Swiss Cottage Library was designed by Sir Basil Spence in 1962-4 and beautifully refurbished by John McAslan in 2003 (Tube: Swiss Cottage). At a time when libraries have to be disguised with bizarre names like ‘ideas store’ it is refreshing that such a place has been refurbished as a central feature of redevelopment work at Swiss Cottage (all to a fraught Terry Farrell master-plan). It is useful to compare this older library with Peckham and the two idea Stores — none of them have the traditional leisurely quality achieved at Swiss Cottage. And, by the time you read this, a large new Camden sports facility will also have been completed next door (by Terry Farrell).
This small block of 12 apartments is a really fresh and worthwhile addition to Camden, replacing a filling station that was on the site. Having said that, its outstanding interest to the urban observer is one of architectonics and formalism. For example, its general character returns to a mix of 1950’s offset window grids, now combined with an apparent tectonic of prefabricated perimeter units set as those ground to eaves slabs that were fashionable with Stirling and Gowan et al in the 1960’s — all updated via Arups at Plantation Place, Parry’s neo-Terragni exercises in the City, etc. It is well done, but strangely lacks substance and plausibility (it’s actually a conventional concrete frame). In other words, it’s tectonic theatre that doesn’t quite convince the observer to suspend disbelief. One can hardly condemn it for that, but one does demand more artfulness in playing the game: either play with offset planes that hang or float, or persuade us these are load – bearing panels. Playing the architecture game means playing it seriously — and well — or courting the danger of falling into a paroditic exercise without the irony. Still, it’s a lot better than most new housing.
AO Of these two houses, at 44 & 42 Rochester 40 Place, NW1, designed by David Wild from 1984 on – Wild’s own (no. 44) was built first and a neighbour loved it, asking him to do one for them. This is architecture on a budget, without grandiose gestures, and indebted to the London Georgian house (piano nobile with bedrooms above), le Corbusier (the city villa type, with ground level undercroft parking and a roof terrace) and Adolf Loos (who advocated non-rhetorical aesthetics). Private London has many small, local works like this (e. g. in nearby Camden Mews — which, for a few years, was crammed with architects — such as Ted Cullinan — building small houses for themselves in one of the few locations where they could get planning permission).