The Architectural Review articles from August 2002

The Architectural Review archives from August 2002

Advanced quality: "Mitsubishi was the obvious choice". (Mitsubishi Electric Changes for the Better).(provided elevators to Finance Square office development, South Africa)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Finance Square is part of the Nedcor Precinct Development, which has already been caalled a landmark in Sandton, an area within close proximity to many leading financial institutions and just 25 minutes from Johannesburg International Airport....

A new development in the financial heartland of South Africa.(Nedcor Precinct Development, Johannesburg, South Africa)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The second phase of the Nedcor Precinct Development, Finance Square Sandton, is located next to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Maude Street, the most prestigious address in South Africa. It offers office floor space of 20,000 square meters,...

The evolution of Mitsubishi quality.(Advertising)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Real quality is not a static thing; it keeps moving and evolving. Our new series of Elenessa machine-roomless elevators boasts several industry firsts: such as one of the smallest pit dimensions in the industry; and 1.75m/s speed elevator. In...

Titillation and Chippings. (View).(garden festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire, France)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The garden festival site at Chaumont-sur-Loire is set on hinterland behind chateau and basse-cour. It contains two landscaped walks -- Vallon des Brumes and Sentier des Fers Sauvages--but for the most part is laid out much like a traffic-free...

Colorcoat Building Awards. (View).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... From its origins as a cheap and functional building material, steel cladding has, over the years, gradually become known for its aesthetic potential. Now in their 12th year, the recent Colorcoat Building Awards seek to recognize this by making...

Browser: Sutherland Lyall continues to explore world architecture, cutting his way through the tangled electronic undergrowth. (View).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Rum Outram English architect John Outram has long defied classification. Look at www.johnoutram.com and you'll see what I mean. You could, I suppose, call him a kind of Classicist--except it's kind-of Classicism out of Louis Kahn who was,...

AR Spectrum Award 2002. (View).
August 1, 2002... At Spectrum 2002, held in the Commonwealth Institute, London (previewed May 2002), three exhibits won an AR Spectrum Award for Design Excellence, and three more were highly commended. On this, the sixth occasion, judges were Sally Mackereth of...

Letters.
August 1, 2002... SUICIDE TERROR SIR: I write in my capacity as Chairman of the Association of Engineers and Architects in Israel. The Architectural Review is a journal of high standing, which gives us a picture of what is happening in the architectural...

Errata.(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2002... The new range of luminaires by Fagerhult (AR June, p98) is called Ten[degrees], and not Teno as printed. Photographs of Historical Park, Kalkriese, Germany (AR July, p34) were supplied by the architects, and were not taken by Kiemens...

View from Atlantic City: in its heyday, Atlantic City used to be the 'Queen of the Coast'--now it is trying to bring some life back to its soulless heart. (View).
August 1, 2002... The transatlantic in-flight movie contrived to set the scene rather well. Ocean's Eleven, Steven Soderberg's knowing remake of the '60s Sinatra bratpack movie about a Las Vegas casino heist features a brief detour in Atlantic City (my final...

New approach: new landscaping and gardens around Tate Britain pull the disparate buildings of the site together, constitute a new public space and add to the pleasure of a visit. (Design Review).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... After the Tate Gallery was divided in 1992, and its international modern and contemporary art holdings moved to Bankside, a scheme to upgrade the (renamed) Tate Britain at Millbank took shape. John Miller + Partners were announced the...

Bigness: Bigness is one of the greatest problems of contemporary architecture. While programmes have become larger and larger, architectural imagination has scarcely grown to reply to them. (Comment).
August 1, 2002... Bigness is inescapable. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, civilization has been inexorably set on a course to increasing size. Cities become ever larger and more land-hungry; transport systems become more capacious; corporations...

Treasure chest: continuing the tradition of monumental bank buildings, the huge new savings institution on the edge of Granada relates to the traditions of the city and almost exudes the notion of security.
August 1, 2002... Throughout modern history, the architecture of financial institutions has assumed various forms of monumentality: the Neo-Classicism of Soane's Bank of England; the medieval earnestness of Berlage's Beurs in Amsterdam; a post-war Classical...

Constructive urbanity: an attempt to generate a large urban building which relates to the form and experience of city life, while offering varied office accommodation, has generated a result surprisingly related to Constructivism.(Foster's Commerzbank in Frankfurt, Germany by Behnisch and Partners)
August 1, 2002... The larger the building, the greater the danger of oversimplified forms, anaesthetizing repetition, deep plans dominated by structural discipline, and the creation of hermetic artificial worlds. As Rem Koolhaas pointed out in Delirious New...

The art of industry: appropriating industrial processes, this workshop building is a huge perpetual laboratory capable of infinite extension.(Grands Ateliers in Lyons, France)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The Grands Ateliers takes as its maxim Jean Prouve's assertion 'I abhor designing without constructing'. For grand', therefore, read 1:1 -- the monumental realism of the full-scale prototype. Funded largely by central government, it will serve...

