A memorable occasion

MIES FOR LONDON

Congratulations to our Master, Roger France for inviting Peter (Lord) Palumbo to speak to us about his (and our) architectural hero, at a convivial luncheon party held on board the sturdy Thames sailing barge ‘Ardwina’ at St Katharine’s Dock on 7th July. What we heard was not only a compelling impromptu chronicle about one of the most intriguing architectural ‘might have beens’ of the postwar rebuilding of the City of London, but was also a personal Odyssey in pursuit of architectural excellence. ‘MIES FOR LONDON’ proclaimed the Evening Standard, when the commission was publicly announced: today no journalist would chance his arm on such acclaim of modern architecture, and the message would circulate through myriad texts of ‘MIES4LONDON’.

Speaking quietly, without notes or any visual imagery, Peter Palumbo kept us enthralled for 45 minutes as he recalled his close encounters with (Ludwig) Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the true greats of heroic modernism. It was all bound up with the development history of one of the most challenging sites in the City of London, a wedge form tract between Poultry and Queen Victoria Street at a multi-branched intersection, which included, among other buildings, the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, Mansion House and the (then) Midland Bank headquarters, the last designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, built 1924-39.

In the early 1960s, Palumbo senior acquired the freehold of 40% of the potentially lucrative development site. This was a time when planning legislation had finally been freed from the onerous clawback of development value enhanced through gaining planning permission for redevelopment of urban sites, which had been a key provision of the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act. Palumbo senior was aware of his son’s already profound appreciation of modern architecture, and requested suggestions for an architect for the development of the site – ‘Mies van der Rohe’ was the unhesitant reply.

Peter’s appreciation of the arts had been shaped by his mother’s passion for music, and by a housemaster at his school who held a weekly seminar on great artists of all media, all styles, all periods. With nous or chutzpah Peter obtained Mies’ address in Chicago, and simply wrote to ask if he would be interested in the commission: ‘Meet me in my Chicago office, 10 am, 6 July 1962’ read the reply telegram. So Peter flew out, surprised at the early time of day for the meeting as Mies was notoriously a ‘night person’. He asked two questions – have you seen H. P. Berlage’s building in the City of London (Holland House, Bury Street, (1914-16) – Peter hadn’t, and how had he been introduced to architecture – hence the reminiscence at the beginning of his talk about the influence of his mother and his housemaster – an eclectic journey into architecture, which had evidently produced a discerning client. Peter explained that the Palumbos only owned 40% of the site: it might take 20 years to assemble sufficient land. Mies evidently realised that this would, in effect, be a posthumous commission, but acquiesced that. What level of detail was required? Everything, the building, the most refined detailing, bronze curtain walling, the complete interior down to door furniture, even ashtrays. Peter returned to London: some months later a heavy package arrived containing bronze curtain wall profiles; handles, hinges, locks and escutcheons; and a solid marble ashtray. Mies had accepted the commission. He hadn’t yet seen the site, but diverted to London, returning from a trip to Berlin in 1963, (where he had been discussing the projected National Museum in the Kulturviertel in West Berlin, in sight of the notorious Wall). In London, Mies noted the architectural surroundings of the Palumbo site. He was particularly impressed by the Lutyens building and proposed to open up a piazza, giving prominence to its meticulous classical front elevation, hitherto seen obliquely. The flank of Mansion House marked the east of the piazza, while the west was to be occupied by a 19 storey tower block. This was a period when postwar replanning of the City was beginning to produce tangible results, and the concept was welcomed by the City Architect and Planning Officer, and outline planning consent was granted.

Back in Chicago, Mies worked up the design of the building. Some critics claimed that it was a smaller scale repeat of the Seagram Building in New York (Mies’ refined Manhattan masterwork, with Philip Johnson, 1954-8). Not so, Peter says, the 'less is more' mantra was subtly reworked to reflect the proportions of the London surroundings. Peter recalled the last visit to London, when he wheeled the frail architect around the site, and when Mies decided that his proportions didn’t quite fit with those of Lutyens, and ordered a last reworking of the design. He was careful to match his storey lines to Lutyens’ cornice.

In answer to a remark after the talk, Peter confirmed that Mies had the utmost respect for Lutyens’ late elemental classicism – not so surprising when you consider the influence of the German master of Neo-Classicism, Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), on Mies’ mature work, such as Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1952-6). Mies was well-known for his absolutism: his aphorism ‘God is in the detail’ is oft-invoked. Lutyens too was notoriously intolerant of the inexact. Looking at a working drawing by one of his assistants he noticed a poorly resolved roof detail. ‘But Sir Edwin, nobody will see it’: ‘God sees it’ came the riposte.

