Building Design articles from April 2004

Building Design archives from April 2004

Schools face 'dumbing down'.(Yorkon--a subsidiary of Portakabin)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Architects who worked up design exemplars for the UK's future schools this week reacted with horror to the news that the government is talking to modular construction company Yorkon with a view to producing modular versions of their designs....

RIBA plots credentials crackdown: institute set to demand proof of insurance and training.
April 2, 2004... Proposals for strict regulation of practices registered by the RIBA have raised fears that the institute is recasting itself as a regulator. Under the plan, more than 4,000 practices face removal from the insitute's register of member firms...

Holyrood costs 'kept secret': wife defends Enric Miralles as a 'genius' in last week of inquiry into Scottish Parliament building.(News)
April 2, 2004... The widow and business partner of Holyrood architect Enric Miralles this week testified for the first time at the Holyrood inquiry and claimed the parliament's budget had been kept secret at the early stages of design. In the final week of...

Anatomy of a 'nightmare'.(News)(Calendar)
April 2, 2004... What the Fraser inquiry heard: September 1997 Cost of new Parliament is estimated at between, 10 million [pounds sterling] and 40 million [pounds sterling]. December 1997 Competing architect Enric Miralles submits his professional...

Minister defends Arb.(News)(Architects Registration Board)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... The minister in charge of the Architects Registration Board has given the regulator his lull backing. Phil Hope, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, rejected calls for an inquiry into the Arb....

Corby eyes iconic bid.(News)(Catalyst Corby )(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Urban regeneration company Catalyst Corby is looking for architects to design an iconic new town centre for Corby, the former steel town in Northamptonshire. A planned 4 billion [pounds sterling] redevelopment would create a new town square,...

Student assurances.(News)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Tim RIBA has met with education minister Alan Johnson to discuss university top-up fees and was reassured that students gaining professional experience between RIBA part I and part II would be eligible for fee support, access to a student loan...

Euston ramblas plan.(News)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... A feasibility study into Terry Farrell's vision to transform London's busy Euston Road into a continental-style ramblas was given the thumbs up by Camden council this week. The study by consultant Hyder looked at Farrell's plan to open up...

RIBA CPD online.(News)(Royal Institute of British Architects' www.riba-cpd.com)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... The RIBA has launched a new website for members to maintain and update continuing professional development in line with a plan to have all CPD monitored online by 2009. Visit www.riba-cpd.com

BDP Stockport win.(News)(Building Design Partnership )(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... Building Design Partnership has been commisioned by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council to draw up a masterplan for the redevelopment of Stockport town centre. The masterplan, supported by the North West Development Agency and Cabe, will...

CCA director retires.(News)(Canadian Centre for Architecture's director Nicholas Olsberg has retired)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... The director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, who oversaw the controversial acquisition of Jim Stirling's archive in 2001, has retired after 15 years at the institute. Nicholas Olsberg will be succeeded by current chairman Phyllis...

Four ousted in Aukett coup: rebel shareholder wrests chairmanship from Ian Mavor.(News)
April 2, 2004... Rebel shareholder Jose Luis Ripoll has taken control of Aukett, the UK's only listed practice, after a dramatic coup that saw four existing board members depart. Chairman Ian Mavor and non-executive director lain McQuattie have already...

Agricultural loopholes delay planning.(News)
April 2, 2004... Grazing cattle and fields of corn are the latest obstacles faced by beleaguered architects in the increasingly bizarre challenge of getting planning permission. BD has learnt that appeals at the centre of London's thriving metropolis are...

Local challenge to density: North London residents fight plans for 1,355 new homes in test case of government housing policy.(News)
April 2, 2004... North London residents are fighting plans to more than double the density of two housing estates in what is seen as a test case for the government's home expansion plans. The 170 million [pounds sterling] designs, worked up by HTA...

'Poundski' scheme for Moscow: new urbanism homes for rich Russians.(News)
April 2, 2004... A leading British new urbanist is to create a Russian Poundbury to provide luxury housing for the country's new multi-millionaire oligarchs. Architect John Thompson is hoping to turn a 500ha polluted strip of land on the outskirts of...

