Built environment discussion

[J-2739]

Hi everyone! We don't seem to have a thread to talk about architecture - or the general built environment - yet? Well let me do the honours! Post anything and everything, from local affairs to national landmarks to international monuments, past, present, and future!

To kickstart, I thought it would be cool to discuss the RIBA Stirling Prize 2023 shortlist, which was published just yesterday:
https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-stirling-prize

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist for the coveted 2023 RIBA Stirling Prize, awarded to the UK’s best new building.

Presented since 1996, the RIBA Stirling Prize is the highest accolade in architecture. The six new buildings in the running to be crowned the UK’s best can be found below.

From 14 September to 10 November, an exhibition showcasing each project will be on display at 66 Portland Place.

View our video playlist of each project below.


RIBA President Muyiwa Oki, said:

"The 2023 Stirling Prize shortlist illustrates why architecture matters to all of us. These six remarkable buildings offer thoughtful, creative responses to the really complex challenges we're facing today. Whether it's tackling loneliness, building communities, or preserving our heritage, these projects lay out bold blueprints for purposeful architecture.

Amidst a backdrop of housing shortages, growing inequality, and economic uncertainties, this year's shortlist demonstrates that well-designed buildings can offer genuinely inspiring solutions to our most pressing problems."

The RIBA Stirling Prize is judged against a range of criteria including design vision; innovation and originality; capacity to stimulate, engage and delight occupants and visitors; accessibility and sustainability; how fit the building is for its purpose and the level of client satisfaction.

Plus vid:

What do you think of them? Personally, I'm placing my bet down for the Central Somers scheme, mainly for its profound impact on the local community, and for its continuation of the 'social infrastructure' promoted by the 1920s philanthropist Jeffrey Jellicoe who lived in the area.

[None of the photographs are mine]

1. A House for Artists
2. Central Somers Town Community Facilities and Housing
3. Courtauld Institute of Art
4. John Morden Centre
5. Lavender Hill Courtyard
6. University of Warwick Faculty of Arts Building

 

[brad465]

Old architecture more often than not seems to be much better than modern stuff that's just bland grey/white/glass buildings, unless the new architecture mimics older types with modern materials (this often happens where planning permission won't otherwise be granted, such as in the World Heritage Site City of Bath).

 

[J-2739]

Old architecture more often than not seems to be much better than modern stuff that's just bland grey/white/glass buildings, unless the new architecture mimics older types with modern materials (this often happens where planning permission won't otherwise be granted, such as in the World Heritage Site City of Bath).

You might like Poundbury in Dorset, then.

 

[HYPODERMIC]

I think it's desperately depressing that five of the six buildings are in London. It's a similar pattern every year, although not usually this extreme. Reading the AJ and other industry sources gives a similar impression of a design community that overwhelmingly focuses on the capital and puts its interns onto the regional projects. I love London but there's a real sense that it's leaving the rest of England further and further behind in every respect; it isn't just disproportionate but absurdly dominant. Beauty and design are becoming London-centric.

 

[yorksrob]

If you like a modern building, the Candlestick building just outside of Leeds station is very distinctive and attractive to my mind:

Google Search

(Link is to a picture of said building).

 

[J-2739]

I think it's desperately depressing that five of the six buildings are in London. It's a similar pattern every year, although not usually this extreme. Reading the AJ and other industry sources gives a similar impression of a design community that overwhelmingly focuses on the capital and puts its interns onto the regional projects. I love London but there's a real sense that it's leaving the rest of England further and further behind in every respect; it isn't just disproportionate but absurdly dominant. Beauty and design are becoming London-centric.

I agree, it's not great. Usually you'd might end up with at least two project outside the London bubble shortlisted, but not this year I guess! It also seems that Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are being foggotern in this regard.

This probably reflects the London-centric outlook of the architectural industry. Over 50% of architects concentrated in the capital, and the bulk of their work taking place near them.

If you like a modern building, the Candlestick building just outside of Leeds station is very distinctive and attractive to my mind:

Google Search

(Link is to a picture of said building).

