Category: Architecture

Geoff Manaugh, over at BLDGBLOG, ruminates on examples of the homes that extremely wealthy people create for themselves. I find it difficult to avoid becoming judgemental when I see examples such as these.

BLDBLOG has an entry that refers to Dutch Star Forts. It reminds me of the time when we lived in Gouda. Nearby, between Bodegraven and Nieuwerbrug was Wiericker Schans – a very simple version of a star fort.

 

 

 

I wonder whether there are any around the area where we live now?

This puts me in mind of a Hobbit house. It looks quite cozy, and is probably well suited to a country that is likely to have an increasing chance of gales. I’m writing this while there’s a couple of workmen up on the roof of the farmhouse checking for any loose or damaged tiles as a result of last week’s storm. The woodland house won’t have that problem…

I had an email from someone, who though he is half-British, says he remains bewildered by Panto.

 

As I said in my previous entry, I’ve adored traditional pantomime since I was a child. I’m sure that part of that was implanted and heightened by the theatrical experience, and in my case, by the experience of the theatre itself. I grew up in a town that has one of the few surviving Victorian theatres that were designed by the architect Frank Matcham. The Gaiety Theatre in Douglas remains a marvel, and a beautiful example of Matcham’s art.

 

Part of my childhood Christmas memories was going to the Gaiety to see a panto. While in those years, the Gaiety was ageing and looking shabby, I never seemed to notice that; to me it was simply magical, and sitting in the stalls or the balcony, yelling out "He’s behind you!" was wonderful, in the true sense of the word.

 

I’m pleased to say that the Gaiety Theatre has been restored to its former glory. This web site dedicated to the theatre and its history is well worth visiting. Did you know, for example, that the theatre is probably the only theatre left in the world with a fully functioning Corsican Trap (watch the video!)? And the site also mentions the terrific book on the theatre written by Roy McMillan: A Full Circle. I have a copy of this in the library, and I can recommend it as a fine example of a book that celebrates the life and times of the Gaiety Theatre.

Two of my favourite Blogs cross-fertilise each other today. Ballardian has a long, and interesting, interview with Geoff Manaugh, the man behind BLDBLOG. Worth reading.

Last month, I mentioned that work had begun on the new kitchen. While there are still a few finishing touches to be done, the bulk of the work is over, and we have a new working kitchen that both of us are very pleased with.

 

Before:

 

 

 

After (with the new, raised ceiling!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entry from Curiosities of Literature made my imagination spark into life.

Work started today on putting in a new kitchen in the farmhouse. The old kitchen was a classic example of 1970s chic, but not to our taste. It was also designed for the previous owner, who was a much shorter person than either of us. So the work surfaces are too low, and we kept on banging our heads on the cooker hood. Not to mention that it was an electric cooker, and we both much prefer cooking by gas. This is how it was…

 

 

This is the result of the day’s work by the builders…

 

 

David Byrne (yup, that David Byrne), over at his Journal, has an interesting entry about the UNESCO world heritage industrial ruin in Essen. He writes that the place has "the feeling of an abandoned city, from a sci-fi movie maybe, or City Of Lost Children" (a favourite film of mine because of its extraordinary visual feel). His photographs confirm his impression. It makes me want to visit the site.

 

Such places fascinate me. As a child I used to wander around the abandoned machinery, buildings and workings of the mines at Laxey and Foxdale on the Isle of Man and let my imagination run riot. Essen looks as though it strikes the same chords for me, but on a much grander scale.

Diamond Geezer has been publishing a series of blog entries covering Metro-land. The series starts here. It’s well worth reading his entries. And what is Metro-land, I hear you ask? It was the area of London served by the Metropolitan Railway (the first steam underground railway in the world). It has a fascinating history of social change and architectural styles. And now DG tells us that BBC Four will be screening the wonderful documentary about Metro-land made by Sir John Betjeman in 1973 next Monday evening to celebrate the centenary of Sir John’s birth. I’ve reserved my seat on the sofa.

My brother is just back from a trip to Yorkshire and recommends a visit to The Forbidden Corner in Middleham. Apparently it’s a series of architectural follies created in a four-acre garden by a Colin Armstrong who was once the honorary British consul in Ecuador. It sounds intriguing, just the sort of thing that would appeal to me.

Brian Sack nails it. Charles de Gaulle Airport is dreadful. I shudder at the memory. It could have been so wonderful; so 1960s Avengers’ chic. But instead it was, and presumably still is, a nightmare.

The Cantilevered house is such an arresting image. Does the attic creak when you walk across the floor? I know that here in our house it does, and it scares me. Somehow I think that I would not be able to rest easy in the cantilevered house… Amazing image though.

One day I would like to be able to revisit Japan. One place that I think would be on the itinerary is the Site of Reversible Destiny. A bizarre little architectural park. A sort of modernist Portmerion, where features are given prissy and portentous titles: The Gate of Non-Dying, Exactitude Ridge, the Zone of the Clearest Confusion, etc.

(hat tip to Pruned for the link)

Having just slammed the modern architecture of Gianni Botsford, I now find that I have nothing but praise for something that looks very similar – steel boxes designed as student accommodation. The story behind them is here. Having lived in a one-room bedsit that was not much bigger, the design of these micro-houses is brilliant, and if I was a student again, I could see myself living in one quite happily.

…it’s an individual thing. There’s a story in today’s Guardian about the design of a new town house that’s been built in Notting Hill. The story is very positive: "quite remarkable family house", "one of the finest new city homes to be found anywhere in the world", "a thing of architectural sorcery".

 

Intrigued, I did a Google, and found pictures of the house on the architect’s website. To my eyes it looks truly awful – like having to live in an inside version of London’s South Bank – all blank concrete and hard-faced steel. There’s also more whan a whiff of pretension about the description of the design process: "Our starting point was to represent the empty volume of the site as a three dimensional grid of voxel data points (3d pixels) each consisting of a range of varying attributes… a detailed environmental analysis for each individual voxel was carried out. This analysis produced a database of solar and daylight conditions throughout the year,taking into account weather patterns specific to London".

 

I assume the architect’s clients are delighted with the result. To me it looks as though they have just elected to live in a set of bare prison cells. Chacun à son goût.