Building Design articles from September 2003

Building Design archives from September 2003

Hackney sues Hodder Associates over pool fiasco.
September 5, 2003... The simmering dispute over the troubled Clissold Leisure Centre in north London has finally boiled over after it emerged this week that Hackney council is suing practice Hodder Associates over the escalating cost of the project. The legal...

The famous Bristol landmark Shot Tower is set for a new lease of life after a scheme by Bristol practice Central Workshop to convert the former lead foundry into offices won permission last week.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... The famous Bristol landmark Shot Tower is set for a new lease of life after a scheme by Bristol practice Central Workshop to convert the former lead foundry into offices won permission last week. The three-storey steel and glass office scheme...

Alsop's road movie to hit TV screens.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Will Alsop will invade the nation's living rooms when a Channel 4 series that he has written and presented is broadcast later this month, writes Beatrice Galilee. The three-part series, exploring Alsop's radical and often outlandish vision...

Anger as Englis Heritage drops post-war review process.
September 5, 2003... The movement to preserve modernist buildings took a blow this week after a swathe of cuts by English Heritage. EH has rationalised its specialist committees into one steering group for all decisions, marking the end of the Post-war Steering...

GMW Architects and Paris-based Serau have won a design competition for Libercite, a 37 million [pounds sterling] leisure development on the eastern edge of Paris.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... GMW Architects and Paris-based Serau have won a design competition for Libercite, a 37 million [pounds sterling] leisure development on the eastern edge of Paris. The 50,000sq m development at Noisy-le-Grand includes a shopping centre; indoor...

Urban Sounding Board goes quiet.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... The government has disbanded an all-star panel of regeneration experts in a reorganisation of the its consultation policy. The panel included high-profile figures such as Urban Splash chairman Tom Bloxham, Greater London Assembly chair...

Katherine Shonfield.(Obituary)
September 5, 2003... Katherine Vaughan-Williams (Shonfield)--architect, planner, teacher, theoretician and writer, died on Tuesday aged 48, after a long battle against cancer. She was regarded as an inspirational teacher, and taught, latterly, at Southbank...

Clyde bridge list.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Glasgow council has drawn up a six-strong shortlist for a 40 million [pounds sterling] pedestrian bridge over the Clyde. On the list are: Lifschutz Davidson with Gustafson Porter; Foster & Partners; Richard Rogers Partnership; Future Systems...

Modernist gem faces bulldozer.
September 5, 2003... A house hailed as a "pivotal design" of the modernist movement is once again fighting the threat of the bulldozer: its owner has relaunched his bid to demolish it. An application to demolish Greenside, a Connell Ward Lucas-designed house...

Future Systems' latest flagship store, for New Look, has opened its doors to the public.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Future Systems' latest flagship store, for New Look, has opened its doors to the public. The store, on Oxford Street in central London, features double-height yellow glass panels and a dramatic stainless-steel staircase that attracts people off...

Ferguson names wonders and blunders on UK tour.(News)
September 5, 2003... George Ferguson's tour of British towns and cities by balloon, car, plane and foot, drew to a close last week, with the RIBA president concluding that: "We are a nation of hanging baskets." At the outset, Ferguson declared that he would be...

Hastings team picked.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Michael Hopkins & Partners, Bill Dunster Architects and Clague have been chosen to develop Hastings Town Centre Station Plaza as part of a 400 million [pounds sterling] regeneration scheme. The 50 million [pounds sterling] 2.5ha scheme to...

Post-war listings.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Ralph Erskine's 1970s Byker Estate in Newcastle upon Tyne was among four landmark post-war schemes granted Grade 11 status by the Department for Culture Media and Sport last week. Also recommended for grade 11 listing were two pairs of 1947...

Urban line-up chosen.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... The Urban Design Alliance (UDAL) has unveiled the line-up for Urban Design Week from 15 to 21 September, on the theme Who makes places? For details go to: www.udal.org.uk

Student winners.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... The winners of this year's student accolades, awarded by RIBA East are: Tom Gardner, from the University of Cambridge, with a scheme to redevelop a disused railway yard in Osaka, Japan; Pavol Perdoch, from the University of Luton, for a...

Chinese group in UK.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Chinese architects are touring the UK this month to strengthen links with their UK counterparts. The president of the Architectural Society of China (ASC) and his delegation will visit sites around the country from September 15 to 27. The ASC...

HOK has won an international competition to design a dramatic new headquarters building for the Central Bank of Kuwait in Kuwait City.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... HOK has won an international competition to design a dramatic new headquarters building for the Central Bank of Kuwait in Kuwait City. The 30-storey building is a truncated pyramid with a glass viewing platform at the top.