On one of his visits to Chicago, Peter was sitting in the lobby of the Drake Hotel (around the corner from Mies’ Lake Shore Drive apartments) when he picked up a copy of the Chicago Tribune. Idly leafing through he came across a boxed small-ad, ‘Farnsworth House for sale’. This elegant minimalist weekend house, downstate from suburban Chicago, in Plano, Illinois, had been designed and built for the singular Dr. Edith Farnsworth in 1946-50. Peter called the number, Dr. Farnsworth answered and invited him to view the building that afternoon. He was due to lunch with Mies, and was apprehensive when he told him where he was going, as Farnsworth had tried (unsuccessfully) to sue her architect for a cost overrun. The Farnsworth House had been neglected, with evident traces of the owner’s ill-trained dog on carpets and bedspreads. It would take commitment and an open-ended budget to return the house to its pristine glory. Nevertheless, an understanding was reached that Peter would purchase the house from Dr. Farnsworth. This took its place in a remarkable portfolio, which included Le Corbusier’s Maisons Jaoul, Neuilly, Paris (1952-6) and Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Kentuck Knob’, Pennsylvania (1954). After severe flooding in 1995, and the encroachment of suburban Chicago, Peter disposed of the Farnsworth House to a Trust but retains happy memories of its restored prime. It had evidently been the favourite of his three iconic modern houses, although his reply to that question tactfully began with ‘the one I’m in at the moment’.

Peter Palumbo knew Mies for about seven years. During that time he deepened his knowledge of the master’s work, and in conversation gained a vivid impression of the fruitful period in the 1910s, when Modernism evolved out of the rigorous application of Arts and Crafts principles, which underlay the precursors of the Bauhaus. The Berlin office of Peter Behrens (1868-1940) was also a key test bed of ides: Mies, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) and Walter Gropius (1883-1969) all worked there around 1910. The arrival of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), hounded out of Chicago after eloping with Mamah Borthwick Cheyney, to supervise the publication of Wasmuth’s portfolio of his work, brought the American master’s work to European attention. In the 1920s, the emergence of true Bauhaus Modernism brought the collaboration of Behrens, Corbusier, Gropius and others on the Weissenhof Siedlung (1927) at Stuttgart, under the leadership of Mies van der Rohe. After closure of the Bauhaus at Dessau, Mies attempted to re-open it at Berlin, emigrated to the United States in 1937, settling in Chicago, and taught at the Armour Institute (later the Illinois Institute of Technology). The rest is history.

And what happened to the projected London building? The full site was assembled by 1982, but the planning context had changed. Conservation of historic buildings and areas had moved to the top of the agenda. Despite enlisting the support of many architectural critics, and, tacitly, of Mary Lutyens, the youngest of the architect’s five children, the detailed scheme was rejected, and failed on Appeal. It was suggested to Peter that a more contextual design was required. The new design by James Stirling, Michael Wilford and Associates also proved controversial, particularly after Prince Charles referred to it as ‘an old 1930s wireless set’. The Mappin and Webb building was listed, and it took another approach and reference to the House of Lords before building went ahead. It took 30 years from Peter Palumbo’s first meeting with Mies to the finishing touches being put to the Stirling building. Virtually half a century after his initial meeting with Mies van der Rohe and a quarter century after the final discarding of his scheme, Peter Palumbo can in public reflect on the saga without rancour. His enthusiasm for Mies is undimmed. The totality of the project would have been a late flowering of the Germanic gesamst kunstwerk, which had its roots in the arts and crafts approach of the early 20th century. However controversial, it would have provided a building of a quality and consistency (which was conspicuously lacking in many of the urban redevelopment projects of the 1960s and 1970s in the City), with a design of its era, and yet timeless. In commissioning the project, Peter Palumbo is rated as one of the greatest patrons of 20th century commercial architecture. His account of his meetings with Mies was enthralling.

Dr Mervyn Miller

Junior Warden

9 July 2010

A privileged visit to the Church of St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall

Records suggest there was first mention of a church on this site in 1136. The first recorded Vicar was John Lawrence in 1180. The name of the Church is derived from the that part of the City occupied by the Jews after the Norman invasion and for the period between 1066 and 1290. During the reign of Edward 1^st  of England (known as Longshanks due to his height) AD 1272-1307 there was a building on the site.

Plans by Christopher Wren (1632-1723) in 1667 after the Great Fire showed only the east face of the building being decorated as this was the Street through which the Kings and Queens passed to get to the Guildhall from the river. The east wall of the building is not perpendicular to the rest of the building which is shown by the reveals of the two windows in the east wall.

