All Opinion articles – Page 358
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Opinion
Predators step into Royal London ring
Seconds out, round two at the Royal London Hospital. After design watchdogs at Cabe and in Ken Livingstone’s mayoral office landed some heavy blows on HOK’s design, a second team are on their way to cause yet more pain.
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Opinion
Ian Martin
I switch off the fan and watch the Me–Shell deflate around him. He looks like a petulant cartoon ghost
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Opinion
How to spot a bully, and what to do next
I stand accused. Firstly of plotting to ambush and trick members of my client team, and secondly of working to my own secret agenda and not as part of a team.
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OpinionConcrete Boots
Holyrood idolGlamorous Holyrood architect Benedetta Tagliabue just can’t stop turning heads, and journalists are no exception, it seems.A recent profile of the Italian published in Scotland on Sunday was reminiscent of, well, Mills & Boon actually.“She glides over hillocks of rubble with grace and effortless elegance, a smile on her ...
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Opinion
Sound and vision
The hold music for RTKL’s Beijing office is the theme music from Quentin Tarantino’s movie, Kill Bill. Considering most of the film was shot in China and features lots of martial arts and samurai swords, it is hard to think of anything more appropriate. Except for Libeskind’s “New York, New ...
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Opinion
Razing the roof
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels actor Nick Moran thought he had created a perfect rooftop chill-out zone to entertain friends at his £385,000 Georgian flat in Camden. But he has been ordered by party poopers Camden Council and English Heritage to tear down the timber-and-glass summerhouse because it defaces ...
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Opinion
Putting years on
Hospital design is under the spotlight like never before following Cabe’s savaging of the proposed Royal London Hospital. So it is cheering to hear that architects at Capita Symonds have transformed themselves into old people for the sake of good design. In redesigning Derby City General Hospital, the architects have ...
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Opinion
Prezzers palace
The Daily Mail was last week apoplectic about changes to the planning guidance on country houses. As part of an outraged article by historian and gardener Sir Roy Strong, the paper created a mock-up dream home for arch-enemy John Prescott. Its attempt at a cutting-edge design included such witty features ...
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Opinion
Speaking the same urban language
In his recent article (Soapbox July 23), RIBA president George Ferguson rightly highlights the need to put urban studies at the heart of the urban renaissance if we are going to revitalise our cities and protect the countryside. After decades of neglect, people are once more returning to more civilised ...
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Opinion
Ian Martin
Meeting with Patina: some small talk, some synergy-mapping, then on to the main agenda item — making money
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OpinionNo slip-ups here
Further to your article “End of the iconic age?” (News July 23), in which you cite our new visual arts building for Colchester by Rafael Viñoly, I would like to clarify the status and concept of the project.It is an ambitious but viable scheme made possible by a partnership consisting ...
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Opinion
Look no further
To all those firms putting themselves to the trouble of recruiting abroad (News July 30), would it take too much imagination to offer flexible or part-time work? Maybe this could tempt back some of the women who have left the profession in their droves because of the difficulties of combining ...
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Opinion
Fee farce
It is interesting to note that the RIBA is suggesting that architects will be able to enhance our fees in the future by first subscribing to the long-discredited notion of “architectural determinism” and, second, doing our jobs properly by producing well-designed buildings (News August 6).
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Opinion
Hospital drama
It is clear that the £1 billion Royal London Hospital has some issues (News and Editorial July 30), but to use this to rail against the concept of PFI is unbalanced. Specifically regarding design of such projects — and this would be true no matter the procurement route — ...
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Opinion
Learning curve
Now that the shock has subsided, it is important to assess the implications of the alarming failure rate at Birmingham School of Architecture. The school (and its external examiners) should be commended for having the resolve to fail students who have not achieved the required standards. This is far less ...
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Opinion
Council conquest
Concrete Boots always suspected the planners at Edinburgh City Council were a wild bunch, and now it has been confirmed by Edinburgh Fringe act Tim Fountain.Fountain’s show, Sex Addict, involves him trawling Gaydar, the gay internet site, and asking the audience to pick someone for him to have sex with ...