More Opinion – Page 330
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Opinion
Why Cullinan should take the Gold Medal
Every year, as the deadline for nominations for the RIBA Royal Gold Medal looms, many of us begin to think of likely contenders. There are a number, both in Britain and beyond, but we believe it should this time go to Edward Cullinan.
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Opinion
Petulant parade
The usual crowd of architects made their way to Bristol last week for the RIBA conference, eschewing the delights of Live 8, Wimbledon and the rugby. But observers were left wondering how to describe architects en masse. Terry Farrell came to the rescue. The correct collective noun is, apparently, a ...
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Opinion
Ever reddy
As his presidency draws to a close, a plausible reason is offered as to why George Ferguson wears red trousers. According to eastern thinking, the human body has several chakras — energy points that start in the head and end in the crotch. You can accentuate or play them down ...
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Opinion
Turkish delight
Ferguson has had a busy week. Straight after the RIBA conference, he flew out to Istanbul for the Union of International Architects conference. He was on the phone to Boots, in full flow about a scheme in Bristol, when suddenly there was a pause followed by the exclamation: “Zaha!” Boots ...
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Opinion
Water torture
Janet Street-Porter is still going on about the problems with her David Adjaye-designed house. In last week’s Independent on Sunday, she described him as “someone I dream of regularly ritually disembowelling or forcing to go through a nasty form of torture before mopping up the storm water in my living ...
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Opinion
No non sense
HOK Sport architect Rod Sheard was transformed into an “international celebrity” this week, according to website Channel News Asia. Sheard, a member of the victorious London 2012 bid team, courted controversy by arguing that the Stade de France was not suited to athletics. But the resulting media storm did not ...
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Opinion
Back-pedal feat
Boots recently received perhaps the most bizarre press release in living memory. Sent by design watchdog Architecture & Design Scotland, the memo revealed that 55-year-old chief executive Sebastian Tombs had cycled from Edinburgh to Glasgow — backwards. Guided by shouts from his 18-year-old daughter, Rowena, Tombs had covered 58 miles ...
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Opinion
Road Leeds north to housing solution
So Richard Rogers has revealed plans to build a “city with the population of Leeds” in the Thames Gateway (News July 1). Has anyone asked the population of Leeds if it wants to live in Thames Gateway? Will they be given a choice, or are they just going to be ...
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Opinion
Olympic record
It was a travesty that you led by knocking London’s Olympic bid last week (News July 1), and relegated any support for the bid to page 8. If you had to lead with a negative story, it would at least have helped to evidence your piece about the alleged role ...
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Opinion
Putting up borders
In the same way that the EU’s credibility suffered when it published a map of the Union that excluded Wales, the credibility of your breast-beating “Africa Special” (July 1) is rather dented by your map suggesting that Zambia is two separate countries. Artistic licence is one thing, but downright and ...
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Opinion
Turning on us
I have always been supportive of Arb, believing, as I did, that its prime purpose was to protect the public from the dangers associated with charlatans practising architecture. What I now perceive resembles a fierce guard dog that prefers to ignore the burglar while savaging its owner.
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Opinion
Power trip
As one of the architects featured in your story about our dispute with Arb (News June 17), I guess I must be one of the “self-important barrack-room lawyers” that Chris Abbott refers to (Letters July 1). Abbott might be surprised to learn that I don’t disagree with his proposition that ...
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Opinion
Vested interests
Regarding the report that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has praised the recent efforts of Arb in trying to dominate the architectural profession (News June 24), why has the prejudiced RICS been allowed to be involved in any such self-interested report/matters? For an institute that has free, unmonitored, uncontrolled, ...
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Opinion
Voting for gold
In the rush for the RIBA Royal Gold Medal, I, like the majority of my colleagues have become scientific wonders, namely, we have achieved total invisibility. How do I know that? Well, all the time those big names have been grubbing around trying to get votes, not once have they ...
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Opinion
Future proofing
Cabe chairman John Sorrell’s call for buildings and public spaces to help fight human obesity (News June 10) is spectacularly beside the point. Far more important is that buildings and open spaces themselves should fight their own obesity. Equally misguided, however admirable, is BD’s own search for responsible development under ...
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Opinion
Ian Martin
The Tamworth bid even allowed for overnight covers on the long-jump sandpit to stop cats shitting in it.
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Opinion
Africa: we must make a real difference
Bland platitudes about the magical powers of architecture get on my nerves.
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Opinion
New Bordeaux is a fine vintage to follow
I have recently returned from a weekend in Bordeaux — a city that I last visited in 1998, and which has since undergone an urban realm transformation.
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OpinionConcrete Boots
Arch triumphHOK Sport’s stadium designer, Rod Sheard, is an optimistic chap. At a recent press conference, Boots asked him whether he was worried that the problems dogging the new Wembley stadium would be repeated on the Olympics stadium if London won the bid. “What problems?” he asked in surprise. “We ...
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Opinion
Suzi Towel
I told Eamonn Holmes all architecture has merit, as it expresses culture. He seemed genuinely impressed