The Architectural Review articles from October 2003

The Architectural Review archives from October 2003

Blue blob in Birmingham: Birmingham continues its worship of the slightly outdated with its latest big building.(Outrage)
October 1, 2003... BIRMINGHAM'S SHOPPERS GET A GROTESQUELY HIGH FASHION ADDITION TO THEIR SKYLINE; RESULTS OF THE RECENT COMPETITION FOR THE NEW EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN CAIRO; FAREWELL TO CEDRIC PRICE--PETER COOK SALUTES A BRILLIANT ARCHITECTURAL THINKER AND STYLISH...

The man who changed England.(Obituary)(Obituary)(Biography)
October 1, 2003... Cedric Price will surely be recognized as the most significant thinker in British architecture of the second half of the twentieth century. The critics Reyner Banham (who was a close friend of Cedric) and Colin Rowe have affected the thinking...

The GEM and the Egyptian architects--bad luck? Khaled Asfour's Egyptian view of the Grand Museum competition and the whole education system.(View)
October 1, 2003... From Egypt came the third largest number of participants, 126 entries, yet none got even an honorary mention (AR August). The museum represents the ancient heritage the Egyptian architects know best, they should be able to compete with peers...

Back to basics.(Browser)
October 1, 2003... Questing and plashing, whiskers twitching, Sutherland Lyall searches vole-like for paths through the confusing cyberswamp. In the wider world, DOGMA Architecture means Distributed Object Group Management Architecture and has something to do...

Peacocking about on the Web.(Browser)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... The new Hodder Associates site at www.hodderassociates.co.uk. set me thinking about the function of architectural web sites. This one is slick, has fast downloads and virtuously resizable text in white sans serif on shades of blue-grey. So...

Down among the dead men.(Browser)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... You heard quite a lot about Egypt in first year architectural history: pylons, hypostyle halls, papyrus and lotus paradigms and of course the Stepped Pyramid of Zoser, and that bent one where they got the point seriously wrong. You might think...

Controlling the curtains.(Browser)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2003... Forget X10, LonWorks, PowerLine and those other proprietary home automation systems. ZigBee is the name for new wireless technology which, its promoters claim, will soon take over the way you operate your house. Not just your house but, by a...

Good Day at Black Rock.(Browser)(fairs)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... It's a bit like a really gentle, ritualized version of Mad Max, the annual Burning Man which this year had 25 000 people turning up to groove on a dried out lakebed outside Black Rock City 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada. What started out as a...

Palermo defence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: I found your article about Palermo (AR September) most unfortunately biased towards a tourist Hollywood/Mafia version of what is in fact a glorious and thriving city. We have really exciting projects which are going to help save much of...

Weird in Ostfildern.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: Why on earth did you publish that bizarre scheme in Ostfildern by Jurgen Mayer H (weird name, weird building)--AR September p77. Does a city hall have to weep or dribble? What does it tell us about its citizens? Why cry? Yours etc ...

Mixed emotion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: I was disappointed with the coverage of 'Mixed Use' in your September issue. Mixed use is surely the way we should be considering all approaches to the city and urban living. As your leader writer says, 'the key to successful mixed-use...

Mixed bag.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: Having just leafed through my August 2003 issue of AR I write to express both congratulations and grave concern. Congratulations that at long last, in nine explicit pages, a scheme such as Bing Thom's Vancouver Development gets fully...

Hot air?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: Murphy/Jahn's Post Tower (AR August 2003, pp58-63) is, indeed, a very elegant and thoughtfully designed building, worthy of publication. I would, however, welcome some independent verification of the claim, uncritically reproduced in your...

Diary delight.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2003... SIR: At last you have introduced a regular, if somewhat abbreviated, Diary section in the magazine. However your website has a host of more extensive details which should be widely trumpeted as a jolly useful resource. Yours etc ...

Erratum.(Correction Notice)
October 1, 2003... Executive architects for the Glass Museum, Tacoma, USA (AR August, p40) were Nick Milkovich Architects.

Diary.
October 1, 2003... AR'S CHOICE OF CURRENT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS For an expanded and constantly updated list, go to our website: www.arplus.com/exhibitions AUSTRIA GREG LYNNE: INTRICATE SURFACE Until 16 November MAK--Austrian Museum of...

