion
Crane overreaches
I am sorry to have to correct Alan Crane (Editorial October 1).The RIBA has not “requested Arb’s view on the quality of its reports” in the way Crane suggests. However, if Arb has constructive criticism, we will be happy to discuss it with them. The feedback we have to date, ...
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Opinion
Duty to the client
Too many people have the misconception that an architect’s registration with Arb and protection of title are for the commercial benefit of the architect. They are totally for the client’s protection.Registration requires the architect to have been sufficiently educated and trained in the complexities of the service to a sufficient ...
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Opinion
Community spirit
It is important that the system adopted by Cabe for scoring the quality of new housing is both rigorous and valid (see page 6). In particular, the rating of “community” cannot be satisfied just by physical inspection, although this has been the practice in the architectural profession up till now ...
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OpinionCounting claim
Has it not occurred to the ODPM that the increase in the number of planning applications decided within eight weeks (News October 1) might have something to do with the increase in the number of planning applications this year? Prescott should ask the Planning Inspectorate if they think this is ...
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Opinion
Up shire creek
Graham Bizley’s understanding, that Duxford Imperial War Museum is Oxford’s (In Detail October 8) rather than Cambridge’s, is a load of shire.
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Opinion
The silent treatment wont passify public
When things go wrong, the public’s perception of architects is defined by what they say or do not say. This week the architect Kathryn Gustafson told the world why she was not to blame for the series of glitches that closed the Diana Memorial Fountain. Unfortunately, the effect of her ...
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Opinion
Wright stage
When George Bush and John Kerry had their final public debate on Wednesday in the run-up to the US presidential election, it was against a backdrop originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Iraq. The Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium at Arizona State University was originally going to be the Baghdad ...
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Opinion
French stick
Film director Michael Winner this week showed his knowledge of architecture on BBC2’s Room 101. Winner wanted to put all modern architecture into the room of guests’ most hated things, and by that he meant all buildings built circa 1970 or later. Having banged on about “dreadful glass buildings”, Winner ...
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Opinion
Blind ambition?
How government policy works: Wayne Hemmingway and John Prescott are discussing housing density and the deputy prime minister apparently voices concern that too much density means neighbours can peer into your windows, creating, shall we say, privacy problems. For Wayne, an advocate of all things dense, there’s a simple solution. ...
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Opinion
Raising a squiggle
So Zaha Hadid may finally get to build in the UK, with a £50 million transport museum in Glasgow. Of course, she has won commissions in the UK before that have failed to transpire. Her competition-winning design for the Cardiff Opera House was unceremoniously dropped nearly a decade ago. But ...
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Opinion
Libeskind tells all
A review copy of Daniel Libeskind’s autobiography finally arrived at BD this week. The book is a perfect reflection of Libeskind in that it is strange and short. It contains such revelations as New York is a place where “no one has ever said anything nasty “ to him; when ...
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Opinion
Ian Martin
I’d suggest putting them on the market as a boutique hotel, a Museum of Democracy and a religious timeshare
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Opinion
Can Cabe resuscitate hospital design?
After five years in the business of persuading ministers and civil servants that good design counts, the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment is still struggling to weave its magic with the health mandarins.
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Opinion
Russian kickstart for the Kyoto revolution
Climate campaigners were delighted at last week’s news that Russia will ratify the Kyoto protocol on climate change. This is a major step forward as it will bring the international agreement into force. It will also further shame the US administration, which refuses to sign up to Kyoto or accept ...
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Opinion
No diversion from the real issues
In response to your story and leader (BD October 1), we did not release the RIBA Council’s report on Arb until days after we had sent a copy to Arb’s chairman following the council debate, although, in true BD style, you seemed to be well informed.Trade press interest may focus ...