Hackney Empire back on schedule.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... The Hackney Empire is expected to re-open by Christmas after an announcement that work on the stalled 15 million [pounds sterling] refurbishment, designed by Tim Ronalds Architects, is due to resume in days. The refurbishment of the 190l...

Leeds takes on Paris and Milan: with a proposed Skywalk, bridge and opened arches, Leeds is aiming to rival Europe's architectural centres.
September 5, 2003... Plans to turn Leeds into an urban centre to rival Paris and Milan are beginning to take shape with a series of daring schemes. These include a Paris-style Skywalk, a landmark Marks Barfield bridge and a proposal to open up a series of...

Morecambe hotel gets late reprieve.
September 5, 2003... A scheme in Morecambe to renovate one of Britain's first art deco hotels has been reprieved after almost being scuppered by disgruntled local councillors. The scheme--proposed by developer Urban Splash--to renovate the 1933 Midland Hotel...

Urban Splash plans to go Dutch with Fat.
September 5, 2003... Architect Fat and developer Urban Splash are considering taking the residents of an east Manchester estate they are redeveloping to Holland to show them examples of innovative social housing. Fat won the first housing project on the Alsop...

Phase one of a 20 million [pounds sterling] east Manchester housing development in Beswick, by architect Bowker Sadler, has received planning permission.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Phase one of a 20 million [pounds sterling] east Manchester housing development in Beswick, by architect Bowker Sadler, has received planning permission. This includes 116 houses and 25 apartments. The design concept was to bring city-centre...

My journey back to Iraq: Iraqi-born architect Ali Mousawi tells Charlie Gates about his experience of returning to Iraq after 12 years.(Interview)
September 5, 2003... We flew from Heathrow to Amman in Jordan and immediately started the road trip to Baghdad. The journey was tough and took around 12 hours. Entering Iraq from Jordan was very bad. You have to wait three hours and you sit there in a scruffy...

Design teams in a hurry for Lift [Local Improvement Finance Trust].
September 5, 2003... Architects have been appointed on 14 of the government's 42 controversial Local Improvement Finance Trust (Lift) primary healthcare schemes, under a nine-month whirlwind of design procurement. The latest design team to be made preferred...

Suffolk arts centre for Ushida Findlay.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Ushida Findlay is set to design its first arts-related project, having won a RIBA design competition for a regional centre for arts, crafts and design in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The practice beat off competition from Terry Pawson,...

RyderHKS has launched a planning application for a workspace for South Tyneside Council and Tyneside Economic Development Company at Boldon in Newcastle.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... RyderHKS has launched a planning application for a workspace for South Tyneside Council and Tyneside Economic Development Company at Boldon in Newcastle. The design concept is to link two cubes, each with four floors, over a plinth that would...

Time to rock the government's boat.(Column)
September 5, 2003... Post-war architecture is a difficult beast. To the tutored its gems are as obvious as they are valuable, but to the nation at large, much of what was built in the 30 years after the Second World War belongs in the architecture dustbin. This was...

Hail the client.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... It might just have been the hot weather, but your front page news item "Client calls end to elitism" and Sean Griffiths' back page opinion piece "Modern morals..." (August 8) fairly scorched my collar. I don't particularly subscribe to Richard...

Filthy lucre.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... Your front page article "Client calls end to elitism" (August 8) angered me. The fact that a developer and head of an investment company refers to architects as "elitist" is a joke in itself. It is not our job (as Mr Saxon has the audacity...

Right to reply.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... I feel compelled to answer Mira Bar-Hillel, who seems to be missing a trick in her interpretation of my Back Space piece of August 8. I share her view that design that has to be foisted on those "not equipped" to inhabit it is not good...

Tasty structure.(Aphorisms.)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... Berthold Lubetkin once famously defined architecture as a minor branch of ornamental pastry cooking. His aphorism comes to mind when considering the new Selfridges in Birmingham. It has long been popular for architects to commission cakes in...

Timespan.(Architectural history.)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... 1993 The Balkans successfully reconstructed in balsa wood. 2003 Architects' earnings boosted by hypnotism. 2043 Last public sector employee forgets to turn the light off. 'Browser'

End of part II.(Architectural qualifications.)
September 5, 2003... Richard Saxon provided a well-considered view of architectural education in his piece of August 22. However, in reaction to the termination of the part II course at Cambridge, it should be remembered that part II recognition there only dates...

Censor tiff.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... Censorship is a serious issue but Ian Martin skims too lightly over the worm-in-the-bud of five year-old RIBANet (C&A August 22). None of us can know how many messages are removed from RIBANet, or for what reason. A recent case has been the...