The Spire is not square to the tower, and there are two views as to why this might be. Did Wren want the Spire to be facing the Nave or was it to face the orientation of Gresham Street on the west front? The St Lawrence Jewry fountain is now installed at St Pauls.

 Those pictured in the stained glass are St Catherine, St Paul, Thomas Moore (who delivered major lectures at the Church) Mary Magdalene, St Michael, St Lawrence and William Grocyn a 14^th Century Scholar who taught Greek.

The painting behind the altar shows the story of Saint Lawrence AD 225-258. After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. Ambrose is the earliest source for the tale that Lawrence asked for three days to gather together the wealth. Lawrence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said that these were the true treasures of the Church. One account records him declaring to the prefect, "The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom. According to lore, among the treasure of the Roman church entrusted to Lawrence for safe-keeping was the Holy Chalice, the cup from which Jesus and the Apostles drank at the Last Supper. Lawrence was able to spirit this away to Huesca, in present day Aragon, with a letter and a supposed inventory, where it lay hidden and unregarded for centuries. Today the Holy Grail is venerated in a special chapel in the Catholic Cathedral of Valencia, Spain.

The Sir Christopher Wren church was gutted by fire during the Blitz and was completely restored and re-consecrated in 1957. The Commonwealth Chapel windows show the crests of the eight Commonwealth countries in 1954. The Church is owned by the City Corporation and the Rector is appointed by them and not the Church. 

 Those attending were welcomed by the Rector David Parrott who gave a brief talk about the Chuch and its history and artifacts. We were invited to view the six secret corners of the building, the Organ loft, the Tower, the Vault, the Boiler room, the Gallery and the Vicarage. The Vicarage stand on the North side of the building and if you look up from Guildhall Yard you can see the net curtains of the Sitting room and at roof level is the terrace (with a personalised view of the Gherkin) where we were royally entertained. The Rector says it is the 2^nd best Council flat in London (after the Mansion House).

The members of the Company and their guests enjoyed a few glasses of wine and canapés on the terrace whilst trying to dodge the shower under the brollies.

Michael Wilkey – Renter Warden

Election Court Dinner

The annual Election Court Dinner of the Company seems to be the occasion on which the Master spends much of the time allocated to him by the Clerk giving things away. After what was thought to be an excellent meal in the atmospheric surroundings of Armourers' Hall the Master welcomed a number of guests.

Guests included four fellow Masters - representing the Tylers' and Bricklayers' Company (Julyan Gordon), the Masons' (Richard Woodman-Bailey), the Paviors' (Tom Barton) and the Furniture Makers' (Peter Head) and their ladies. The City was represented by Alderman and Sheriff Elect Fiona Woolf CBE. We were also joined by two helmsmen from the Tower RNLI LIfeboat Station on the Thames -Stuart Morrison and Bill Callaghan, The Secretary of the Architects Benevolent Society - Keith Robinson was present to see the presentation of the Company's Award for the most significant contribution to the ABS in the Course of the year. The plate, decorated by Russell Brown of Hawkins Brown, was won by Populous represented by Ben Vickery. Both were present. 

Pictured below is Ben Vickery collecting the ABS Award from the Master

As part of its support for its 'link regiment' the Company has actively supported the appeal for funds by the Tower Pier Lifeboat Station to purchase two new Class E Lifeboats for the Thames.

Pictured left is the Master presenting a cheque to Stuart Morrison and Bill Callaghan  

 Pictured right - the Master presents a donation to the Secreatry of the Architects Benevolent Society - Keith Robinson.

The other presentation made on the evening was of a cheque to the winner of the Company's Stuart Murphy Travel Award for 2010. This is an award of £2,000 made following receipt of applications from Diploma Students at schools of architecture in London. It is intended to allow the winner to undertake travel in conjunction with a piece of course work.

The winner this year had been announced to the Court earlier in the day as Linda Hagberg who is studying at the Bartlett School.

Linda is pictured below receiving her award from the Master.

While the occasion had something of an 'end of term'feel about it, there was, for those in need of the CPD points) a serious side to the evening. The Master's principal guest was Dr Simon Thurley - Chief Executive of English Heritage (picture below with the Master) who, in response to the toast to the guests, set out a clear explanation of the challenges facing his department and the means being taken to reslove them.

If there is any doubt about the Master's enjoyment of the occasion the photograph below provides the answer. As soon as he was escorted from the Hall at the end of the meal, he made a hasty return to be photographed with a selection of ladies who had all been sat in close proximity to each other.

