All Opinion articles – Page 331
-
Opinion
Stop the pedantry
I fail to see what is wrong with a statutory regulator requiring proof of the insurance we are required to carry to protect our clients. Why so much publicity for a few self-important barrack-room lawyers stirring up trouble by refusing to comply, when they appear to have had PII all ...
-
Opinion
Lost in translation
The comparison Ellis Woodman made between the new City Lit building and the Palazzo del Té is interesting (Works June 17). Giulio Romano’s mannerism is derived from the struggle to make architectural sense of alterations to an existing building. You can almost feel that tension exploding from the very stones ...
-
Opinion
Nationalisation will help home
James O’Shaugnessey makes a number of valid points about the quality and size of British homes, and the inappropriate sanctity in which farmland is often held (Soapbox June 24). But his finger of blame appears to waver between the planners and (somewhat embarrassedly) housebuilders who can build and sell anything. ...
-
Opinion
Going public
Architecture Week presents a unique opportunity to raise public awareness of architecture, so it was disappointing to find some events in Liverpool woefully under-attended due to lack of promotion to the public. The only people I managed to have an engaging conversation with on a debate on tall buildings were ...
-
Opinion
By George!
The photographs of St George’s Hall are stunning (Works June 24) and Gavin Stamp’s article is a welcome reminder of Liverpool’s world heritage architecture. Stamp might be interested to know that a classically trained group of Liverpool sculptors have, for several years, been attempting to reinstate the missing pediment ...
-
Opinion
Olympic challenge
The International Olympic Committee has always recognised culture as an integral component of the Olympic movement. Those who see it purely in terms of sport sometimes forget this. Until 1948 there were Olympic medals for architecture, town planning, sculpture and other art forms.Interested in the connection between architects and the ...
-
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.
-
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 ...
-
Opinion
Africa: we must make a real difference
Bland platitudes about the magical powers of architecture get on my nerves.
-
Opinion
Roman ruination
Vetruvius’s mantra of “commodity, firmness and delight” has been so long established that to contradict it seems almost heretical. But that’s exactly what Architecture Foundation director Rowan Moore did at this week’s Elements of Architecture event at the Tate Modern. Moore labelled the ancient Roman’s insight as “the most boring ...
-
Opinion
Nude urbanism
And finally to gorgeous George Ferguson, just back from an edifying junket, I mean conference, on new urbanism, on the US west coast. We always knew the RIBA president had a penchant for this stuff, but we are sorry to report his head has been fully turned. “New urbanism rocks,” ...
-
Opinion
Positive lead
With reference to your item regarding my presidency of the AA (News June 17), possibly the result of a bad mobile phone connection, “bossing” other schools was the opposite of my intended comment, which was to suggest the positive role model of the design studio system, and its essential relevance ...
-
Opinion
Vic labours on
Ever since Brad Pitt announced his intention to turn his hand to architecture and help his old mate Frank Gehry design Hove’s King Alfred development, it seems the stars can’t get enough of buildings. Comedian Vic Reeves is working as a labourer on a construction site for a new performing ...
-
Opinion
Ian Martin
In order to save money, English Heritage bosses have stopped replacing retired workers with other retired workers
-
Opinion
Out of the Gutter
Website The Gutter, which describes its writing as “ill-mannered commentary on the architectural arts”, really doesn’t like Daniel Libeskind’s Hyundai HQ in Seoul. Describing the building as a monstrosity and an “ugly dog”, it also shows a lack of respect for the great architect himself.“We always thought Danny Libeskind was ...
-
Opinion
Soapbox: We need to get our houses in order
This week, Policy Exchange published a new report, Unaffordable Housing — Fables and Myths. It argues that, far from living in the kind of homes we aspire to, the British have some of the worst housing in Europe.
-
Opinion
Inclusive dispair
I agree, in part at least, with Mat Fraser’s comment on architects and their lack of disability awareness in the application of design solutions. My experience is that the majority of architects have not grasped the concept of inclusive design — for example, the segregation of toilets for the “normal” ...
-
Opinion
Core curriculum
Your article “Schools for Future scrutiny scrapped” (News June 10) created the misleading impression that the Department for Education & Skills was reducing its commitment to good design.The DfES is delivering an unprecedented amount of investment in schools — up from £683 million in 1996-7 to £5.5 billion in 2005-6 ...
-
Opinion
Climate control
On to Trafalgar Square, where London mayor Ken Livingstone held a glittering photo call this week to mark the launch of the London Climate Change Agency. The great and good of the GLA lined up with business leaders wearing their best caring smiles and waited to be snapped in front ...
-
Opinion
London’s ripe for carbon testing
Cities now house half the world’s population. A century ago, it was one in seven. And the trend is set to continue, with the world’s major conurbations expanding at an unprecedented rate.