All Opinion articles – Page 379
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OpinionThe new revolutionaries
Aspiring Russian architects are increasingly frustrated with the state of design in Russia as the oligarchs call the shots and formal training is pushed aside. But there is hope, say José Esteves de Matos and Angus Morrogh-Ryan after a visit to Moscow
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Opinion
A lack of training
Your report "Design law at last" and leader (March 26) reported good news for all architects. All those who used their influence to amend the Planning Bill should be congratulated. It should be understood, however, that those working in the public sector have given their wholehearted support for ...
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Opinion
Host with the most
SMC Gower Architects has to be applauded for thinking big. The practice recently sent out an invite for the launch of its new offices in Leeds with the proud boast that other invited guests included Tony Blair, George Bush, the Queen and, just to add a touch of glamour, supermodel ...
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Opinion
Holyrood and a question of trust
Never before has the role of the architect come under such intense public scrutiny as at the Holyrood inquiry over the past five months. The business and design practices of both RMJM and Enric Miralles' Barcelona firm have been picked over as though they were the subject of a ...
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Opinion
Gehry’s star pupil
When Frank Gehry makes a presentation for his next project, don’t be surprised if Hollywood movie star Brad Pitt pipes up. Fresh from his heroic role as Achilles in his latest film, Pitt is now believed to be serving an informal apprenticeship at Gehry’s Santa Monica office. Pitt’s work placement ...
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Opinion
The gates of history
A very interesting argument in favour of designing gated communities was this week put forward by architect John Thompson, who is working on a huge new scheme in Moscow. Thompson said he felt comfortable designing gated communities because, historically, all communities were gated. He argued that all towns and cities ...
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Opinion
Noisy celebrations
Young Architect of the Year, Austrian practice Querkraft got a lesson in British boozing after the awards ceremony last week. After the formal proceedings, architecture’s great and good decided to take the winners to a nearby pub to continue the celebrations. But, Querkraft partners Peter Sapp and Jacob Dunkl looked ...
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OpinionBinding contracts
Detailed contracts and tight deadlines mean less time for creativity and more distrust between parties
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Opinion
Basildon bonds
Basildon residents have taken umbrage with Terry Farrell after he pledged to prevent the “Basildonisation” of Edinburgh. It may have made a nice line for Edinburgh’s most famous architectural Sassenach just weeks into his reign as the city’s design tsar, but bridges already need building in Essex – or perhaps ...
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Opinion
Bill is bad news
Far from being pleased that "good design" is to be an additional factor that planning authorities will now have to take into account when considering planning applications, I fear it may well prove to be a poisoned chalice. The term is impossible to define and its interpretation will therefore inevitably ...
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Opinion
Offending Arb
I was recently prosecuted for contravening the regulations of the RIBA and Arb. Quite right, too. I was guilty of such contravention and given a conditional discharge with £200 costs.This cost the RIBA and Arb a considerable sum for sending a barrister to Bedford, supported by an expensive central London ...
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Opinion
Defending Arb
Jack Pringle's comment about an RIBA-administered register (News March 19) is not new. It was mooted previously when the Architects Act was being debated. Current thinking in government and consumer circles is that professional and regulatory bodies ought to be separate to avoid conflicts of interest. Members look to their ...
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Opinion
A-level exposé
Damn it! Ian Martin has rumbled me (March 26). No A-levels and an architectural education in a metal shed that morphed into a polytechnic and a university years after I left. Will any planning department ridden with Channel 5 newsreader lookalikes and lawyers ever understand my statement on concept and ...
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Opinion
Yorkshire study
The extent to which your article, "Fund axe looms over Yorks Renaissance" (News March 5), misrepresents the purpose and the nature of our work for Yorkshire Forward is remarkable and distressing.Our study is entitled Streets, Space and Society: the role of the high street and its associated public spaces in ...
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OpinionTechno seduction
New technology has led us architects into an insidious trap. The increasingly slick "special effects" made possible by replacing ink with electrons have made us more sophisticated and blasé in our expectations. But this has also had the same special effect on our clients and the plethora of project managers ...
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Opinion
Skylon revisited
"Skylon to rise once more" (News March 19) makes very welcome reading as it was a structure, as with so many others at the Festival of Britain, that inspired young architects at that time. It was my good fortune to work briefly with both Powell & Moya and Eric Brown, ...
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Opinion
Pringle power
Your article on Jack Pringle (News March 19) demonstrates that he is the only candidate with the courage to commit himself to leading the RIBA in opposition to the most damaging attack on architectural values since the days of system building – PFI.While in opposition, Labour mouthed anodyne sophistries about ...
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Opinion
Keeping mums
I fully endorse the sentiments of the writer of "Motherly Support" (Letters March 19). I am a female architect in her fifties with more than 30 years in the profession and am also the mother of two. The idea of Arb spending money on investigating why women are leaving the ...