More Opinion – Page 367
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Opinion
Judge for yourself
Two of the most successful housing competitions of recent years were not RIBA competitions. They were the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Caspar competitions in Birmingham and Leeds. They produced innovative designs by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and Levitt Bernstein but at a predetermined budget with design-and-build-type submissions. An experienced architectural assessor, ...
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Opinion
Never say never
It was with some shock that we saw that our practice “vowed never to work in the UK” (News May 14). We are a young practice that has succeeded mainly in open competition and we have not seen an open architectural competition in the UK. We would love to have ...
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Opinion
Crossrail towers
We would like to correct an error in BD’s recent story, “Foster’s tower power” (News April 23). Crossrail is not recruiting commercial architects to work up ideas for three new towers as part of the development of Tottenham Court Road station. No such towers are planned.
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Opinion
Page turner
Rock legend and former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a surprise architecture fan. Page has contributed to a book about his favourite architect, William Burges. Page is such a fan that in 1972 he bought Burges’s London residence, The Tower House. The home features in the new book by ...
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Opinion
Moving on up?
The mayoral race provided a lot of humour this week. Tory candidate Steven Norris seems to get more eccentric every day. First he misheard the name of this magazine as VD and expected to be quizzed about sexual health, then he proceeded to slate Swiss Re only to be reminded ...
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Opinion
Groomed for role
Meanwhile, Lib Dem candidate Simon Hughes couldn’t come to the phone at first because he was having his hair cut. But once he was finished, Hughes dutifully fulfilled his role as a candidate by slagging off incumbent Ken Livingstone. Still, at least he will look dapper on the campaign trail.
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Opinion
Money bags
International superstar architect Frank Gehry is not short of a bob or two. An obvious statement perhaps, but proof came this week when it emerged that Gehry took six months to cash his $60,000 Pritzker Prize cheque in 1989. Gehry said it led to a friendship with Jay Pritzker, who ...
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Opinion
Other dimension
From one international superstar architect on a different planet to another. Daniel Libeskind waxes lyrical about his Danish Jewish Museum in a description of the scheme on his website. One particularly impenetrable sentence reads: “One of its internal planes, Exodus, is here turned to an urban space in which water ...
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Opinion
Square bashing
Eva Jiricna joined the chorus of criticism of the new Paternoster Square this week. Branding the scheme “just rubbish”, Jiricna didn’t mince her words. She added: “It has got external promise, which disappears when you get inside. It’s deep, badly lit and uninteresting.”
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OpinionDeciphering the code
Championed by the Prince of Wales, are design codes our salvation or defeat? An expansion of Northampton by Edaw will be an early test, writes Ellis Woodman; while Will Alsop and Paul Murrain argue the broader case
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Opinion
Minority support
You arrive at university to take the first step to an exciting career as an architect. But you feel alone because there is no one else with your background. You find it harder than most to make ends meet. You discover that you are four times less likely than the ...
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Opinion
South Bank icons
We are shocked to learn that Michael Lynch, chief executive of the South Bank Centre, feels that both the Hayward Gallery and the Queen Elizabeth Hall could be replaced "with something much more effective" (News April 23). Most people assume that the Hayward Gallery and the QEH are listed as ...
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Opinion
Delft long overdue
I believe the Delft Declaration is long overdue (News and Editorial May 14). It is significant that Schosa chose Delft for the launch of this manifesto as the TU Delft has a long tradition of teaching carried out by the profession itself. Indeed, following a brief visit to the new ...
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Opinion
Missing the point
I fear Alexander Thompson may have missed the point (Letters May 7). It is the profession that is demanding universities change tack and teach the basic skills of practice, not the students. I completely agree that university is the place for stretching the mind and I am happy to learn ...
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Opinion
Safety in numbers
Your article “Architects ‘blithe’ on safety” (News May 14) quotes a RIBA statement I do not recognise. The Health & Safety Executive and practice department at the RIBA are in talks to increase the clarity of guidance to designers. Most of the issues flow from specification of materials, coupled with ...
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Opinion
Power crazy?
I get to the special report (BD May 14) — Zaha Hadid in the top five? — and wonder what exactly is going on. What is a "power broker"? Who are these judges, and what is this bizarre mix of businessmen, politicians, contractors, a retailer, a footballer and some living ...
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Opinion
Sleeping beauties
I wonder if this note of clarification might help to convey the more positive sentiments that perhaps were not fully expressed in my article (Peer Pressure May 14).The Royal Lancaster Hotel badly needs the makeover that it is beginning to get under Eric Parry’s guidance. True, the limitations of the ...
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OpinionAll shook up
What a shame Frank Gehry’s site agent got all the MIT drawings in such a muddle (News May 14).
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Opinion
Call the doctor
Architecture student and Dr Who fan Jake Theunissen has built a life-size Tardis in his back garden. The 28-year-old, who lives near Wrexham, built the plywood tribute to the Time Lord after downloading plans from the Internet. The model Tardis, which does not travel through time and is no bigger ...