Functional biology: providing an open forum for a closed scientific community, this new research institute in Dresden civilizes its large scale by inventive use of materials and light.(Max Planck Institute)(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Biotechnology is one of the two specialist fields (the other being microelectronics), on which Dresden is rebuilding its post-1989 economy. The Max Planck Institute (MPI) has assumed a leading role in 'Biopolis Dresden' by founding a new...

Super blimp: defying superlatives, this colossal new airship shed extends the tradition and technology of hangar design.(Germany's CargoLifter hangar)(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Like railway stations, bridges and exhibition halls, airship hangars induce a romantic fascination with architecture as engineering, pure form generated by the rational imperatives of structure and economics. This latest addition to an ancestry...

Space invader: essentially an exercise in enclosing vast tracts of space, this new trade fair hall in Frankfurt is distinguished by its great roof which is both sculptural and efficient.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Flying into Frankfurt, you spot it immediately. A muscular, undulating roof like a gargantuan ribcage marks the latest addition to Frankfurt's Messe, the vast agglomeration of trade fair halls to the west of city centre. The fair's proximity to...

Ribs and Spine: an attempt to insert a very large building into an urban context while retaining human scale.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Lufthansa's headquarters in Frankfurt am Main is an attempt to break down a very large building into human and environmentally comprehensible parts. Although the site is more urban and dense than the one of Niels Torp's BA headquarters in the...

How big is bad? (Theory).
August 1, 2002... Bigness, it seems, is one of the unavoidable characteristics of modern culture: the global market and ever-increasing populations seem to demand bigger and bigger buildings. Charles Jencks argues that bigness almost inevitably leads to boredom...

Tate revival: Tate Britain's elegant extension and modernization increases gallery space by a third and makes it possible to see works previously stored away in vaults.(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... As a building, the Tate Gallery on Millbank has not been much admired, 'an unfortunate choice', observed Nikolaus Pevsner of its nineteenth-century architect, Sidney Smith. 'He used the accepted Late Victorian grand manner but neither with...

Canadian weatherman: clad in a rough carapace of weathered steel, this family house in Toronto suburbia intelligently integrates natural ground and built space and conceals a luminous heart. (Ar House).(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... While the steel house was important in the development of modern architecture it was primarily the liberating frame, advanced through the influential designs for the Farnsworth House and the later Case Study Houses, that prompted radical...

London calling: The headquarters for the Greater London Authority uses glass in its sophisticated and environmentally responsive external skin. (Glass Futures).(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Foster and Partners' headquarters for the Greater London Authority (GLA) is London's newest and most significant civic building of recent times. Like County Hall (the institution that housed the Authority's political predecessor the Great...

Full sail: these offices are planned around a series of glazed courts that are celebrations of tectonic invention and also contribute to the building's energy management. (Glass Futures).(pneumatic equipment company Festo expands headquarters)(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Festo are a well-known German manufacturer of pneumatic equipment based in Esslingen. The company's existing headquarters was recently expanded to add an extra 34 000 sq m of space. The design formula is familiar, but executed with precision...

Colorium: using glass dramatically, but within a standard office budget, a landmark tower has been created to help massive regeneration of Dusseldorf's Rhine harbour. (Glass Futures).(related article: Architect)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... The Colorium is one of the buildings that are rejuvenating Dusseldorf's once defunct harbour into a media centre. A 17 storey, 62m high office tower has been built on a traditional harbour-side long narrow site with its thin side to the water....

Curving canopy: A huge glass roof over conventional offices is both rainscreen and energy collector. (Glass Futures).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Take a simple office building. Pile floor plates on top of each other, arranged to make possible the contemporary notion of the workplace as club. At the dgv head office in Hanover, the ideal of Burolandschaft has been developed for the age of...

Schmidlin. (Product Review).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... The facade of the new GLA building in London, designed by Foster and Partners, consists of a series of storey-height triple-glazed and insulated cladding panels which are faceted and inclined to follow the shape of the building. The outer...

Glasstec. (Product Review).
August 1, 2002... The biennial trade fair for glass and glass products, glasstec 2002, takes place in Dusseldorf from 28 October to 1 November. It is an international event on a vast scale, with exhibitors from 33 countries and over 50 000 square metres of...

Fusion Glass. (Product Review).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... A wide range of decorative and structural glass treatments from Fusion Glass. The glass can be sandblasted for various effects: panes of glass can be laminated with interlayers of opaque and translucent colours, fabric, wire mesh and paper....

Solutia. (Product Review).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... Laminated glass consists of a resilient polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer sandwiched between two or more layers of glass and permanently bonded under heat and pressure. It is used to improve the structural, fire, acoustic, safety, or...

Glaverbel. (Product Review).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... The Mirox New Generation Ecological (MNGE) mirror is made using an environmentally friendly production process. The copper layer formerly used to protect the silver coating has been replaced by a surface treatment, and lead-free paint is used...