An Architect to Architects

Printed below is the sermon delivered by the Reverend Dr Allan Doig FSA - Fellow and Chaplain to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford at the Company's Annual Service at St Lawrence Jewry on Monday 5 July;

A few days ago I was in Edinburgh where I spent a long while in a small octagonal room in the National Gallery of Scotland.  It is dedicated to Poussin’s paintings of the Seven Sacraments.  These absorbing works develop intense, focussed, relationships amongst their central figures in a variety of situations.  Their action is suspended in the almost breathless pivotal moment of transformation, even transfiguration, of relationships between people, and with God.

The Book of Common Prayer helpfully defines a sacrament as ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’.   Even in the strictest sense, many other traditions recognise a greater number of sacraments than the two, baptism and Holy Communion, discussed in the Book of Common Prayer, and it can be illuminating to try living in a sacramental world, even for brief moments – a sacramental world where God has left his ‘fingerprints’, so to speak, all over his creation.  In that small octagonal room punctuated by Poussin, the main transformative and revelatory moments of life rhythmically paused your circuit of the room.  Similarly, out in the world it can be more of a syncopated interruption of our journey, as we are frequently surprised by transformative moments of God’s grace, caught and made visible in a plethora of outward signs. 

The ‘fingerprints’ God has left on his creation, like all fingerprints, are a sign of the identity of the creator.  If you look at a work, the fingerprints, the special characteristics of its form and the relationships within it, you can come to recognise significant things about it creator.  That is true of Poussin and those seven paintings, it is true of you and the buildings you create, it is true of the New Jerusalem of living stones being fashioned by that heavenly Architect, and it is true of that great Architect, and the whole Universe he has made.

Job’s life had been collapsing around him, as had his self-understanding, and his understanding of Divine justice, so his faith demanded that he question God.  We heard God’s answer in that first reading.  God answered Job out of the whirlwind:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?

Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions?

Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its footings set?

Or who laid its cornerstone?

When the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

After this opening, follows a great song of creation – a reflection on God’s Wisdom imposing finely detailed order on chaos.

You have before you a visual reflection and meditation on the same theme.  On the service sheet you see a 13^th-century manuscript illumination, frontispiece for a Bible Moralisée.  Text and image together were a revelation of the Wisdom, the ways, and the works of God. 

God made a place for mankind in the order of his Creation.  You, as architects do something very similar: you create places for human habitation, human flourishing, and the luckiest of you (or the chosen few) create places for human encounter with the Divine.

Those places of encounter are special places with a special sacramentality that I want to look at in a couple of special examples, but I do not want to pass over the sacramental possibilities of architecture in general.  Buildings in general at the very least influence, and sometimes control, the type and quality of human relationships and human flourishing that take place within and around them.  If they do that well they can be outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace in the fulfilment of the second part of our lord’s two-fold commandment – to ‘love our neighbours as ourselves’.

Churches, on the other hand, are sacramental signs of the fulfilment of all the Law and the Prophets.  As places of encounter and unity of the worshipping community as the Body of Christ in the presence of God and the whole company of heaven, they are a sacramental sign of that Communion and the growing fulfilment of the twofold commandment:

“The first and great commandment is this: to love the Lord thy God with all thy heard, with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength; the second is lie unto it, namely this, to love thy neighbour as thyself.  No other commandment is greater than these; on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

These buildings are sacramental signs of the coming of God’s Kingdom – the New Jerusalem – ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.  The apse mosaic of Santa Pudenziana, shown on the order of service, was among the first figural mosaics in Rome, from around 390.  It shows Christ seated on a jewelled throne on the rock of Calvary which is surmounted by a jewelled cross.  In a golden toga, he is the Emperor of Heaven, surrounded by the Apostles dressed in togas as his heavenly court within the courtyard in front of the Holy Sepulchre.  Beyond the arcade of the courtyard are seen the buildings of Constantine’s new Jerusalem.  The Beasts of the Apocalypse fill the skies.

The message of the mosaic is clear: “the kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ”.

“It is a long time coming!” I hear you say?   I suppose the answer is the same as God’s answer out of the whirlwind to Job’s challenge: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?  Tell me, if you understand!”  That is to say, it will come in God’s good time.

Meanwhile there are sacramental signs of its coming, visions of the Kingdom of God, signs of God present with and in his people, fashioning us as living stones to build the New Jerusalem. Churches are signs of God’s presence with his people, the sacramental image of the New Jerusalem, and I want to look at just one particular example to bring that home.  The example is Wells Cathedral, and not just the Cathedral, but the mediaeval building brought to life by the mediaeval Sarum liturgy.