View from Innsbruck: look out Graz and Vienna. Innsbruck is hot on your heels with a growing number of world-class buildings, nurturing a new generation of home-grown architects.(View)
October 1, 2003... Tyrol, with its provincial capital Innsbruck, has experienced a recent architectural breakthrough. Over the past few decades, a third independent architecture scene has been established in the west of Austria, alongside those more widely known...

Tubular cells: a new subterranean civic exhibition centre in the heart of Bologna is signposted by a pair of luminous and ethereal entrance pavilions.(Design Review)
October 1, 2003... In common with most Italian cities, the centre of Bologna is a densely textured historic core with little opportunity for contemporary additions or interventions. But just off the Piazza Maggiore is an eye-catching new structure that marks a...

Building for authority.(Comment)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2003... This issue is about buildings made by governments, both national and local, to serve the needs of citizens--the people who pay for the results. In these pages are good examples, but the British government seems determined to ignore any notion...

White castle: the Finnish Embassy in Stockholm represents both a modern democracy and a long interlaced history.
October 1, 2003... For hundreds of years, Finland was the poor relation of Sweden. From the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, the Swedish empire crossed the Gulf of Bothnia, with Finland as an impoverished colony. In 1809, the country changed colonial masters...

Media monitor: an official building, the seat of the Netherlands state broadcasting censors, shows how what could be a dreadfully bureaucratic institution can be humanized.
October 1, 2003... Older readers may remember Hilversum etched on the dials of Bakelite wireless sets, along with other exotic locales--Luxembourg, Moscow, Monte Carlo et al--in the pioneering days of early radio. Hilversum is now the Netherlands media capital...

Tyrolean transformation: a new town hall forms the fulcrum of this civic development in the heart of Innsbruck, which suggests a bolder approach to regional design.
October 1, 2003... Innsbruck is Austria at its picture postcard Tyrolean best--trim, kitsch and gemutlich, with a skyline of pepper pot campaniles framed by the hulking Alps. Not generally considered a crucible for architectural experimentation (being...

White heat: with a new co-location embassy, Manser revives Modernism in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.
October 1, 2003... In the city that witnessed the devastation of international terrorism in 1997 with the destruction of the US embassy, the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam now has a new multiple occupancy embassy, which brings diplomats from Europe together...

Civic portal: a town much transformed by tourism is given a new heart with a bold but economical civic centre.
October 1, 2003... Benidorm has no great reputation as a model of urban thinking. The city of towers we see now was largely created by a wild and chaotic market to cater for cheap package holidaymakers from northern Europe, whose bearleaders have transformed the...

Care in Kyoto: a day-care centre for the elderly has been inserted in old Kyoto with tenderness to both users and context.
October 1, 2003... Care centres for the elderly are multiplying all over Japan, as its population ages. This modest venture, run by Dr Hiromichi Nagahara, does double duty: caring for fifteen to twenty seniors each day, and protecting a cluster of traditional...

On the waterfront: a new headquarters for the water police in Hamburg reflects both the changing nature of the city's docklands and local crime.
October 1, 2003... Though Harburg is technically part of Hamburg, it is separated from the city centre by the Elbe River, two bridges and a fifteen-minute drive. Until recently, its inland harbour and canals were known only to directors of police thrillers, but...

Penal progress: the UK's large prison population is fuelled by a high level of recidivism. This project for a model prison tackles issues of architecture, management and funding in an enlightened attempt to achieve lasting rehabilitation.(Project)
October 1, 2003... The penal system is one of the most direct manifestations of the power of the state, but is often also a revealing reflection of the national psyche and its attitude to punishment and rehabilitation. Surprisingly, for a prosperous, progressive...

Urban sanctuary: influenced by tropical spa traditions, this new health sanctuary in London makes inventive use of materials and light to create two very different interior spaces.(Interior Design)
October 1, 2003... Stressed, time-poor Londoners snatching nano-moments of relaxation from the snapping jaws of urban existence now have a hip new decompression point on their radar. Calmia is a spa and health sanctuary at the north end of Marylebone High Street,...

C change: Byoungsoo Cho moves a small mountain to bring place and time to this previously barren plot in South Korea.
October 1, 2003... Can you change the history of a site? Well, as unlikely as it is, it was this question that most perplexed architect Byoungsoo Cho when faced with a barren site in Bockpori, South Korea. Flat and in need of repair, it was a site that was 'void...