That certainly is a nicer design compared to some of the monstrosities that have been popping up around Leeds recently. At least this one has a quirk about it. Sort of reminds me of the taper you'd see on some of the buildings in the Walled City of Shibam:

http://hiddenarchitecture.net/shiba/

Will Leeds get a similarly dense cluster of skyscrapers, I wonder?

[Images not my own]

 

[mikeg]

I would say anything but kitsch 'mock' anything or anything deemed 'postmodern'. The problem is we didn't have a good run with decent modern, humanist design in this country, everything either being done on the cheap or using imported aesthetics from warmer climes that really didn't look appealing in the drab British weather. I'd actually say British Rail's design guides from the mid 60s onwards were pretty nice. Functional, yet human. Unfortunately we're talking architecture not graphic design here and I can think of few good examples of modern railway architecture, save perhaps Milton Keynes Central.

Wider than the railways, I always liked the way Drax Power station, although by necessity something of a modern behemoth was designed to blend in just enough with the surrounds, without compromising on its modern appearance or projecting an identity. Others didn't like it, but I do. What I do object to in much of the later modern architecture is the lack of friendliness. Yes, it's imposing and interesting but can we please do away with the sloping bottoms of buildings designed to move people on? I like modernism that encourages people to sit together, stand together, talk together, but with enough space to get away from it all. There's one building to the rear of York station that sums up the antithesis of this. I know York has a reputation for being tramp central but my goodness it's unfriendly. The simultaneous lack of privacy and shared public space, something of a contradiction, sums up all that is wrong with today's corporate, hyper-capitalist designs.

 

[yorksrob]

I do prefer BR's 1960's architecture of Coventry, Euston's concourse, Ashford Kent etc to the more tatty imitations of the 1980's or the current space ship type designs.

On the broader subject of architecture, I visited a couple of the grand old Victorian hotels in Scarborough, and the communal spaces in these took my breath away.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Sep 2023 ==

I do prefer BR's 1960's architecture of Coventry, Euston's concourse, Ashford Kent etc to the more tatty imitations of the 1980's or the current space ship type designs.

On the broader subject of architecture, I visited a couple of the grand old Victorian hotels in Scarborough, and the communal spaces in these took my breath away.

 

[SargeNpton]

What I find depressing is that some buildings from the 1950s onwards seem to have been constructed with a design life of 40 years - which then gets conveniently forgotten until they start to fall to bits and there is no budget to replace them.

Noticeable this week with RAAC in the news, where the expected life-span of some of the affected buildings has been mentioned as being expired.

 

[yorksrob]

The policy of designing buildings with a design life shorter than an EPB does indeed seem ridiculous, particularly given the historically slow rate of building replacement in this country.

The Victorians would have had little time for such a policy, particularly in relation to public buildings.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

No structure should have a design life of less than 120 years imho

 

[J-2739]

No structure should have a design life of less than 120 years imho

How would that work for pavilions, for example?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

How would that work for pavilions, for example?

I don’t know

 

[J-2739]

I don’t know

Oh, okay!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

As I am from Preston and used the bus station from the 1st day it opened. I quite like it - brutalist as it may be!

 

[DelW]

The policy of designing buildings with a design life shorter than an EPB does indeed seem ridiculous, particularly given the historically slow rate of building replacement in this country.

The Victorians would have had little time for such a policy, particularly in relation to public buildings.

Not exactly buildings, but Brunel's timber viaducts had a relatively short design life, as he himself was well aware. Some lasted longer than might have been expected, and some did not, but all eventually needed rebuilding. They may have been the best economic option at the time though.

There is a degree of self-selection in the buildings we see from earlier eras, in that we see ones that stood the literal "test of time", but not those that didn't.

 

[yorksrob]

As I am from Preston and used the bus station from the 1st day it opened. I quite like it - brutalist as it may be!

And it holds up ! (Used it several times over the last thirty years).

 

[GRALISTAIR]

And it holds up ! (Used it several times over the last thirty years).

Indeed!

