More Opinion – Page 361
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Opinion
Pull up a chair
Another ex-RIBA president has been eying the Cabe chairmanship — Paul Hyett. He’s been taking a few gentle soundings and might fancy a pop at the big gig, alongside Marco Goldschmied. As far as anyone can tell, Hyett looks like an outsider, but the whole situation seems confused. What kind ...
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Opinion
Super-size model
We’ll pretty much go to the opening of an envelope, so it was with pleasure that we scooted along to a new phenomenon — the opening of an architectural model. Not an exhibition, oh no. Just the one piece. It did have multi-coloured lights though. The model in question was ...
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Opinion
So, farewell then
Paul Foot, radical left wing journalist and one of the founders of Private Eye, who died this week, might have appreciated an item in Concrete Boots. RIBA council member Sam Webb told BD how he used to work closely with Foot nearly 35 years ago to examine the scandal of ...
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Opinion
Fail safe
George Henderson, emeritus professor at De Montfort University, is the man chosen to unpick the scandal of the 90% failure rate in the part one course at the University of Central England. Henderson may be able to bring some useful experience to bear on the problem — at De Montfort ...
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Opinion
Oh, Danny boy
The New York gossip mill reports that Ground Zero architect Daniel Libeskind recently threw a party to celebrate the departure of New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp. The long serving NYT critic created a stir last year when he wrote a review backing Rafael Vinoly’s THINK Team proposal for Ground ...
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Opinion
Ian Martin
The Gourd would enhance Tamworth’s world-class city status (already 6.8 on the Pritzker Scale)
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Opinion
We can save design from PFI darkness
The sight of architects using the annual RIBA conference to bleat about their dwindling status in public procurement projects is as predictable as the British summer is rainy.
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Opinion
Staying safely within guidelines
Last week’s article, “Prefab security slammed” (News July 9), claimed that design flaws with our Raines Court scheme have led to security breaches.The security at Raines Court is extremely high for a development of its kind. Breaches have been due to the nature of the area, which, as Will Hurst ...
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Opinion
A cheap shot?
As a young architect trying to persuade the world that there are better ways to live than in a Barratt Home and also as one trying to develop sustainable housing through innovations such as prefabrication, the headline “Prefab security slammed” was distinctly unhelpful.The Peabody scheme is a cutting-edge inner-city redevelopment ...
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Opinion
The bigger picture
It is always gratifying to see the honour of architects defended (Editorial July 9), and I agree that we tend to raise expectation with our “big claims”. But since when does the provision of a safe environment have “big claim” status? I would have thought that creating places that ...
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Opinion
Keeping it clean
I greatly welcome the election of Jack Pringle to succeed me from September next year and congratulate the others on a good clean contest. We see very much eye to eye on the crucial issues facing the profession as well as the need to review architectural education. In commenting on ...
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Opinion
One for the bored
George Ferguson’s presidency is proving particularly successful because he represents so well publicly many of the positive features of a highly attractive profession. Perhaps he exemplifies also one of its drawbacks, from your report (News July 9) of his claim that the profession was “bored to tears with the Arb ...
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Opinion
Forward march
Michael Wigginton, chair of Plymouth School of Architecture and Design, claims (Letters July 9) his students are free to choose their own direction. So, presumably, the tutors who pass or fail them suppress their own views?He also writes that the public may eventually catch up with this radical thinking. This ...
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Opinion
Twisted logic
Michael Wigginton queries my comment (Letters July 2) that students are “inducted” into the modernist approach to architecture by saying: “Our students form their own views… resulting no doubt from the reading and discussion they are involved in day to day.” Exactly. Inducted. I cannot imagine a better definition of ...
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Opinion
Design lesson
Regarding your article about the “victory” of the developers in relation to the Annandale Primary School site in Greenwich (News July 9), it was more a case of the council screwing up and leaving the developers this very fortunate technical opportunity to appeal. The site is not one of good ...
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Opinion
Starry night
As we all know, architecture rocks, so what better place to put up the speakers at last week’s RIBA annual conference in Dublin than in a rock star hotel. Bedding down for early nights with a mug of cocoa in neighbouring rooms to ABK’s Peter Ahrends and Davis Langdon’s Paul ...
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Opinion
Comic relief
The glamour of awards ceremonies is often marred by duff categories. But can things get any worse than “commercial loo of the year” - a new contest launched this week. Set aside the unfortunate double meaning in the sponsor’s claim that “loos have become an environment in which architects and ...
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Opinion
Childs play
If you felt starved of news about Ken Shuttleworth after last week’s Ken-free BD, The Times came to the rescue on Saturday with a major profile of the man as the next big thing in British architecture. Norman must be loving this. Still there’s always something to bring you down ...
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Opinion
Speed freak
Brian Godfrey attended a Formula One race instead of campaigning for the RIBA presidential elections last month. “I was so close to the action I could have reached out and shaken Michael Schumacher’s hand. The only problem was he was going 500 miles an hour.”Probably not a good idea ...
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Opinion
How modern
Many architects attending the RIBA conference must have thought the UV lighting in the toilets awfully trendy. They were audible gasps then when speaker, and Gillespies partner, Brian Evans told the audience that the lighting is actually a tactic to deter heroin addicts because it prevents them “finding a vein”. ...