Architecture Archive

One of the icons of American postmodernism, Michael Graves’ Portland Building (1982), has been in the news recently after it was declared structurally unsound.  A $95million restoration is now planned although there remains a lobby demanding that the building be demolished. 

It was a divisive project from the start, causing local architect Pietro Belluschi to claim “it’s not architecture, it’s packaging”. 

Presumably Meier and Frank’s department store took that sentiment to heart, producing this commemorative biscuit tin in the shape of the building.  This picture, which was published in BD in 1984, came courtesy of head of architecture at Portsmouth polytechnic, Geoffrey Broadbent who picked up one of the tins on a visit to the US.

Date

1984

Subject

BD published this images as English heritage launched the first of what would be three competitions for the Stonehenge visitor centre.

It shows one of the key ambitions of the project: the removal of the A344 leading to the former visitor centre, which was built in 1968 immediately beside the ancient stones.

Ted Cullinan;s winning competitions entry ran aground in the face of MoD opposition to visitors passing over its land, but 20 years on the completion of Denton Corker Marshall's proposal has finally enabled the road to be grassed over.

The A303, which cuts past the stones to the left of the image, remains a more intractable problem. Plans to bury it were shelved in 2007 when their cost was estimated at £510 million.

Date

1992

Location    

As BD reviews Gavin Stamp’s latest book we look back to an appearance that the author made at the RIBA Headquarters in 1989.

Stamp’s talk on the role of the architecture critic won plaudits from BD’s reviewer, Catherine McDermott, who wrote:  “As a critic himself, Stamp seems to have admirers and detractors in equal numbers but he has certainly mastered the medium of the lecture. Particularly memorable was the technique of clasping the lectern to hammer a point home.” 

However, the audience’s contributions proved equally dramatic. John Winter took extended issue with Stamp’s demand for an historically informed modern architecture only to find himself on the receiving end of a barracking intervention from Jules Lubbock.  “Lubbock has been mentioned as one of Prince Charles’ closest advisers and his interesting surname is still widely used in the north of England as a term of affection for rather brutish children,” McDermott noted.

Date1989

SubjectGavin Stamp

In a week that the Prince of Wales was set to wade back into the architectural fray with a speech on the need for heritage-led regeneration, we looked back to 1987 when he made a highly publicised visit to the RIBA to dole out the prizes at the Community enterprise award ceremony. 

He is pictured her with members of the community architecture group – (from left) Ben Derbyshire, Lynda Thomas, Stella Yarrow, Jim Sneddon, Ian Finlay and the recently elected RIBA president, Rod Hackney. 

Charles was at pains to play down the influence that Hackney had had on his own position. “I see that the Dr Hackney is described as the Prince’s architectural friend which can be construed in various ways,” he said. “Whatever the case, what fascinates me is the number of people who seem to be described as my guru. If I had sat at the feet of these people as often as disciples are supposed to do then I would never actually manage to do anything else and I would probably end up developing architectural haemorrhoids.”

Date

1987

Subject

Prince Charles and the Community Architecture Group

Location

In the week that we review Lacaton & Vassal’s La Manche-facing Frac Nord-Pas de Calais, we look back to one of the unsuccessful proposals to build a tunnel link under the English Channel.

The Euro Route consortium’s bid was the most ambitious of those to be submitted to the UK and French governments after they invited proposals in the mid-1980s.

The scheme required the construction of two transfer islands — one on either side of the channel — each of which would be a third of a mile wide by two thirds long.

As part of its work at Tate Britain Caruso St John has stripped out the ground floor coffee shop — originally installed to designs by Dixon Jones in 1984 as a homage to the breakfast room of Sir John Soane’s Museum — and introduced a stair in its place. 

In the week that we review a new building by London’s Sergison Bates in Vienna, we look back to an appearance by the Austrian architect Wolf Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au at the RIBA headquarters. 

In the week that we publish Owen Hatherley’s survey of the current state of higher-education building, we look back to a visit by members of the Royal Fine Art Commission to the site of the future University of Lincolnshire and Humberside.

Pictured from left are: Sir Philip Dowson (of Arup Associates), Calder, Sir Philip Powell (of Powell & Moya), Derbyshire, RFAC secretary Sherban Cantacuzino and Sir William Whitfield.

In a week when Britain was hit by its worst storm in recent years we look back to one victim of a great storm of 20 years ago.

Originally designed as a venue for the Museum of the Moving Image, Future Systems’ tent had been put to new use as the venue for a £200,000 exhibition on the future of Croydon.

In the week that we report on Studio Tom Emerson’s belvedere in Zurich we look back to a rather more contentious look-out constructed by art and design lecturer Ivan Clayton for his three sons.

In the week that we review Scabal’s contentious addition to the churchyard of Christ Church Spitalfields, we look back to 1978 when BD reported on the ongoing restoration of Hawksmoor’s neglected masterpiece.

In the week that Alex Mowat visits his inspiration – EMBT’s Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona – we look back to when the widow and business partner of Enric Miralles spoke of her determination to keep their practice going after the sudden death of the Catalan architect in July 2000.

Two decades before Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands created its new Jewish Community Centre on London’s Finchley Road, the practice undertook the £20 million refurbishment of Oxo Tower Wharf on the South Bank, which included the art deco Oxo Tower.

In the week of the Christie’s auction of professor Sir Albert Richardson’s collection from his 18th-century townhouse in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, we look back to when his portrait featured on the front page of BD.

In the week we review Long & Kentish’s remodelling of Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, we look back to when BD met St Ives School artist Trevor Bell in his Florida home.

In the week we review Mecanoo’s Library of Birmingham, which replaces John Madin’s Birmingham Central Library, we look back to another library by John Madin Design Group, completed in 1976.

Following the news that Will Alsop’s The Public in West Bromwich is to close, we look back to another gallery and arts centre designed by Alsop, Barnett & Lyall in 1983 that remained on the drawing board.