Kahn do situation.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... I really enjoyed reading "Sheer Kahn" (Culture August 8). However, I feel Peter Wilson glossed over one or two things. First, Kahn was in his sixties before people started to notice him, this pattern is repeated time and time again. Of...

Look to home.(Royal Institute of British Architects.)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... A head of steam is building up in council to attract more RIBA "international" members, provide more services for them, and to increase their representation. The reason for the current concern is the falling number of international members. But...

Passing the buck.(Hodder Associates.)(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... With Hodder Associates' name splattered all over the front page (August 22) I felt extremely angry that yet again the architect is the only mere bet of the design team to be targeted. Problems such as clogged drains, condensation and...

Inflated ideas.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2003... I read with interest the article on Kingsdale School (August 22) but thought it was pertinent to point out to Mr de Rijke that "... self supporting... inflatable cushions..." do exist, they are called bouncy castles. Sebastian Avenando,...

Restoration comedy: the BBC's new series raises many questions about the value of old and new architecture.
September 5, 2003... I find Restoration--the BBC series where viewers vote to save one of a parade of derelict old buildings--tedious. Its ubiquitous contemporary format--gameshow structure, celebrity advocacy--is no match for a thesis, or a social or historical...

Cattle market.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Tom Bloxham has gone cow crazy. The chairman of developer Urban Splash is one of the sponsors of next year's CowParade in Manchester and is such a fan of the life-size cow sculptures that make up the parade that he has vowed to install one in...

Something's afoot.(dRMM.)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... dRMM's senior partner Alex de Rijke's weakness for leather and motorbike is no secret after he recently appeared in a magazine, wearing some and riding one. But now BD can reveal that the Dutch Adonis has another saucy fetish--for feet. ...

It's ours, keep out.(BBC2's Restoration.)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... BBC2's Restoration, which aims to restore a rundown piece of Britain's built heritage after a public vote, may have been pulling in about 3 million viewers a week, but it has not been getting such a warm response from the architectural...

Otherworldly charm.(The Book Art & Architecture Bookshop.)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Talking of Dennis Sharp, his architecture bookshop--The Book Art & Architecture Bookshop--and Volume art gallery in London's Bloomsbury is approaching its fifth anniversary. But the modernist sanctuary in a charming pedestrianised...

People power: Karen Glaser asks if the planning system gives communities a voice.
September 5, 2003... Additional reporting by Charlie Gates and Ellis Woodman Graham White goes very quiet when he learns that Richard Murphy's latest scheme has just opened to the public. White devoted 20,000 [pounds sterling] and an entire year of his life...

Bull market: haute couture or bargain basement? It's already an icon but is Future Systems' new Selfridges any good?
September 5, 2003... It may only have opened for business for the first time yesterday, but the new Birmingham branch of Selfridges has already secured a titanic public profile. It was clear that the store was on to a winner back in March when the striking of the...

Natural sailors: sailing in a regatta is an excellent metaphor for practising as an architect.
September 5, 2003... Last year one fifth of the entrants in the Little Britain Challenge Cup were architects or designers and this year organisers are confident that the profession will be equally well represented. Having fun and raising money for charity remains...

The Little Britain Challenge Cup 2003.
September 5, 2003... The Little Britain Challenge Cup 2003 COMPANY BOAT NAME 4 PUMP COURT ORTAC A D BLY CONSTRUCTION LTD SUNSAIL ADAMS KARA TAYLOR LIMITED ...

A woman's touch at the tiller: the success of round-the-world yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur could help boost the number of female Little Britain contestants.
September 5, 2003... If the Little Britain was renamed the Little Women it's unlikely that many eyebrows would be raised in the construction industry, because like sailing it has long been male-dominated. This year's RIBA work survey showed that the number of...

City slicker: Nigel Coates talks to Pamela Buxton about the exhilarating vision of the city in his new book Ecstacity.(Interview)
September 5, 2003... Nigel Coates was never going to write a conventional architectural book and Ecstacity, published this month by Laurence King, doesn't disappoint. Imagine walking up London's Tottenham Court Road and finding yourself in New York's Port...

Beiqel mania: Peter St John enjoys two new books by Florian Beigel.(Book Review)
September 5, 2003... Florian Beigel's presence within the milieu of London architects has been a challenge to his peers, ever since his work at the Half Moon Theatre on the Mile End Road almost 20 years ago. The space of the theatre in that project was a flat...

