More Opinion – Page 360
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Opinion
Human sacrifice
Your reported demise of the icon (News July 23) may not be bad news in all quarters.When RIBA president George Ferguson addressed the Traditional Architects’ Group at the RIBA in February he distinguished between modern and traditional building style and between modern and traditional urbanism. Whereas he said he would ...
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OpinionMadcap madness
Buildings in the shape of toasters and multi-coloured pods on wonky sticks. How original.In this case it is the redevelopment of Middlesbrough waterfront, the latest masterplan by Alsop Architects. Indistinguishable from any of its other recent masterplans, it clearly demonstrates no reference to context or understanding of deep-rooted ...
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Opinion
Get off our land
Has it not occurred to anyone that most people in the countryside don’t want modernist buildings? They resist new buildings only because they are invariably of modernist design. It’s probable that most of them have moved to the country to get away from that great modernist urban experiment of ...
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Opinion
Rural reality
You refer to “country” as a foreign and different place, not the country as a whole (Focus July 23); but you make no reference to predominantly different rural planning regimes and to changes required of them to achieve “modified urban strategies” — or even of rural strategies to respond to ...
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OpinionA damp squib
Far from being futuristic, John McAslan’s circular canopies for the Piccadilly Gardens (News July 23) took me back to the 1970s, when, as a summer-working student, I joined the design office of a well-known oil company.It too used overlapping circular canopies of varying heights — until it found that people ...
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Opinion
Dont shed tears for the lost icons
There were no tears shed in my house at the news that the V&A extension had spiralled into oblivion and that The Cloud had proved to be so much hot air.
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Opinion
Louiss love affair
Nathaniel Kahn calls to talk about his cinematic quest to discover his dad, Louis, in the film My Architect, which is previewed next week in London. After agreeing that big-name architects tend to be an eccentric bunch after he met IM Pei and Philip Johnson for the movie, he reveals ...
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Opinion
Letting off steam
Alsop himself is angry about the evaporation of his Cloud, and regeneration company Liverpool Vision got some of his invective in Louis’s favourite paper on Saturday.In an interview, curiously badged “exclusive” given he poured out his heart in BD the day before, Alsop fumed: “I only had a meeting with ...
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Opinion
Water torture
The reaction to the latest big publicly funded architectural project to go wrong is more sighs of resignation than public outcry. After the Millennium Dome and the Millennium Bridge before it, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, designed by Kathryn Gustafson, looks set for a lengthy closure. The natural spring water ...
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Opinion
Bare noises
A press briefing about the acoustics makeover of the Royal Festival Hall revealed some interesting, but strange, facts about how sound reverberates around a concert hall. According to acoustics expert Larry Kirkegaard, the sound in the Royal Festival Hall would be better if the audience was naked. Apparently, a fully ...
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Opinion
Mandy money
Still at the RFH, CEO Michael Lynch wasn’t pulling any punches over Peter Mandelson’s criticism of the renovation scheme. Referring to the fact that Mandelson launched the Millennium Dome project at the RFH, Lynch said: “I would have liked some of the Dome money.”Wouldn’t we all.
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Opinion
Ian Martin
Things are back to normal. Well before lunch, this week’s proposed world’s tallest building is announced
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Opinion
Iconoclasm, clouds and con tricks
This summer’s argument between iconic and contextual architecture changed from parlour game to public debate on Monday when Alsop’s Cloud scheme in Liverpool, Britain’s most iconic proposal of recent years, was scrapped by its public-sector clients and the public that holds them to account.
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Opinion
Arbs secret society must be challenged
Regarding the article on Arb’s desire to remove democratically elected members without reference back to the membership (News July 9), the board appears to wish to turn itself into a secret society, hiding behind its ever-changing remit. No wonder the profession’s elected member, Ian Salisbury, is so frustrated by this ...
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Opinion
Pile on pressure
The RIBA Conference in Dublin enjoyed a lively discussion on PFI (News and Editorial July 16), but to say that the public sector is on the road to hell is pushing it. PFI is not about to disappear: it is a funding system that is far too attractive to the ...
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Opinion
Listing benefits
Handing over responsibility for listing buildings to English Heritage (News July 2) can only benefit the development industry as it will bring increased certainty. The transfer of responsibility to English Heritage does not come without scrutiny and has important new safeguards: it will be required to act within published ...
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Opinion
Monumental risks
Public monuments are, by definition, useless (Soapbox July 16): they have no apparent function in our architectural culture, unless, of course, they are called landmarks. But if we are to remember worthy people or significant historical events, they will be with us for as long as society itself exists.Yes, there ...
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Opinion
Worst of British
A recent comment by Peter Kellow is that as “British people” don’t like modern architecture, we should therefore give it up, a proposal seconded by Robert Adam (Letters July 2).To be consistent let’s ditch the arts entirely and confine our media to soaps, sport and Big Brother. While we’re at ...
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Opinion
Raines check
Your article, “Prefab security slammed” (News July 9), and editorial conspired to give a misleading picture on Raines Court.Secured by Design (SBD) was fully consulted during the pre-construction phases and no specific recommendations were made at this time. SBD’s specific concerns regarding deck access, the open-plan flat layouts and the ...
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Opinion
Why we need an urban institute
What do I mean when I say that the RIBA should become an institute for urbanism? It ceased to be an institute for architects some time ago, instead becoming an institute for architecture. The time has now come to make a bolder step and to open our doors to all ...