Me and my architect.(News)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... How and why the rich and famous choose the architect to create the home of their dreams will be explored in a new BBC series to be screened next month. Six celebrities, including racing driver Eddie Irvine, broadcaster and journalist Janet...

Holyrood and a question of trust.(Comment & Analysis)(Enric Miralles' )
April 2, 2004... 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...

A lack of training.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Poor precedents.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... One good thing that good design "at the heart of planning legislation" could bring is its equal opportunity in rural as well as urban areas. But let's not get too excited; we might well view the new planning legislation with some foreboding....

Bill is bad news.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Timespam.
April 2, 2004... 1974 Defensible space theory focuses on fencing. 2004 Northern town's civic halo still at draft stage. 2034 Arb disciplinary committee announces latest terminations.

A-level expose.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Not quite so tall.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... I am writing in relation to your article "Airport's challenge to tallest tower" (News March 19). I would like to put the record straight in relation to several errors and omissions contained within this piece by your journalist Chris Mugan. ...

Defending Arb.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Offending Arb.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 2, 2004... 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 [pounds sterling] costs. This cost the RIBA and Arb a...

Binding contracts: detailed contracts and tight deadlines mean less time for creativity and more distrust between parties.(Comments & Analysis)
April 2, 2004... If, like me, you are the wrong side of 40, you will know that paperwork and architecture have not always been partners in crime. There was a time when lawyers and funders did not require warranties, contracts and guarantees, and when CDM...

Gehry's star pupil.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Noisy celebrations.(Concrete Boots)(Querkraft)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... 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 gates of history.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Host with the most.(Concrete Boots)(SMC Gower Architects launched its office in Leeds)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... 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...

Basildon bonds.(Concrete Boots)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2004... 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...

The 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 Jose Esteves de Matos and Angus Morrogh-Ryan after a visit to Moscow.(Comment & Analysis)
April 2, 2004... "With Putin's supporters being chased closely in recent elections by the Communist party and the far right, Russia's political situation is as ambiguous as its architecture. "Having opened the archives of Stalin's terror, the once derided...

Open minded: a library by Swanke Hayden Connell is the latest addition to the Open University in Milton Keynes. It's a hi-tech, energy efficient resource centre for staff and students.(Building Study)
April 2, 2004... Remember putting the TV on at six in the morning to be confronted with a woolly-tied Open University chap scrawling differential equations across a blackboard? Well the OU is not like that any more. With the internet technology boom, it has...

Domestic goddess: a new book on Charlotte Perriand gives a complex picture of a designer whose work has too often been overshadowed by her association with Le Corbusier.(Culture)
April 2, 2004... Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) is still mainly seen as an adjunct to Le Corbusier--albeit now recognised as a significant intellectual collaborator rather than just a protege specialising in girly bits such as kitchens for the Unite...

The new showmen: Pamela Buxton reports on the launch of two UK architecture festivals this summer.(Culture)
April 2, 2004... Architecture biennales are pretty few and far between. There's always the glamorous Venice, of course, and last year's Rotterdam jamboree, but those looking for something closer to home have been disappointed. Until this year that is, when...

Books.(On The Radar)
April 2, 2004... I don't find it easy to read books on architecture. A lot are rather pretentious and self-aggrandising. I tend to read books with no relevance Lo the things that concern me all day, plus serious books about Buddhism and philosophy--the stresses...

Music.(On The Radar)
April 2, 2004... I spend a lot of time at the Royal Festival Hall, being a benefactor of the London Philharmonic. I love to see musicians at the top of their profession. Russian composers Prokofiev and Rachmaninov are favourites. Also the Pearl Fisher (Bizet)....

Travel.(On The Radar)
April 2, 2004... Far East--Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia. Singapore, to me, is like Switzerland on stilts; there's a lack of passion. Whereas Bangkok I love because it's a teeming mess of some wonderful things and some bad. In Kuala Lumpur the Petronas Towers...

Lectures.(Diary)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 2, 2004... WEDNESDAY * Almeida, by Mark Foley. How Burrell Foley Fischer rebuilt this theatre. Venue Theatre Museum, Russell Street, Covent Garden, London.6.30pm. 4.50 [pounds sterling] /2 [pounds sterling] students. Details 0207943 4750....