The West Front of Wells (the last illustration on your service sheet) was completed by 1250.  The whole elaborate system of niches and aedicules is populated by Old and New Testament figures, saints and angels; all were originally brightly polychromed – ‘angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven’ and indeed there are times when you could hear the ‘singing of their endless praise. In the double register of quatrefoils above the West Doors, and just below the Apostles in the topmost full register, if you look carefully you can see rows of holes.  These open from a singers’ gallery within the facade above the Doors, and a musicians’ gallery at the top.  Crowning the composition of the facade is the figure of Christ Enthroned, flanked by winged seraphim.

The liturgy of the Sarum Rite is characterised by elaborate processions and dramatic presentations.  On Palm Sunday, for example, after the morning office, processions would proceed round the cloister to the cemetery in front of the West Doors. Meanwhile, at the Altar, a consecrated host was placed in a shrine with relics.  The ‘Body of the Lord’, present with his saints, preceeded by a light, was taken directly to the West Doors where it met the main procession. Everyone standing in the western graveyard ‘in the midst of death’ was holding a blessed palm and the passage from Matthew 21 was read out: Christ was about to enter Jerusalem in triumph:

‘And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the tress and strewed them in the way.  And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!’

At that there was a blast from the musicians’ gallery, high in the facade and all proceeded to the West Door where ‘Gloria, laus, et honor’, ‘All Glory, laud and honour’, was sung by the choir in the hidden gallery behind the carved angels above the West Door.  The congregation responded with the refrains.

From Christ Enthroned with seraphim, through ranks of Saints, angels, biblical scenes and figures, down to the ground where the present generation of God’s people thronged, singing in response to the hidden choirs of angels, the facade was the entry both to Jerusalem of old and the New Jerusalem yet to come – foretold in the Revelation of John the Divine, and already prepared to receive us.  It both is, and is to come. So, the processions and the people then entered the Cathedral under the shrine containing the ‘Body of the Lord’ and the relics of his saints held aloft.  Inside, they were probably met by the clamour of a nave organ that seems to have been supported by two large corbels still seen in the south gallery. Carefully and elaborately coordinated liturgy and architecture brought all participants into the real presence of the Kingdom of God.  The Cathedral is a sacramental sign of the New Jerusalem. 

So, to return to where I began: that octagonal room in the National Gallery of Scotland had a wall for each of Poussin’s paintings of the Seven Sacraments.  That is the traditional, even orthodox doctrinal number, but I invite you, through reflection on the general definition of a sacrament to see yet more sacraments – at the very least, more potential for true sacramentality. The eighth wall of that octagonal room naturally contained the entrance portal.  By the time you leave that room, having seen those seven intensely spiritual paintings, the eighth wall and it doorway open into a world with renewed sacramental possibility.  Architecture is a powerful force for its realisability.  Architecture creates luminal places, places of encounter between people, and between the people and the Divine breaking into the world.

These are places for human habitation, places that hold and shape human experience, places that enhance human flourishing, places that unfold and reveal all that is Good, and Beautiful, and True.

Given these possibilities, you as architects, have a great calling, a Vocation.  In theological terms, it is to reveal the Christ, who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except by this Way, this Truth and this life, revealed and shaped and enhanced by the places where we meet, those luminal places shaped by you.

You can hold heaven in the palm of your hand.  Take care how you handle it.

Book Review

Wine by Design, Second Edition (2010, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-72141-4), is written by two Canadian architects, Sean Stanwick and Loraine Fowlow. Both bring obvious passion to the idea of architecture as culture and see wine as part of that same artistic realm. This second edition adds nine new and exciting wineries to the first edition and some updated text and photographs.

The authors focus on so-called ‘international star’ architects, which means that Frank Gehry with his Le Clos Jordanne in Canada and Marqués de Riscal in Rioja, , Renzo Piano at the gorgeous Rocca di Fassinello in Maremma, Santiago Calatrava at Ysios and Zaha Hadid with her gem of a tasting room at the very traditional López de Heredia Viña Tondonia feature. The authors also discover first-rate wineries designed by local architects, such as Fielding Estate by Ontario architects Superkül and Adega Mayor in Portugal by the über-Modernist Alvaro Siza. Okay, they missed quite a few others, like Calera’s gravity flow in California, but that’s a quibble.