Resolute. (Product Review).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... Goliath light fitting is a large piece of hand blown glass, 430mm high with a 320mm diameter. It is produced by the 'incalmo' method, in which two matched pieces of glass are joined to make a single piece. Stainless steel arms support the glass...

North 4 Design. (Specifier's Information).(door vision panels)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Vision panel specialist North 4 Design has added a 30-minute fire integrity to its expanding range of vision panels for doors and walls. Finished in brushed stainless steel with a choice of glass and fixings, they provide an attractive solution...

Trannon. (Specifier's Information).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... The GTX is a glass-topped table with crossed timber legs, designed by David Colwell. No metal components are used: the solid timber legs are braced with a delicate cross-piece of interconnecting timber members. 902 www.arplus.com/enq.html

Mecho Shade. (Specifier's Information).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... MechoShadeA complete range of solar shading products is available from MechoShade, They can be operated by manual, motorized, automated or computerized systems. Solar protection to glazing in the Getty Museum, designed by Richard Meier &...

Caradon Stelrad. (Specifier's Information).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... The Classic Column radiator range is suitable for both period and contemporary settings and can be wall or floor mounted. Manufactured in Italy, it is available in white in heights from 300mm to 2500mm and in lengths of from 405mm to 1800mm,...

Vetrotech. (Specifier's Information).(glass used in prison flooring)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... A high-security prison in Breda, Holland has been designed with a glass floor which allows prison officers to see through it and keep a close watch on a recreation area below. The 560[m.sup.2] floor comprises 336 triple-glazed panels...

Marley Roofing Products. (Specifier's Information).(Eternit Inc.'s Cabrera slate used in housing development)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Eternit's Cabrera slates were used as the roofing material of a housing development in the historic Pulls Ferry area of Norwich. The development is on a brownfield site near to the cathedral in one of the city's 18 conservation areas, and close...

Spanwall. (Specifier's Information).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... Spanwall has designed a bespoke cladding system for a new office building on the quayside at Salford, Manchester, It encloses the two main staircases which project beyond the main facade on east and west elevations. The cladding has a series of...

Clement Windows. (Specifier's Information).(advertisement)
August 1, 2002... The new EB24 range of steel windows, designed for the domestic replacement market, has a U value of 2.1 W/[m.sup.2] K to comply with the new requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations. Compliance is achieved by using a 24mm...

World Cities Shanghai. (Books: Pearl of the Orient).
August 1, 2002... By Alan Balfour & Zheng Shiling. Chichester: Wiley-Academy. 2002. [pounds sterling]75 As one would expect from his earlier dramatic studies of Berlin and New York, Alan Balfour's bumper book of Shanghai is neither the work of a ragged...

30 Bridges. (Books: Bridging Insights).
August 1, 2002... By Matthew Wells. London: Laurence King. 2002. [pounds sterling]35 No book, of course, could be definitive on bridges; there are already many examples 961 a including the justifiably famous one by Fritz Leonhardt. But engineer Matthew Wells...

Customize: IN-EX 02 Review of Peripheral Architecture. (Books: European Fashions).
August 1, 2002... By IN-EX projects. Basel: Birkhauser. 2001. [euro]38 IN-EX is the nom-de-plume of a French team called Peripheriques, in collaboration with graphic designer Franck Tallon; the name is supposed to prompt various associations such as Interior...

Villas and Gardens in early Modern Italy and France. (Books: Looking Back at Landscape).
August 1, 2002... By Mirka Benes and Dianne Harris. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001. [pounds sterling]55 These days when university publishers have to make a buck like everybody else you don't often come across the Festsckrift, the collection of...

Intelligent skins. (Books: Mindset Change).
August 1, 2002... By Michael Wigginton and Jude Harris. Oxford: Elsevier Science. 2002. [pounds sterling]35 The authors consider that most buildings are designed to meet functional and aesthetic requirements and then experts are called in to correct the...

Perched on remote rural hillsides in North-West Portugal and Spain, these vernacular stone grain stores or espigueiros have a solemnity and grace that eludes most contemporary builders. (Delight).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Portugal was described (by American writer Datus Proper) as 'the last old place' in Western Europe, but EC credits are rapidly transforming the country. Provincial towns are being torn up for new construction and many Portuguese have shiny new...

Berthold Lubetkin was one of the architects like Erno Goldfinger who brought the ideas and idealism of Continental Modern architecture to Britain in the 1930s. (Reviews).(Brief Article)
August 1, 2002... Berthold Lubetkin was one of the architects like Erno Goldfinger who brought the ideas and idealism of Continental Modern architecture to Britain in the 1930s. He arrived slightly before the influx of refugees from the Nazi regime, stayed all...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2002... AR July, p90. The Resolute light was a Purity Pendant, not the Paper Light collection as described in the text.