Exhibitions.(Diary)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 2, 2004... UNTIL APRIL 18 Patrick Geddes: The French Connection. Venue Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1Queen Street, Edinburgh. Details 0131624 6200. UNTIL APRIL 20 Lucy Orta: Selected Works. Venue RIBA, 66 Portland Place,...

Cathedral culture.(Back Space)
April 2, 2004... As all psychogeographers know, the most appealing features of urban landscape--the industrial wastelands, the unconscious anachronisms, the unreconstructed local distinctiveness--are the victims of regeneration and the heritage industry. ...

Ian Martin.
April 2, 2004... Monday Form the 21st Century Society, then adjourn it indefinitely to see if anything is worth saving. Tuesday Another city centre application cynically refused because I haven't demonstrated the land is not in agricultural use. I may just...

Jestico & Whiles' 4.2 million [pounds sterling] extension of the Central School of Speech & Drama in Swiss Cottage, north London, has won planning permission.
April 8, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Jestico & Whiles' 4.2 million [pounds sterling] extension of the Central School of Speech & Drama in Swiss Cottage, north London, has won planning permission. The extension includes new teaching space,...

Prescott serves up solutions.(John Prescott)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... As John Prescott's 200,000 home masterplan for the Southeast moves towards delivery, the deputy prime minister invited top architects to dinner last week to gain some inspiration. Prescott sat down at his Admiralty House residence with a...

Client shows 'contempt' for RIBA contest: Ushida Findlay scheme axed as competition crisis deepens.
April 8, 2004... Concern over RIBA competitions has deepened after a winning arts centre scheme by Ushida Findlay was scrapped by St Edmundsbury Borough Council. In September, BD reported that Ushida Findlay had triumphed in an RIBA design competition to...

Dreams to reality.(News)(Brady Mallalieu Architects)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Brady Mallalieu Architects is flying the flag for architects on reality TV. It has designed a house which 12 couples will help build, while facing being voted off the show. The winning couple keeps the house. Building the Dream is repeated on...

Merging architects.(News)(Arthur Collin Architects, Walter & McNamara)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Arthur Collin Architects and Walter & McNamara have merged to become DAAM. The merged practice is along-standing collaboration between Collin and designer Mike Walter and is based in Clerkenwell.

New life for AHA.(Archer Boxer Partners International, AHA Architecture)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Two practices that recently went into administration have been bought by their former management teams. Archer Boxer Partners International and AHA Architecture will become AHA Architecture International The new firm is based in Old Hatfield.

EH halts listing drive amid pressure.(News)(English Heritage)
April 8, 2004... English Heritage has been accused of holding back from listing a swathe of iconic postwar university buildings, following government concern over the cost of maintaining them. Separately, scores of celebrated post-war examples of social...

John McAslan & Partners won planning permission for three residential blocks rising from nine to 15 storeys at St George's Island in Castlefield, Manchester.(News)
April 8, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: John McAslan & Partners won planning permission for three residential blocks rising from nine to 15 storeys at St George's Island in Castlefield, Manchester. The 38 million [pounds sterling] scheme, which...

Foster in hot water over British Museum cafes.(News)(Foster & Partners' )(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Foster & Partners' acclaimed 100 million [pounds sterling] Great Court scheme at the British Museum faces a redesign if a planning inspector rules later this month that two cafes on either side of the Reading Room must be removed. A row...

Surface treatment for cottage revamp.(News)(Surface Architects)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Surface Architects, recently awarded third place in the BD/Corus Young Architect of the Year Award, has won planning permission for a 625,000 [pounds sterling] extension and refurbishment of a Victorian lock-keeper's cottage. The facility,...

12,000 home design code trial: Thames Gateway scheme to act as pilot.(News)(Maxwan)
April 8, 2004... The largest new housing development in the Thames Gateway is set to become a high profile pilot for the use of design codes in the government's drive to speed up planning permission for 120,000 new homes in the region. Dutch masterplanner...