Berthold Lubetkin's famous Penguin Pool at London Zoo is one of six buildings hosting Wild Walls London--the inaugural Felix Film Festival dedicated this year to Film and Architecture.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2003... Berthold Lubetkin's famous Penguin Pool at London Zoo is one of six buildings hosting Wild Walls London--the inaugural Felix Film Festival dedicated this year to Film and Architecture. The curated programme aims to explore the aspirations,...

Eccentric hoarder.
September 5, 2003... Charles Brooking is a prime English eccentric. His interest in architectural salvage began at the age of three, when he started collecting Bakelite numbers from the gateposts of houses. Until he was 35, he did not drive a car and had to bring...

Ian Martin.(Column)
September 5, 2003... Monday Lunch with Fred Trousers, president of the RIPBA. He has just returned from a fact-finding whirlwind tour of Britain in a miniature car. and has taken notes. A lot of street furniture is rubbish and uncomfortable to sit on. Hanging...

Laban leads Stirling dance.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... A small Edinburgh-based practice stands to win a 45,000 [pound sterling] windfall after being shortlisted for both the 20,000 [pound sterling] Stirling Prize and the 25,000 [pound sterling] RIAS Best Building in Scotland prize this week, ...

MoD slated over 1bn [pound sterling] prefab deal.
September 12, 2003... A prominent housing expert has accused the government of shunning innovative construction techniques on the world's largest off-site project. John Miles, chairman of the government's Housing Forum and one of the country's leading experts...

Rogers faces budget row in Birmingham: landmark library project in doubt as cost estimates spiral to 170 million [pound sterling].(News)
September 12, 2003... Richard Rogers' designs for a landmark library in Birmingham could be shelved following a dramatic rise in the estimated budget from the original 100 million [pound sterling] to 170 million [pound sterling]. Birmingham City Council is...

Chiswick-based architect/developer .quad, has been granted planning permission for Edge Apartments, a 4 million [pound sterling] apartment block in Richmond.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Caption: Chiswick-based architect/developer .quad, has been granted planning permission for Edge Apartments, a 4 million [pound sterling] apartment block in Richmond. The scheme comprises one two-bedroom and eight one-bedroom apartments on a...

Manchester uni win.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Terry Farrell & Partners has beaten Building Design Partnership, Edaw and Koetter Kim Associates to masterplan the 285 million [pound sterling] merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and Umist. The challenge is to bring together two...

Atkinson walks free.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Landscape architect George Atkinsonwas last week freed from a Dubai jail after being imprisoned for six-and-a-half years for taking excessive commission payments for building a golf course in the Arabian desert. Atkinson, 51, has always...

Sydney competition.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... UK practices Lab Architecture Studio and Benson & Forsyth are up against Australian firms Daryl Jackson and Robin Dyke; and John Wardle with GHD on a shortlist to design an "iconic" new building for the University of Sydney. The building will...

Russell House refurb.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Work has started on the 3.3 million [pound sterling] refurbishment of Covent Garden's oldest house, the i8th century grade II*listed building known as Russell House on King Street. Under the scheme, designed by Conservation Architecture &...

Influential named.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Among the Guardian's 100 most influential people in public services named this week are "agenda setting" Peter Hall from the Bartlett school of architecture, "innovating" Will Alsop, "private playing" chairman of developer Urban Splash, Tom...

Gehry eyes bankside for new arts project.(News)
September 12, 2003... The battle for control of one of the most prominent sites in Europe took a fresh twist this week when it emerged that Frank Gehry is involved in plans for a landmark cultural complex directly across the Thames from the Tower of London. The...

The Panter Hudspith designed 13 million [pound sterling] City & Country Museum in Lincoln has started on site.(News)
September 12, 2003... Caption: The Panter Hudspith designed 13 million [pound sterling] City & Country Museum in Lincoln has started on site. The museum is due to open at Easter 2005. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Salisbury expelled.(News)(Ian Salisbury expelled from Arb meeting)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Rebel Arb board member Ian Salisbury tried to gatecrash one of the regulator's finance committee meetings this week, but was expelled after an impromptu vote to decide if he could stay as an observer. In a farcical turn of events, Salisbury...

Liverpool dock rematch.(News)(Kings Dock arena planned)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... A competition has been launched to design a 1,500-seat conference centre, 9,000-seat arena and hotels at Kings Dock in Liverpool--a site previously earmarked as a new stadium for Everton FC. The scheme will be funded by English...

Prescott vetoes RCA plan: deputy prime minister calls halt to Grimshaw's controversial extension of Royal College of Art building.(News)(Job Prescott, Royal College of Art)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Deputy prime minister Job Prescott has blocked Grimshaw's extension plans for the Royal College of Art, just a stone's thro from the Royal Albert Hall. Prescott has written to the City of Westminster, directing it withhold planning...