The book is beautifully designed and the wineries are impeccably photographed. It is almost a ‘coffee-table’ book. However, the summaries for each winery, including recommended wines and winery details, are well-handled and nicely presented on individual pages. As an architect, I savour the technical terminology and the critique of each winery’s design, which are indeed excellent. I would have adored more architectural drawings: plans, sections and even axonometrics. As a Master of Wine, I find the discourse about wine production simplistic and occasionally inaccurate. And, like many wine amateurs, the authors spend far too much time waxing lyrical about photogenic barrels and cellars, and perhaps spend too little time describing the wines, the respective styles and qualities, and whether the wines fit the winery architecture and design and packaging. 

As a read, it is probably more for wine-drinking architects than for architecture-loving wine consumers. But, the book certainly captures the romance and excitement of the winery experience in many parts of the Old World and the New World, and for that it must be commended. Enjoy with a superb vintage wine.

contributed by Patricia Stefanowicz MW

The New Ashmolean

The Ashmolean Museum claims to be the oldest public museum in Britain and perhaps it is. Maybe it depends on one’s point of view. 

The New Ashmolean is certainly visionary. Rick Mather Architects with exhibition designers Metaphor (great name!) have created a new, glassy addition to the old Neoclassical Museum to create a seamless modern museum in traditional, ultra-conservative, Oxford. The concept of exhibiting the stunning collection by themes is not unheard of but is a bit unusual, shall we say?

As an architect and regular visitor to Oxford, I found the transformation extraordinary. Yes, the ‘classics’ so-to speak are still mainly contained in specialist galleries, so my beloved Italians are still mostly within their periods.

What I found thrilling on my first visit during our January 2010 snowfalls, though, is how the curators managed to find common links between textiles produced thousands of miles apart and somehow make the story work. The same thread (ouch!) permeates the other themes. For example, who, apart from the genius now managing the Museum would have thought to have a theme on Beauty and then to hang great works of art from as diverse 18^th century cultures as Japan and Italy next to each other?

It works, if you can think laterally, or make use of the (inevitable, nowadays) audio-guides or lunchtime guided walks, but I suppose for the general tourists it may all be a little bit confusing, nonetheless. After all we are normally taught to think in a straight, logical and historical line. Architects and art-lovers aren’t like that, so we just wend our chaotic way through whatever comes up. And, I love it, the materials, the stairs, the colours, the ‘mix’.

The last includes the rather enticing rooftop Ashmolean Dining Room, which is managed by benugo, a fairly clued-up pair of brothers (Ben and Hugo), who have restaurants, cafes and concessions throughout the UK, including at the V&A. In March my gremolata encrusted sea bream was more than just acceptable. For more information about the Ashmolean Dining Room, read Nick Lander (FT Weekend food crtitic) reviews on www.jancisrobinson.com. 

contributed by Patricia Stefanowicz MW

Photographs to follow

The Company Visits Bath

The Master, Roger France organized an excellent visit to Bath over the (long) weekend 17-20 June. A more scholarly assessment of the visit is to be put together in due course. Suffice it to say at this stage that, in addition to the customary charms of this World Heritage City, much good fellowship was enjoyed and a great deal was lerned about the city and its history from a glittering array of speakers organized by the Master. It was interesting to learn that, while much cudos attaches itself to a city recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, there are not many practical advantages. Development is not permitted and both the economy and the city's two excellent universities suffer accordingly.

A New Gate for All for 2012

Earlier in the year the Company, with the support of a number of other construction related Livery Companies and the City Property Advisory Team of the C ity of London, instituted an architectural competition for the Design of a New Aldgate - a temporary landmark and entrance to the City of London. The structure is to be ready for the Olympic Games in 2012.

Over 90 Entries for the competition (run on behalf of the Company by the Architecture Foundation) were received from architects from round the world in early June. These were judged anonomously by a panel including Alderman Mike Bear; Achim Borchardt Hume, Chief Curator of the Whitechapel Gallery; The Master of the Company, Roger France;  Sarah Ichioka, Dorector of the Architecture Foundation and Peter Murray, a Court Assistant of the Chartered Architects' Company and Chairman of New London Architecture.

Five schemes were shortlisted and these, along with a selection of the other schemes were exhibited at St Botolph's Church Aldgate from 18 June until 4 July. The Shrotlisted proposals illustrated here were:

'The London Gate' by DONIS (Netherlands)

'The Listening Posts' by Foster Lomas Ltd (UK)

'Aldgate to the World' by Juan Alfonso Galan Arquitecto (UK)

'Ceci n'est pas une maison' by NORMAL (Canada)

'Vertical Forest' by Sou Fujimoto Architects (Japan)

The winning proposal will be announced  on 22 July and will receive a prize of £3,000.