Ian Simpson Architects has won planning permission for a new office development in Piccadilly Basin, Manchester.(News)
April 8, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Ian Simpson Architects has won planning permission for a new office development in Piccadilly Basin, Manchester. The 12 million [pounds sterling] Eider House scheme in Manchester is due on site at the end of...

World-class design planned for Headingley pavilion.(News)(Yorkshire County Cricket Club has announced plans to rebuild the famous Headingley cricket ground)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Yorkshire County Cricket Club has announced plans to rebuild the famous Headingley cricket ground, starting with a pavilion to rival the impact of the Sydney Opera House or the Bilbao Guggenheim. Chairman Robin Smith, who has also been...

City design grants at LSE.(News)(two new scholarships at London School of Economics)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Two new scholarships worth a total of 25,000 [pounds sterling] are available for the London School of Economics' City Design & Social Science M So. The scholarships are traded by the Mercers' Company, a City of London livery company, and are...

Firms study station.(News)(Stephen Taylor Architects and Stanton Williams have been appointed to conduct a feasibility study for a new travel interchange at Rainham Station)
April 8, 2004... Stephen Taylor Architects and Stanton Williams have been appointed to conduct a feasibility study for a new travel interchange at Rainham Station, Essex. The 12 million [pounds sterling] redevelopment also includes 120 new flats, a bridge over...

Most excellent awards.(News)(Simon Conder Associates)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... The American Institute of Architects London/UK Excellence in Design Awards have been won by: One Centaur Street by de Rijke Marsh Morgan; Jubilee School in Tulse Hill by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Black Rubber Beach House in Dungeness by...

Expanding schools.(News)(with wider access)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Design guidelines for building schools have been amended this month to specify larger spaces with wider access. The change is partly intended to accommodate the needs of pupils with disabilities and to allow for out-of-hours activities. For...

RIBA in Liverpool.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... The RIBA is to move its North West regional office from Knutsford to Liverpool. The 200,000 move to the Tea Factory development in the Ropewalks area is funded by Liverpool Business Centre.

Schwartz talks.(News)(Martha Schwartz)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Landscape architect Martha Schwartz will give a talk called "I Hate Nature" on April 20 at the RIBA. Boston-based Schwartz first gained attention through her "Bagel Garden" in 1979, and is known tot her use of unusual materials and dramatic...

250k [pounds sterling] for eastern promise.(News)
April 8, 2004... Foul schemes in a design competition to establish a new landmark in East Anglia have shared 50,000 [pounds sterling] to go towards feasibility studies. They include: steel sculptures rising out of the sea to mark the site of the lost city...

Hotel demolition scheme sparks row.(News)
April 8, 2004... A 500 million [pounds sterling] Allies & Morrison scheme to regenerate a large swathe of central London has been attacked for being bland, repetitive and proposing to demolish the 1915 Regent's Palace Hotel. The project to revamp more than...

Bridge over river Cam unveiled.(News)(whithybird, sculptor Gerry Judah)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... The river Cam in Cambridge is about to get its first bridge in 40 years, designed by the winning team whithybird in collaboration with sculptor Gerry Judah. The 1.5 million [pounds sterling] bridge, which will be to the north-east of...

Size not important for schools.(News)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Small practices should take advantage of the government's 2 billion [pounds sterling] school building programme, a BD seminar on education opportunities heard last week. Brian Norton, launch director of the Building Schools for the Future...

Libyan campus interest.(News)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Thawing diplomatic relations between Libya and the west have prompted new interest in late modernist James Cubitt's Benghazi University campus in the country. Tony Blair's meeting with Colonel Gaddafi last month has inspired Cubitt's...

Lisbon masterplan.(News)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Richard Rogers Partnership and Atkins have started to masterplan a major urban centre in Lisbon. The project, focusing on the Almada docklands area, encompasses a public transport strategy, housing and a maritime museum.

A 5.6 million [pounds sterling] library for Newnham College in Cambridge, designed by John Miller & Partners, has been completed.(News)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... A 5.6 million [pounds sterling] library for Newnham College in Cambridge, designed by John Miller & Partners, has been completed. The space is organised around twin barrel vaulted aisles.

