Nation Building
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Perhaps the programme is not aimed at architecture buffs, and moving pictures are not stills, they need to show interaction.
Yes – the last episode was even worse than usual. Even my normally tolerant wife is beginning to resent me watching it now.
And what the hell is this wonderful spirit of place that a cold damp two room cabin (one reserved for the pig) is supposed to symbolise? A bit late to bring Corbu to Donegal now, or can nothing else be found in rural Ireland that does not have PVC windows and a porch.
John… a quick point of clarification…
Do you mean cow’s arse or bus arse?
No problem DRC76,
I wouldn’t like to put accross the wrong impression that they were including images of the back ends of Buses in a program devoted to Architecture. No no, not at all… they were most definitely COW’S arses.
Hope this helps,
JohnAre you positively sure, John?
It could have maybe possibly been a bus arse with some fur stuck on to the rear bumper. That would have maybe confused you. Also, stick on a fake tail (one you could knit yourself at home) just below the rear window and even I might think it’s a cow’s arse.
I need to be absolutely certain, john. It’s important.
Last night’s show had a few highlights but the graphics are really starting to annoy me now. I agreed wholeheartedly with Des McMahon’s view of height, skyline and public space. It was a good theory and he presented it well.
However it was another programme last night on RTE which posed more questions re architecture and restoration. A programme about the La Firenza Opera House (destroyed by fire) in Venice. It seems that there is quite a strong feeling towards rebuilding it in a modern idiom rather than replacing it with facsimile. It seems that in Venice, they have a habit of slavish restoration, when the 16thc. tower of St Marks collapsed in 1904, they simply replaced it with an identical one.
This programme made me think more in the 20 minutes I saw of it that the entire series of Nation Building to date.
Any arses visible in Venice?
OK just a little pedantry here –
The Opera House is “La Fenice” and the Tower was not rebuilt exactly !Sorry, bad day at the office.
Sorry, but Opera ain’t really my thing.
Anyway I just thought it was interesting. And I stand by my comments about Des McMahon, I’m a great admirer of the new Croke Park. Looks great from a distance and close up.
The couple of modern looking buildings that ARE in Venice – as far as I’m concerned – have NO right to be there. It disgusts me. Venice is special, it’s not just a city, a collection of functional buildings.
No,
Venice is a complete work of art. If a Renaissance painting is damaged do you fill the hole with a cow’s head in formaldehyde? A video installation?Yes Venice is special but it must remain a liveable city for it to be so special, not just an image. There are a few lovely modern pieces in Venice by Carlo Scarpa – the Olivetti buillding (now an art gallery)on Piazza San Marco is one example.
The challenge facing Venice now is how to preserve its essence and yet allow communities to remain there and even to grow.
It cannot just rely on tourism as a source of income or it risks becoming a self-parody.This Permissive Society.
I thought this week’s episode made some good points, especially highlighting past and present mistakes in planning: maybe these issues will get a wider airing now.
Are there any details on the web about the plans for Ballymun? Initially, it sounded good – getting the residents involved, running courses, etc., but from what I saw of the model, it looked like a run-of-the-mill suburban estate, and course shown seemed more about kitchen planning than urban planning.
What is more, Orly wouldn’t be my first choice for a development model, French urban planning is right down there with the British (i.e, crap) – much better to look at post-war Germany or post-wall East Germany.Yes a better episode but
– why did we hear little or nothing of the commitment to flats which was unique to Dublin corporation in the 1930’s, a serious effort to avoid sprawl.
– no mention of the huge housing programme initiated by the first Fianna Fail government.
– no mention that there was little or no housing control until the 1960’s.
– no real mention of (any of) the very questionable planning decisions (brown envelopes?)
– no mention of the Section 4’s
does anyone else feel that the thematic approach taken by nation buiding was ill advised? i found it extremely fragmented and repetitive. the only programme that seemed to hang together coherently was the one on church architecture. the other episodes had an annoying habit of backtracking over subject matter already covered ie public housing, architecture and national expression etc. still, it has been a welcome excercise in highlighting that sorely neglected area, irish design.
I personally think they would have been better off with the “Seven Ages” approach – decade by decade, and have a ten minute round table discussion of the decade interspersed throughout the programme.
I personally have found the series disappointing if not completely uninteresting. I found the Kevin Roche advertorial / corporate video to be far more interesting, better photographed and on the whole a much better documentary.
Yes Paul – I totally agree. A chronological approach would have worked best. Simple, arbitrary but logical. Did they think we’d fail to relate a discussion on urban planning from one episode to that in another? They may have feared we’d forget by the next week. Hence – discuss one subject at length per episode. By segregating the issues/elements like this they ran the risk of ignoring other influences on those elements. Just my opimion – not necessarily the right one.
Oh, Daniel – I’ll be back in Venice in 3 week. I was actually only just there in November last but still can’t remember the Modern Olivetti building in Piazza Di San Marco that you mentioned. I’ll make a point of seeking it out.
Cheerio
JohnIt is very unfair to compare Nation Building with Seven Ages – Seven Ages was made with a huge budget and support. Seven Ages is not without its critics. In between trips to Venice, people should not forget that the subject of architecture/design/planning is held in fairly low esteem by the vast majority of Irish people. Architects themselves despite the rhetoric have stayed out of domestic housing for all sorts of reasons, principal among them, the ‘low fee/high work’ ratio. Nation Building is a good starter to get people taling. It is not for the converted, but rather for a more general audience. Logistically and logically, organising the stories on a decade by decade basis would have been a a very difficult continium to manage. Audiences do forget, in fact very quickly. Also the housing issue and the Dublin Corporation response was covered.
Well now it is over a final reflection – not worth watching.
Too many stomach churning graphics, too many talking heads and above all little film of buildings. After all they dont move in real life and there is no reason for not fiming them as static objects. How often did we see some of the clips 5/6 times for the “Shannon road trip sequence”?
All in all….
…. i was really looking forward to it as I thought it would help to get the general public interested in architecture… it didnt, it was a major turnoff… they found it cumbersome and slow….
…. even as someone with an interest and a small knowledge, I couldnt watch it either.
… very disappointed in the end
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