“Beauty” and the Thames

by with No Comment CommercialUK

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State, has finally approved a planning application for a new development on the South Bank of the Thames in London, by Make Architects, having delayed it 3 times.

The inspector for the planning noted “The Inquiry grappled with the concept of beauty. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in more than one approach to its definition. I have two brief points to make in this regard: Firstly, the concept of beauty is for some clearly a subjective one. Labelling the building as ‘ugly’ or ‘fat’ only goes to reinforce my view of the subjective nature of such a narrow definition. Secondly, assessing whether the building achieves a high-quality design is an objective process.”

Michael Gove also highlighted that beauty is included as a concept in the National Planning Policy Framework – but is entirely undefined and unexplained…

Glasgow College of Building and Printing

by with No Comment CommercialScotlandUK

The Herald has defended this prominent Glasgow tower block, currently a giant bill board in the city centre, from accusations that it is the “second ugliest building” in the UK.

Prof Alan Dunlop, architect of the Glasgow Radisson and award winning Hazelwood School, is quoted as saying it is one of the “finest and most elegant buildings built in the 1960s that Glasgow actually has.”

Yes, it has “brutalist elements” such as the roof top concrete structures, which are reminiscent of Le Corbusier (so too the piloti, the concrete legs) but he calls it “refined” and “with real elegance”.

It is actually one of a pair of striking buildings designed by Peter Williams for Wylie, Shanks & Partners.

Part of the problem of course is weathering and deterioration of the fabric, which is to be expected in a building from 1964.

The B-listed tower block is to be renovated as a space for expanding tech and digital businesses, but the partner podium building is to be demolished.

High Sunderland

by with No Comment HouseScotlandUK

A 1957 Category A-listed house in the borders, designed by Peter Womersley, adjacent to his other classic work, the studio for Bernat Klein (who lived at the house for 60 years).

The house nearly burnt down in 2017 but has been fully refurbished (and winning a RIAS award into the bargain).

High Sunderland
Interior

I love the sunken living room area, the balance of wood panels (including ceiling), stone and glass.

From e-Architect

Robinson College, Cambridge, listed

by with No Comment ChurchFlatsSchoolUK

Robinson College by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia – the Glasgow architects’ final major work, from 1977-81 – has just been recognised with Grade II* listing.

The building is clad with 1.4 million handmade bricks, and as with St Bride’s church, the brick is used in different ways to create a variety of colour and texture. The use of brick also links the building to older, Tudor structures nearby, such as St. John’s.  

Brick is also used in other modern buildings such as Hillingdon civic centre (1979).

The college includes a chapel, featuring stained glass by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens , who also worked on Coventry Cathedral and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

Robinson College, Cambridge, by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia
Norwich Goldsmith Street council housing

Housing developers need to start designing for life – Big Issue

by with No Comment FlatsMediaUK

“For too long developers have been throwing up high-density homes that look more to profit than people. But the secret to better building isn’t rocket science” says TV architect Laura Jane Clark in the Big Issue.

“The vertical city was an idea by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, where he combined homes with shops, salons, nurseries, play spaces and even a fantastic swimming pool on the roof. Yet when this model was adopted to create high-density housing in our cities in the 1960s and ’70s, in order to cut costs the communal elements were removed, including the shopping and the hairdressers, the entertainment and, of course, the rooftop swimming pool.”

Cites Norwich Council estate Goldsmith Street as an example of a modern success story. And Cumbernauld as an example of a pedestrian heaven, that didn’t work out.

Norwich Goldsmith Street council housing

“Joined-up thinking with developers, architects, landscape architects, town planners and builders is the way ahead, ensuring future residents are foremost in the design, with each member of the team asking themselves “would I like to live here?”” Doesn’t sound unreasonable, does it?

Modernist architecture as a “denial of craftsmanship, human scale and decoration”

by with No Comment ChurchUK

Dr. Joseph Shaw, fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Arts and Oxford scholar of medieval philosophy, is quoted in relation to St. Peter’s Seminary in Cardross (grade A listed, but decaying and unlikely to be saved) as saying that Brutalism represents the “abandonment of the entire tradition of Christian architecture in favour of something which would have been more at home in the Soviet Union”, which I presume is meant as an insult and a criticism. Furthermore,

“Modernist architecture, with its denial of craftsmanship, human scale and decoration, is fundamentally at odds with the Catholic worldview. The Church does not have a single architectural style, embracing Byzantine, Classical and Gothic, but she does believe in raising the heart and mind to God, not crushing the spirit or exalting mechanical brutality and power.”

[https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/diocese-palms-off-brutalist-albatross]

Spare a thought for modernist masterpieces

by with No Comment UK

“The cold reality is that no one is going to save St Peter’s Seminary [in Cardross] because there are not enough voices championing Scottish modernism. It is too vast and visually unlovely for a private collector… The odds are also shortening for the Bernat Klein Studio [in the Borders] — the climate crisis will see to that. 

“Like its uglier sister brutalism, modernism divides opinion. It is unforgiving and its materials (glass, concrete, steel) require constant upkeep. But its place in built environment history is crucial if we are to understand what came before and after. It was a radical new direction at a time when the UK was healing after the Second World War. Bold. Futuristic. Hopeful. Qualities sorely lacking from housebuilding today.

“Perhaps the question to be debated is not how to create a modernist masterpiece but how to save it. Or at least wonder why, in Scotland, it is being forgotten.”

[Gabriella Bennett in the Sunday Times]