Name and Shame!
- This topic has 37 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 24 years, 9 months ago by
.
- Posts
rob….. from the uk
Wayne’s World: fashion takes on mass housing.
19th November 2001
Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway are, I suspect, about to run into a lot of sneery criticism – much of it from jealous architects. These wealthy ex-fashion designers have done what architects have mostly failed to do for decades. They have persuaded one of Britain’s leading mass housebuilders – Wimpey Homes – to rethink its product and invest in good design. On a grand scale.
http://www.hughpearman.com/articles3/wayne.htmlThat’s good for Canberra Rob…cos as a city it has to be one of the most boring places well compared to Sydney……Canberra is the seat of administration/government and is just full of embasseys etc
[This message has been edited by GregF (edited 22 November 2001).]
quirkeys comments that Architects are powerless i disagree with. who signs the certs for all this crap development ? also i have worked for the biggest developer in the land who uses “cad jockeys” (as they were know on the floor) to churn out all this crap were talking about.when a developer goes to an external bona fide Architect the cost and programme for a development can go up by up to 50%.with sales revenue only increasing by a fraction of that. i have witnesses this time and again.if Architects really want to improve our built envoirement they must develop a far greater sense of cost and buildability and make it easy for the ever hungry developer to retain their services.there is a situation achievable where the developer gets his profits, the Architect gets his/her creative freedom, the client gets a product they like and want and the planners happily police it all.Architects as must lead the way in trying to achieve this in every new development instead of “soap boxing” after the event.
The building of the millennium:
Anybody now Bishop’s Corner? (Kevin St and Wexford St) It really is something else!
RaB
I do actually agree with what you’ve said in principle.
maybe i should clarify what i meant there…about architects being powerless…
The problem is , firstly the architects signs cerificates…. certs of construction stages etc….. thats about technicalthings like insulation and waterproofing, general workmanship and regulations etc. Good design itself is above all those relatively minor issues. An architect has to make a living and at construction stage in this situation he’s not gona get much chance to change or improve design. So even if he thinks the design is attrocious he will still sign cos if he doesnt someone else will and he might as well get paid as someone else.
In terms of the developers veiw of things… well less qualified or suitably trained peopl will work for far less money, anyone can be pretty much fully proficient at cad in six months, have the basic construction technicalish knowledge in as long more….
To be a qualified architect in this country takes at least five years of pretty tough academic training… and then some.
On that standing the architects can not really win very often ….. a change in standards and levels of what is acceptable seem to be one of very few cures to the problem.So please clarify me… Can anyone in Ireland be responsable for a project / constrution of a building ?! If so, how can you control the design quality and prices?…
quite like the FIAT building bunch, what don’t you like about it?
we seem to be drifting from the heading topic here but anyway……
thats pretty much it yeah….you need to get some DRAWINGS (as opposed to designs) by what ever means and cheap as possible, follow a few loose rules and get planning, meet the requirements of a few loose construction regulations, get somone with a qualification (and /or insurance) just to sign paperwork , and maybe ocasoinaly check the actuall quaity of construction work. Pay the boys for their various inputs to the project….. and hey presto your own piece of sprawling ”metropopulopolis” or almost whatever else you so dream of…..
all of this said of course the most important thing is that at almost any cost to your building’s inhabÃtants the locality and society at large…… you have to squeez as much proffit as humanly possible out of it.Shure woi wud peeple keep bye-in dem kinda houses an tings if ther not gud desiyons an not der noh valya for money loike ? ya no wa i mane loike ?
Another contender for architectural gem of the 60s must be the tatty Phibsboro shopping centre with its attached office block element which has stood over the south terrace of Dalymount Park, even before Don Givins scored a hat-trick against the mighty Soviet Union and the windows in that awful block rattled to the roar of “The Russians are on the Run”.
Sorry, a bit slow in replying, thanks for the link Paul. Canberra was good in design of many individual buildings, but was far too spread out to get any feel of a central place. Trees were everywhere, with some interesting buildings hidden from the eye.
Just rememberded an awful building you see from the DART at Merrion. A Jurys Doyle hotel, I think its called.
Bungalow bliss and suburban housing have plagued our landscape for too long, sadly. Its now just in Dublin, I really hate seeing an horrendous ‘dormer bungalows’ plague barren landscapes like to Burren or Donegal.
Sorry, a bit slow in replying, thanks for the link Paul. Canberra was good in design of many individual buildings, but was far too spread out to get any feel of a central place. Trees were everywhere, with some interesting buildings hidden from the eye.
Just rememberded an awful building you see from the DART at Merrion. A Jurys Doyle hotel, I think its called.
Bungalow bliss and suburban housing have plagued our landscape for too long, sadly. Its now just in Dublin, I really hate seeing an horrendous ‘dormer bungalows’ plague barren landscapes like to Burren or Donegal.
I agree with John Callary, Phibsboro shopping centre is the most hideous eyesore, its like a post apocalyptic 1984 sector for brainwashing and should be torn down.
Also Summerhill flats off mountjoy sq are dismally depressingi dont really know why i dont like the fiat building. i think it looks a bit butch though, somewhat shapeless? any comment?
…i think its unusual shape / structure is what makes it interesting. It’s actually quite a small building but still manages to make a big impact…and it stands out well when compared against your average run of the mill car show room [the new Windsor on the Belgard Road is a good example – same old, same old]
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
