fault, but I don't doubt his Oxofication of London's architectural heritage
is behind blotting the ground floor facade of that graceful Fifties
building with Wagamama, Eat et al. Who can forget his proposed design for a
glass wave to smother the glorious grey "carbunkle" of the National
Theatre? To Richard, no building is complete until it resembles an upmarket
shoping mall or ertsatz piazza. He truly is the Albert Speer of Capitialismus
Triumphus.
Of course, people do like it... Oh look, some blonde Trinny archetype said,
they've got a Strada... but that does that make it right?
So I'm behind the times, but surely money isn't everything? The only good
thing about this travesty is that in a more enlightened age the featureless
units look flimsy enough to be torn down and this long-suffering monument
to a more optimistic time restored to its, sadly former, glory.
While they're at it, they could put back the Skylon too.
Like post-war Britain, the Skylon was said to have "no visible means of support". But at least it didn't have to contend with Cafe Nero...
3 comments:
Very nice blog. Well done.
For my own two'penneth......
the only thing 'graceful' about that eyesore the RFH is the view - you can't see the exterior if you're standing inside it.
S
S, you b*stard.
But seriously what is particularly annoying is that when the project to restore the RFH started it was actually claimed that this WOULD restore it to its original fifties glory by REMOVING ground floor obstacles to the original front elevation which were added in the concrete-fest National Theatre period (incidentally check out the fabulous NFT at night now - why oh why can't someone do a similarly well-thought out lighting job on that genuine carbuncle the Barbican).
For the recrd in July 1999: Chief executive Karsten Witt said he hoped the restoration "would restore some of the original feel to the building, built as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain."
He added: "We will enable many more people to make the most of our unique riverside setting by restoring the roof terraces, with their spectacular panoramic views of the London skyline.
"We will make the building more exciting by reinstating the original main entrances, clearing access routes and improving orientation."
Anyway, I'm with Nick, while we DO need more riverside eating and bar-type al-fresco-ishness, a lighter perhaps tented pavilion structure further from the RFH would have been a better and more architecturally attractive option - OR basically anything as original and modern (now) as the building behind it was when it was built, rather than this A1-units-by-numbers approach.
Actually I personally find Norman Foster more tedious and derivative than Richard Rogers. And Rogers also talks a lot of sense on urbanism.
Lets hope the project to restore the hall's acoustic fares better, see:
http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/050224-NL-southbank.html
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