CBP is a new generation Stockley Park (see p.252): more dense and urban (4 stories instead of 2 or 3), characterised by a lean budget that makes the achievements of the Rogers’ team all the more remarkable. To get there (keenly encouraged by the demands of Stanhope’s, the client), they honed the design equation to a simple set of architectural parts that, nevertheless, look expensive. The 1.5m gridded geometry is as compact as it comes, the frame is concrete, with post-tensioned floors and plenum access floors; the cladding is mostly glass, screened by high level louvres, access walkways and fire escapes. Net to gross is 87%. Parking is below. Go there and keep telling yourself this was low-cost, shed construction. It’s difficult to believe. Here is the contradiction of Pevsner’s famous claim that aesthetic intent differentiates Lincoln Cathedral from a bicycle shed. These buildings not only demonstrate that it is sheds most of us work in these days, but that these workplaces of the volk certainly enjoy considerable aesthetic intent.
yj The Hall field School (Denys Lasdun, 1954; W2) 17 on the south side of the Hallfield Estate (Tecton / Lasdun & Drake, 1954), is a fine modernist icon that now enjoys two new additional pavilions by Caruso St. John (2005). The latter are in the manner of the ‘cool & understated’ school of post-Smithsons architecture and if you want to see the place it’s best to make access arrangements. Sometimes open for Open House, in September.
Lasdun’s other exemplary London buildings include the National Theatre (p.138) and the Royal College of Physicians (p.88).
Does it work? It is a fine master-plan, but one has to admit to reservations regarding the ground floor retail content and a distinct timidity regarding its expressive character. Similarly, the idea that the BBC has provided a publicly accessible realm is (appropriately) media spin. Yes, one can enter, but through massive gates that signify you can be readily locked out and under the gaze of security guards who come rushing out to prevent any photography. This is a reality that tells it’s own story.
The first stage of this large complex provides some
50,0 sq. m. of offices and production space set out as 18m deep floor-plates divided by lively atria and set above a ground level of shops, cafes and restaurants that seek to offer a (one-sided) mall within the heart of the complex. In order to mediate the scale of it all with the surrounding urban fabric (public housing blocks on the west), perimeter blocks of a different scale have been introduced. These considerately present their fronts to the street, enlivening these whilst lending them a comparatively deferential relationship to existing residential buildings — which means they are scaled down to the form of rather elegant terraces whose character engenders questions with regard to the more orhtodox, corporate character of the main building. Overall, there has been an aim to obviate instrumental regularity by providing penetrative pedestrian access into the central (mall) heart, where pleasant landscaping has been designed by Christopher Bradley – Hole. Then comes the art: the facades facing onto these places are enlivened by a colour programme for shutters designed by Yuko Shiraishi; in addition, Tim Head has created a light projection ‘piece’ said to be visible from the adjacent major highway (the A40).
The cladding is, as usual, immaculate (compare with 123 Bankside, p.146).
1 q John Pawson has established a reputation for a 19 kind of superior minimalism with pseudo-religious pretensions posing as rather apart from the tasteless customary fray. He’s good, and this block at 18 Lansdowne Road, W11, is a rare example of his work. The north (entry) fagade lacks something. This is what he says about the project: “The idea here was to create not another conventional block of flats, but a series of lateral houses, each ‘house’ occupying a single floor, with an upper duplex apartment. The equivalent of a London terraced house in terms of floor space – considerably more in the case of the duplex — these apartments enjoy the privacy and individual character of a conventional house, with the security, open interiors and aspect associated with apartment living. A key architectural challenge was the project’s corner site, meaning that the design had to deal simultaneously with two strikingly different contexts — the dignified villas of Lansdowne Crescent and the larger scale structures of Ladbroke Giove”. Ironically, the scheme had a difficult planning history against the objections of neighbours and was, upon being awarded permission, sold on and another architect (Paul Davis & Partners) reworked the interiors so as to create the ‘lateral apartments’ claimed by Pawson. (completed 2004; Tube: Holland Park.)