Illustarated below (from the top):'The Listening Posts',  'Ceci n'est pas une maison'; 'Vertical Forest'; 'Aldgate to the World'; 'The London Gate'

Further details of the Competition can be found on: www.architecturefoundation.org.uk

A pathetic excuse for a blogger

It's not that nothing has happened these last several weeks; more that too much has been gouing on and your blogger and his pen friends have been rather too occupied elsewhere. More complete reports of some of the fiollowing posts are to follow. This will serve as an update.

Since the issue of the May Newsletter a nimber of members of the Company have attended the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy at St Paul's Cathedral on Tuesday 11 May. This splendid occasion sees the Masters, Upper Bailiff and Prime Wardens of most Companies joining a procession with both Church and civic dignitaries at a service which has its roots in history (this was the 356th such service). Great music and an inspiring sermon delivered by The Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Reverend Alan Harper.

Newsletter Issue 21 - July 2010

Newsletter 21

Newsletter Issue 20 - May 2010

May 10 Newsletter

Visit to Wilkinson Eyre Offices - 5 May 2010

It was both a pleasure and a privilege for the Master and a small group of the Company to be welcomed by Chris Wilkinson to their office - the stylish ‘modern’ building by YRM and Fitzroy Robinson, 1976 -79.

Chris gave us an introduction to their work and practice, over a glass of wine, and then a tour to see the environment, meet some of the staff and hear about their projects. This was followed by a screen presentation reviewing the different sectors in which the office was engaged - commercial, offices, schools and some housing; and also a continued interest in bridge work, following the masterful achievement at Gateshead/Newcastle. 

All of the projects were creative and design was aided by models, and wide range of computer programmes. Teams were responsible for the different projects, and the Partners were very much involved through the studios. Overseas work was important, including commercial and mixed use projects in China. A very tall office and hotel tower (230 m ?) was nearing completion in Shanghai. In Singapore working with the landscape designer, two very large ‘glass houses’ in a new parkland were well on their way. 

The technical aspects of achieving ‘sustainability’ were fundamental to all of the design work, as shown in their glass house at Kew. Wilkinson and Eyre were awarded one of the first school projects under the BSF programme, which showed an imaginative approach to the physical planning and also allowed for repetition of building elements. 

Key to achieving design and architectural quality was the inclusion of appropriate specialists into the team. 

The impression following our tour, was of a well managed design conscious team, where real architectural creativity was developed in an environment which breathed the same. It was an experience not to have missed -and a pity that some did.

Tom Ball

10.5.10

The Peter Milo Lecture 2010 - Quality Streets, Quality Townscapes

Those of you who did not manage to visit the City Marketing Suite at The Guildhall, London on 26th April 2010 missed a fantastic opportunity. The Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects hosted two eminent Urban Designers/Planners to discuss City environments. Roger France, Master of the Company introduced the speakers.

Georgia Butina Watson, PhD (pictured left) is Head of the Department of Planning and a Research Tutor in the Joint Centre for Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK. Her experience is international and she has noted expertise in urban morphology and place-making.

Joe Weiss, FICE, FIHT  (on right) is the Transportation and Projects Director for the Corporation of the City of London, UK. He has wide-ranging experience of rail, highways, urban design and even airlines, the last of which had him arrive from North America moments before he was asked to speak.

Georgia’s segment of the Lecture focussed on the Art of Place-making and Sense of Identity. We loved her definition of place identity: ‘…any cultural landscape which users draw on in constructing their personal and social identities.’ Managing townscapes produces character and supports ‘empowerment’. According to Butina Watson, empowerment includes a sense of roots, inclusiveness, co-dwelling with nature (sustainability) and an evolution of the place. ‘Nostalgia’ is fine provided it doesn’t prevent development and gradual change.

Cities, and indeed urban spaces, require permeability, stability, perimeter blocks and variety, so that people can experience the place and connect with its identity. We need responsive environments that can be animated by people.

So, how does Georgia recommend we make them? Even in Oxford, a relatively small City (but it does have a Cathedral!), there must be districts, nodes, parks, edges, landmarks and legibility. Magic.

Joe’s section of the Lecture was very much the view of our City of London, the not-very-Square-Mile, and rightly so, given our lecture venue at Guildhall and his role in the Corporation. He started with a summary of the history of London, at least from 11th century; he didn’t have time to go back to the pre-Roman era. (Is Peter Ackroyd following our blog?)

Despite the seriousness of Joe’s talk, there were certainly some wonderful ‘sound-bites’ in his potted history. The ‘Blitz’ was ‘unauthorised town-planning’, but created the wasteland that facilitated a site large enough to develop the Barbican, an English icon.