Alexander Redhouse, Lasdun partner, dies.(News)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 8, 2004... Alexander Redhouse was the last surviving partner from Denys Lasdun, Redhouse & Softley. writes Ruth Selig. He was born in 1920 in London's East End to immigrant Jewish parents horn Russia and Latvia, and grew up in a deprived area that...

Prince's influence grows.(News)(Prince's Foundation )(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... The Prince's Foundation is advising three hospitals in Cornwall, Liverpool and London on new healthcare schemes worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The schemes show the foundation's growing influence on government procurement and come...

Zed homes developer threatens to quit UK: 'the government is against everything we represent' claims financial backer homes developer threatens to quit UK.(News)
April 8, 2004... The developer behind architect Bill Dunster's carbon neutral homes is threatening to pull the plug on his investment and develop Zed-type schemes in France instead, because of the obstacles he faces in Britain. A previously conventional...

Dublin giant-killers Henghen Peng triumph again.(News)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Irish practice Heneghen Peng has won its second major international competition after beating Daniel Libeskind and SOM to redevelop the Carlisle Pier in Dun Laoghaire harbour. Last year the practice won the competition to design fire Grand...

British architects must crack own code.(Comment & Analysis)
April 8, 2004... How's this for a test run? Take 150ha of land in the Thames Gateway, plan 12,000 newhomes and apply design codes across the whole site. The fact that in recent weeks officials in John Prescott's office have begun considering just that for...

A privileged few.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... The point about Thatcher's children ("Why don't these Brits win YAYA? Comment & Analysis March 26) is that they are now Blair's graduates, struggling to pay back student debts before hopefully scraping together enough money to buy a house whose...

Shed no tears.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... Great Comment & Analysis (March 26), but ShedKM would like to point out to your readers that we didn't actually enter the competition. In fact we never have done! Whether this is because of false modesty, or that we are just too busy is...

Someone different.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... With a plethora of candidates all barrelling at the presidential title, a sense of proportion is needed at the RIBA. For peace of mind I would go with Brian Godfrey, a man who I believe is of his time, a man of unsullied reputation and...

Terms of confusion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... From John Thompson, London Our Vision for a new settlement on tire banks of the River Moscow (News April 2), and in particular our use of allegorical descriptions for the layering of urban quarters that our masterplan creates, seems to...

Timespam.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... 2001 Hello... timespam launched as a "satirical box of a washing machine for living in". 2002-2003 With all due respect, architects put in their place. 2004 Goodbye...

Unashamed.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... As one of the planning authorities "named and shamed" in your article on the planning delivery grant (News March 12) I would like to assure you that the reason for Cannock Chase District Council's poor success rate in defending its decisions on...

Pomo silliness.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... So Robert Venturi denies he is a post-modernist (Comment & Analysis March 19). The Pope has also denied he is a Catholic, I believe. The Venturis' great pomo legacy was to remove any idea of the social or political relevance of architecture and...

Festival facts.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... Gordon Miller (Skylon revisited, Letters March 26) seems a bit confused. The Sea and Ships pavilion, in front of the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain, was designed by Basil Spence's London office under Andrew Renton, and I was...

Fool's gold.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
April 8, 2004... How terribly droll for the Royal Scottish Academy to open up its press day on April 1 with some huge, well-viewed images by Terry Farrell. The cappa mounted photographs take up a whole wall, just for fun and include some sketches that the great...

Help wanted: young and malleable or old and experienced? Issues arise when adding a new member of staff.(Comment & Analysis)
April 8, 2004... What are the qualities of a perfect new recruit? In an early novel, Towards the End of the Morning, Michael Frayn describes the impact on a sleepy, middle-aged and complacent newspaper office of a near-mythic new arrival: a cool, dynamic,...

Clever Rem stumped.(Concrete Boots)(Rem Koolhaas)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2004... Rem Koolhaas is notoriously obsessed with media coverage of his work, which is why a few weeks ago his office asked BD to fax a recent editorial to their Dutch headquarters. The editorial, which argued Rem was "too clever", was duly faxed...