Steel Window Association.(Specifier's Information)
October 1, 2003... As a member of the Steel Window Association. Taylor Alden have recently completed an Art Deco replica refurbishment at Kenview, in Highgate, north London. Fabricated by Steel Window Service and Supplies, the original front bay windows were...

Glaverbel.(Specifier's Information)
October 1, 2003... Glaverbel's Thermoplus Energy[R] 70/39 was used extensively by Space Decks while working as specialist facade contractor on the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The prominent curtain wall, supported by slender aluminium sections and glass...

O'Donnell.(Specifier's Information)
October 1, 2003... Alton Towers' brand new 216-bedroom Splash Landings hotel features O'Donnell Design's specially-crafted bedroom casegoods. In response to Tussauds Studios Design team's concept, O'Donnells, who are based in County Cork, produced furniture that...

Hansen Glass.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... First impressions count. Therefore Hansen Glass is pleased to offer Tempo[TM], an extensive range of door and entrance assemblies. They are manufactured to the highest standard using FortPlus[TM] toughened glass. Side panels, transoms and fin...

Lindapter International.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Lindapter International, specialist in the design and manufacture of steelwork connection systems, have an extensive range of CAD drawings at www.fostrackCAD.com, available in DWG and DXF format. With over 10 000 registered users, over 1000 CAD...

Gooding aluminium.(Specifier's Information)
October 1, 2003... GA Pan-L-Trim is an alloy framing system for wall lining systems. Quick to apply with no visible fixings, these elegant high quality aluminium alloy extrusions will fit a wide variety of board types with widths of 20, 16, 13 and 6mm. GA offers...

E-Motive display.(Specifier's Information)(E-Motive to showcase its new Elevator Audio Video Information System)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Lift display specialist E-Motive will be showing its revolutionary new EAVIS (Elevator Audio Video Information System) LCD display at this year's Interlift exhibition. EAVIS allows lift operators to provide live TV feeds, video clips, fixed and...

Sill Lighting UK.(Specifier's Information)(introduces new website)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2003... Sill Lighting's new-look website, www.sill-uk.com is now live. The new site is easy to navigate, giving lighting designers and specifiers instant access to Sill's complete range of high performance projectors. As well as accessing concise...

Architectural procession: The Architectural Project.(Reviews)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... THE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT By Alfonso Corona-Martinez. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2003, [pounds sterling]38.50 This book is about the processes by which architectural designs are produced. This simple statement might...

Connecting the archipelago: in search of new public domain.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... IN SEARCH OF NEW PUBLIC DOMAIN By Maarten Hajer and Arnold Reijndorp. Rotterdam: NAi, 2001. [euro]27 We all know expensively refurbished public spaces which fail to attract the public, as well as overcrowded marginal corners where...

Rambling round delight: the dynamics of delight: architecture and aesthetics.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... THE DYNAMICS OF DELIGHT: ARCHITECTURE AND AESTHETICS By Peter F. Smith. London: Routledge. 2003. [pounds sterling]65 (paperback [pounds sterling]25) This 200-page book contains enough information for what could have been a short,...

Landing grounds: Archilab's Earth Buildings, radical experiments in land architecture.(Reviews)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... ARCHILAB'S EARTH BUILDINGS, RADICAL EXPERIMENTS IN LAND ARCHITECTURE Edited by Marie-Ange Brayer and Beatrice Simonot. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. [pounds sterling]24.95 Architecture has always had an interstitial quality, an...

Architects should not speak: Herzog & de Meuron: natural history.(Reviews)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... HERZOG & DE MEURON: NATURAL HISTORY Edited by Philip Ursprung. Montreal and Baden: Canadian Centre for Architecture and Lars Muller Publishers. 2002. $65 This is not a book about buildings, but some kind of catalogue that will...

Andrew Holmes' drawings, all executed with coloured pencils, are more real than photographs. Recently, he has celebrated the romance of oil and petrol vehicles.(Delight)
October 1, 2003... Andrew Holmes is Britain's leading SuperRealist artist. He is also an architect (and one of the original Richard Rogers four-person practice), a long time unit master at the Architectural Association and latterly at the University of...