Joe’s discussion of the recent past was more serious and possibly sobering, even for us. His map of what has been redeveloped/reconstructed since the 1970s was surprising. Over HALF of the City has been remoulded.

Sustainability-economic, social and environmental-is crucial. So Joe, picking up on Georgia’s themes, went on to discuss what the Corporation is doing to make the City a better place for people, vehicles and companies. Of course, the City can not exclude vehicles, but they have set up ‘security zones’, traffic capacity control to manage the number of vehicles that are in the zones at a given time. Clever, actually. To facilitate pedestrians the City has lowered curbs and defined what could be pedestrian zones (or vehicular zones, or even bicycle zones) by intricate paving patterns and an occasional ‘sleeping policeman’.

Artistic works, lighting and green spaces, even trees, feature in the Corporation’s all-encompassing plans. Making places that are easy to access for pedestrians and moving traffic appropriately are crucial to making a City that people actually want to be in. Even if Moorgate Junction is ‘Telly-Tubby Land’, many of the Corporation’s concepts seem to work well.

Knowing your customer, whether it’s the City-worker trying to get in-and-out of his/her office or the tourist trying to work out the intricacies of medieval Oxford, town-planning and an integrated approach are clearly critical.

© Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects, London

2009 New City Architecture Awards

The winners of the Company's new City Architecture Awards for 2009 were announced and Certificates presented to the representatives of the winning team at the Annual Livery Banquet on Tuesday 13 April. The Banquet was held at the Ironmongers' Hall in the presence of Alderman Sir John Stuttard (the Master's principal Guest) and Sheriff Peter Cook (representing the Civic Team) who made the presentations.

The Assessors report was as follows:

This year’s judging panel comprised: The Master, (Roger France), Assistant Jaki Howes, Graham Francis and Charlotte Harrison. They were assisted by the Clerk, David Cole-Adams. Paul Finch OBE and the Renter Warden Michael Wilkey were prevented by the vagaries of London Transport and temporary indisposition from joining the group though Paul Finch followed the assessment party and, happily, reached identical conclusions.

 Judging took place on Tuesday 2 March 2010; eleven buildings and public space projects were visited.

 Of the projects visited 5 were new build schemes with a further five being refurbishment / re-cladding projects. There was one public open space entry.

The 2009 Award Winner

 Watermark Place, One Angel Lane – an office redevelopment incorporating retail outlets and public open space linking Upper Thames Street to the Thames frontage.

Architects:                   Fletcher Priest Architects,

Building Owners:        Oxford Properties and UBS Global Asset

 

Comment:

The building replaces the redundant international telephone exchange, Mondial House. The height and massing of the building is informed by the strategic viewing corridor to St Paul’s Cathedral and meets the City’s criteria of encouraging access to the river and the development of the river walkway.

The panel found that the development made a positive contribution to the river frontage.

There was an intriguing contrast between the neat detailing of the main building and the gutsy treatment of the sun louvers and their timber props which made reference to the historic sailing craft that used the river. The coherent treatment of the landscaping was also commendable.

The jury commended a further two projects (both refurbishments involving either re-cladding or refurbishment behind a retained façade. :

125 Old Broad Street – the re-cladding, refurbishment and extension of the old Stock Exchange Building for office and retail uses.

Architects:         Grimshaw Architects with GMW

Building Owners: Hammerson UK Properties

Comment:

The panel commended the consistency of the curtain walling (cantilevered out to create additional floor area) and the well designed entrances which made use of the newly created pedestrian route across the site.

One Lothbury – the 1950’s building designed by Victor Heal was influenced by the adjacent Bank of England building. The façades to Lothbury, Princes Street and Old Jewry were retained and, in places, extended and the space behind rebuild to meet contemporary office standards.

Architects:           Fletcher Priest Architects

Building Owners:  Westfield Investments Ltd

Comment:

As a refurbishment scheme, the design shows respect for the main elevations in its treatment of the new attic, and the new elements at the side are integrated into the existing fabric with commendable subtlety. 

In commenting on the Awards, Sheriff Peter Cook noted

'It is tremendously important to the City to have the right people coming to work in London for it to remain internationally competitive. The environment in which they work has to be exciting, beautiful and liveable and the combination of great buildings and a carefully planned street scene make for a great City.

This Award not only assists the City by its architectural attributes it also gives a wonderful opportunity to promote the wider activity and influence of the Livery – another area that needs more exposure in order to help a better understanding of all that goes on within it.'

Further details of the Banquet itself will be posted shortly.