Host of events to run alongside Zoomorphic.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... The Victoria & Albert Museum/ RIBA architecture partnership has arranged a number of events at the museum over the next three months to coincide with Zoomorphic, a V&A exhibition that examines the new wave of contemporary architecture inspired...

Kohn Pederson Fox has unveiled plans for the redevelopment of Marks & Spencer's headquarters.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Kohn Pederson Fox has unveiled plans for the redevelopment of Marks & Spencer's headquarters at Michael House in central London. The 70,000sq m mixed-use scheme in Baker Street comprises two parallel spines of new office space over eight...

Architects face white finger accusation.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Architects were accused this week of not doing enough to prevent Vibration white Finger (VWF), a skin condition caused by working with vibrating machinery. Researchers at Loughborough University have targeted architects and put together...

'Towers should face annual terror checks'.(News)
September 12, 2003... Tall buildings should be licensed to ensure they are protected against terrorist attack, an adviser to the government on the safety of tall buildings claimed this week. Peter Bressington, from engineer Arup, told BD that a regime was...

Foster & Partners' Imperial College Faculty Building has been topped out.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Caption: Foster & Partners' Imperial College Faculty Building has been topped out. The four-storey building at the south side of Dalby Court, which houses the college's administrative staff, forms part of a wider plan to improve facilities and...

Polyester bolt caps help steel buildings fight fire.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... A small piece of polyester that looks like a radiator cap is the latest invention to emerge in the drive to make tall buildings more fire resistant after September 11. Materials physicist David Woolstencroft and steel contractor Chris Bone...

Staircase key to evacuation.(News)(computer-based evaluation of World Trade Center Building I)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Computer modelling of the evacuation from World Trade Centre Building I has shown that most of the occupants would have survived had just one staircase remained intact above the 91st floor. A computer simulation by scientists at Greenwich...

New fight for iconic St Albans college.(News)
September 12, 2003... Campaigners fighting to preserve the celebrated Oaklands College in St Albans are bracing themselves for a new battle to prevent it from being surrounded by dense residential development. The building was saved from demolition in February...

Scape Architects has won planning permission for a 175,000 [pounds sterling] residential infill development on the corner of Colebrooke Row in Islinqton, north London, within the Angel conservation area.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Caption: Scape Architects has won planning permission for a 175,000 [pounds sterling] residential infill development on the corner of Colebrooke Row in Islinqton, north London, within the Angel conservation area. The two-storey scheme is...

Architect picked for Hull health schemes.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Thompson Spencer Architects, as part of the Sewell Group consortium, has been chosen as preferred bidder for NHS Local Improvement Funding Trust (Lift) schemes in Hull under which many GP surgeries will be replaced by new health centres. ...

Cambridge part 3.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... The Department of Architecture at Cambridge University has relaunched the part 3 architecture qualification for postgraduate students, which it axed in 1998 due to falling numbers. The move comes just weeks after it announced it was axing...

De Matos Storey Ryan has unveiled plans for two guesthouses north of Malaga, Spain.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Caption: De Matos Storey Ryan has unveiled plans for two guesthouses north of Malaga, Spain. The four and six-bedroom houses, built around a series of terraces and rubble walls, are topped by lightweight pavilions of white render and glass. ...

Manchester calls for sustainability bids.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... The RIBA has launched an open competition for an urban, mixed-use scheme on the edge of Manchester city centre to promote co-operative, sustainable lifestyles. The brief for the 2.2ha brownfield site, on the edge of Ancoats and the...

Cabe seeks applications.(News)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2003... Cabe is seeking applications from architecture and built environment initiatives for its new 1 million [pounds sterling] regional funding programme for community-based projects throughout England. The new grants programme will run from...

Put your money where your mouth is. (Comment & Analysis.
September 12, 2003... The architects at the Richard Rogers Partnership have seen it all before. Over the last two years the practice has wrestled with Welsh politicians about the cost of their assembly building and now history is repeating itself in Birmingham. This...

Standard lessons.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
September 12, 2003... Karen Glaser's "Time to rock the government's boat" (Leader September 5) is timely. Her perceptive pen hits hard the superficial thinking of politicians who attribute the ills of society to buildings. Conveniently they fail to recognise that...

Post-war powers.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
September 12, 2003... Karen Glaser is right: the post-war period is as full of architectural gorgeousness as any other. But her take on English Heritage's activity in this area requires correction. The Post War Steering Group is not being wound up out of fear of...