 

[J-2739]

As I am from Preston and used the bus station from the 1st day it opened. I quite like it - brutalist as it may be!

Underrated in my opinion!

 

[Yew]

I think with brutalist buildings, there are true Brutalist buildings, that sacrifice aesthetics for function, and buildings that have been simply been built exceedingly cheaply.

 

[Meerkat]

Main issue with many brutalist buildings is the rough concrete - it now looks filthy and must be near impossible to clean.

 

[fandroid]

I'd argue a bit with the no modern railway architecture being up to much. Two roofs I can think of that are stunning - 1. Waterloo's international station roof. Ironically only visible in its true glory (end-on from the main concourse) once the platforms had been converted to domestic use. 2. Kings Cross new ticket hall roof.

However, I'm not really sure about the only recently rebuilt main station that I use regularly and that's Reading. What do people think of Glasgow Queen Street as architecture? I have not really had a good look at it, being mostly concerned with catching trains and being annoyed at its lack of food outlets.

 

[birchesgreen]

I quite like Perry Barr's rust box, but then again orange is one of my favourite colours.

 

[J-2739]

2. Kings Cross new ticket hall roof.

The King's Cross roof is one of those examples that already look good on a photograph, that looks spectacular in real life.

 

[Rick1984]

My problem with modern office and apartment block architecture, in the likes of approach Waterloo or Glasgow, is that building companies can just throw up whatever they like without any effort to tie it all together.

Years some of them look good but you just think it could all be better coordinated

 

[DelW]

However, I'm not really sure about the only recently rebuilt main station that I use regularly and that's Reading.

Reading now works far far better than the cramped old arrangement, the old layout could never have coped with current passenger numbers. The only downside for me is the lack of side glazing on the escalators and stairways meaning that the transfer deck can be windy and chilly, but AIUI such glazing had to be omitted as it would have presented problems with fire safety requirements.

What do people think of Glasgow Queen Street as architecture? I have not really had a good look at it, being mostly concerned with catching trains and being annoyed at its lack of food outlets.

I went through there this spring for the first time in about twenty years. My admittedly dim memory of the old station was that the trainshed was fine, but the frontage building was poky and awkward. The new one is more spacious and lets more light into the platforms. All good for me!

 

[johnnychips]

If it hasn’t been mentioned already, Liège Guillemins looks absolutely spectacular, but in reality becomes a wet Wallonian wind-tunnel in the slightest hint of poor weather.

 

[Busaholic]

As I am from Preston and used the bus station from the 1st day it opened. I quite like it - brutalist as it may be!

I'm with you, though I was a later first user by about three weeks!

 

[GusB]

I don't have a favourite architectural style, but when I lived in Edinburgh I developed a fondness for the Georgian tenements and townhouses in the New Town. I also have a liking for Art Deco buildings; I used to pass a couple of houses built in this style while walking to school.

I also have to say that I quite admire some brutalist buildings, although I realise that it's a style that is very much "marmite"! My old secondary school was a concrete 60s-built affair that looked rather dull and dreary when I attended, but when I think about it now, and note the absence of the tower block every time I go into town, I do actually miss it. Having said that, from a modern accessibility point of view it would be a nightmare and it leaked like a sieve whenever it rained! I suppose that whoever designed it had a "vision", but they clearly didn't think about the length of time it would take to get from art classes on the 6th floor to the canteen, only to find that there was nothing left!

One thing that does upset it me is the seemingly endless sprawl of bland "Barratt Boxes" (other housebuilders are available); it just seems that none of the "architects" have any imagination these days.

 

[Meerkat]

One thing that does upset it me is the seemingly endless sprawl of bland "Barratt Boxes" (other housebuilders are available); it just seems that none of the "architects" have any imagination these days.

Housing estates built lately are far far far more varied and ’architected’ than anything for decades, both within an estate and by region (see all the ones out West clad in local style stone)!
But that’s not difficult compared to Victorian terraces, endless 30’s semis, council estates, the awful small windowed small 80’s estates and pastiche mock Georgian executive estates