ЛЛ Trellick Tower, by Erno Goldfinger (1973; now 20 listed) sits in Golbourne Road, W10 (near the top end of the Portobello market and adjacent to the Regents Canal) overseeing west London in the form of what was once the tallest block of flats in England (31 storeys). It was an experiment in access (one external corridor serving three maisonettes) and ‘Brutalist’ architectural form. Now it is a gritty Brutalist icon. Architects like to love it, partly because it has a content of professional expertise, in part because of its peculiar beauty, and partly because it’s such a radical design statement. Whether that makes it good housing I is another issue. However, since it was constructed, people have grown to enthuse about the city and I density once again and the Trellick has become an admired model for metropolitan living. The media tell us the tower is a very desirable piece of real estate (currently being refurbished by John McAslan), but a visit makes this hard to believe except with major qualifications — the white middle class families who have been deserting central London in droves are not about to rush back to Trellick Tower.
The massive social housing development 21 of Alexandra Road, NW8 – the last of a series of ‘infrastructural’ housing schemes promoted by Camden Council and designed by Neave Brown) had a brief for 1660 people in 520 units, developed into the form of two curving, raked concrete terraces, facing one another.
The resulting canyon is both incredible and frightening – testament to how architecture can go badly wrong. It is worth comparing such developments with Lubetkin’s Hallfield Estate in Bishop’s Bridge Road,
W2 (1951-59).
Perhaps this triangular building (a lavatory and flower shop in Westbourne Grove, W11; 1993), built on the foundations of a Victorian lavatory, is one of the best things CZWG have designed – at once utilitarian, cheerful and frivolous. It is a poised, single-storey design that is simple and makes you glad it is there – not the easiest thing to achieve and something that encouraged a lot of community support against a local authority alternative (including a large donation from a local resident). As with most CZWG buildings, don’t expect any internal surprises but (after relief in the lavatory) enjoy the flowers, the polycarbonate projecting canopy, the turquoise glazed bricks and the big clock.
QO Sarum Hall School (Allies & Morrison, 1995, ОЛ This housing in St. Mark’s Road, W10
15 Eton Ave., NW3) is typical of their work: (Tube: Ladbroke Grove), is by Jeremy
considered, well mannered; fussed over but not Dixon and was completed in 1980 — it
fussy; unrhetorical, carefully composed and detailed. makes an interesting comparison with what is now
And not coping with a speculator’s instrumental brief. It’s going on. The scheme comprises 44 family units
a contextural design, conscious of Arts & Crafts, leafy, and attempts to be contemporary whilst contextually domestic surroundings that bring together a variety of offering a traditional London arrangement, e. g.
features in one building: the entry porch, canopy and half-basements, walk-up steps to a piano nobile,
gateposts take ideas from neighbours (but keep the etc., in a terraced format with a stepped gable
language contemporary) and the architects have arranged overhead. Another scheme by Jeremy and Fenella
the accommodation so that repetitive elements are on the Dixon is at 171-201 Lanark Road, W9 (1979-82)
rear and varied ones are on the street. – a scheme that is also in radical contrast to those
If Future Systems redream 1960’s technological 25 optimism, this Hindu community centre, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, redreams community and spiritual harmonies, having thoroughly researched their subject in order to recreate this Hindu jewel in Neasden. The focus is upon the incredible craftsmanship of stone-carving that was imported from India, but the heart of this place is a community/prayer centre that includes a column-free space for 2500 worshippers.
(Run by Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). What you experience here is not some Disney recreation, but investment in the power of architecture to be a sign and a symbol, to represent a whole gamut of values. To experience this architecture is also to experience a community spirit – which is what most good architectural experiences are about; visitors are very welcome (although security necessarily gets tighter each year). The address is 105-119 Brentfield Road, NW10; the architect was C D Sompura (1995); the nearest tube is Neasden.