Martin Pawley, 1938-2008

We are very sad to hear that architecture critic and author Martin Pawley has passed away after a long illness. Pawley was a unique voice in architecture who contributed to a wide range of publications throughout his career, including Blueprint and The Architects’ Journal, as well as editing Building Design and World Architecture. In February, Blueprint published a review written by Professor Peter Cook of The Strange Death of Architectural Criticism: Martin Pawley Collected Writings (Black Dog Publishing). As a co-founder of Archigram and long-term friend and sparring partner to Pawley, Cook gave an inspiring and very personal account of the writer’s talents and attitude to architecture. The review is reproduced below as a tribute.

David Jenkins, in his introduction to this book, honours Martin Pawley’s technique as a writer, pointing out that his style can range from Hunter S Thompson to that of the Daily Telegraph. This may be true in terms of manner, but it cannot conceal a special characteristic that seeps through the whole collection, namely that combination of seriousness and a certain elegance of argument that few of the current swarm of architectural writers seem able to emulate.

Pawley often presents the background to his reports in a steady, almost pedantic way, so that in a 1987 piece on the Piccadilly Line train‚ we are reminded that, ‘in the case of the 1973 Tube Stock a car length of 17.8m was finally arrived at’. A 1991 piece on Stansted Airport relates the Foster structure to the fact that ‘laser-levelled floor plates of 25,000m2 are not unusual, and 50,000m2 is not unknown’. Yet his pedantry soon reveals itself to be that of an enthusiast. Pawley is never a mere bystander.

New New Towns

As we in Britain look again at building new towns. Blueprint announces New New Towns, a symposium organised by the Architecture Foundation, which will be held on February 20 and 21 at Rich Mix Foundation, London. We asked Peter Hall professor of planning at the Bartlett School of architecture and planning and between 1991 and 1994, the special advisor to the government in strategic planning to give us an overview of recent thinking. Peter is involved in the conference. See www.newnewtown.com for further details.

How To Look Like £800 Million

Is The £800 Million Station the best documentary about architecture ever made? Its certainly the best since the last Anthony Wonke documentary, The Tower was aired. The two films focus on very different projects, the former of course is the refurbishment of St. Pancras, which has just opened and the other a high-rise in Deptford as it goes through regeneration. However, both programmes exhibit Wonke’s ability to capture multiple narratives contained in one project, through exhaustive filming and deft editing.

One of the best moments so far has to be the site of poor dear Alastair Lansley bursting into tears because, if memory serves, his glazing wasn’t flush on the East facade. Even better, though was the episode screened on November 21, which gave us an insight into the working of the PR department. Some amazing moments include Paul Day artist of the kissing couple statue, called Meeting Place, being briefed to create a work of art that will ‘appear on mugs’.

Even better though was the moment when Day finally unveiled the work to the client group. His single piece of feedback was that he’d got the straps on the woman’s shoes wrong; a piece of crticism that appeared to have originated with the Director of Communications’ wife. It was also revealing about how offensive in both meanings of the word, the public relations campaigns for major infrastructure projects have become.

Working With What They Find

By art world conventions, Riflemaker is completely unsuitable as a gallery. Yet, its founders Tot Taylor and Virginia Damtsa have been astounded at the success they have had showing art in a space that they openly admit is ‘a shed, covered in filth and dust’. Since opening in 2004, the former gun shop on Beak Street, has been a runaway success as an art space, to the extent that the last seven private views have been closed down by the police. More than 1,200 people turned up for the opening of Julie Verhoeven’s show in autumn 2007 and around 4,000 for the Indica, over the four nights it was open.

Taylor puts their success down to breaking the rules, and holding events which give people more of a connection with the work. Riflemaker is popular with artists as well as audiences, and the gallery has been able to attract well known names such as Gavin Turk. In July, Turk created four piss paintings at Riflemaker. During the production of the pieces, around 100 people urinated in the galleries and during Frieze week in October the paintings were hung in the toilets at Sothebys.

As a result of the success, Taylor and Damtsa have had to look for new spaces in which to show larger works, and to accommodate the ever-growing audience for their live events. On 3 December they open their second gallery in a grand seventeenth century mansion on the corner of Soho Square, a building that was the inspiration for scenes in Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities.

Rogers & Son

On November 21, the Pompidou Centre opened its doors to the public for a 40th anniversary of the work of Richard Rogers, designed by his son Ab, Peter Kelly sat in on a touching conversation about their relationship and designing together for the first time.

It’s not very often that architects get to see a full retrospective of their work, especially in a building of their own. What does it mean to you?
Richard: Architecture is about teamwork. So to express this in a building one has had a hand in designing [with Renzo Piano] in a beautiful city is unusual. The exhibition is meant to communicate the ideas to the public honestly. I believe in design, I believe in the power of design to improve quality of life, to improve the quality of cities, to improve the quality of buildings, and to have that stage is unique. To do it with one’s son – that’s even better.

And Ab, how do you try to communicate the ethos of the practice in the exhibition?
Ab: I obviously know [Richard] incredibly well, to say the least. The great strength of this practice is its ability to challenge politics and concepts of what design and architecture are. Our mission has been to try to tell that story. It’s to deconstruct the design and turn it into an exhibition. It’s very different from a book: this needed to be a physical experience. In architecture, the original is the building. You can’t bring that into the exhibition, so it’s a mixture of photographs, or photographs of people’s art, and models. While Renzo, I think, is much more about craftsmanship, to some degree Richard is about concepts, and so we’re using the photographs and models as illustrations of the concepts. It’s about bringing the public in, about expressing the buildings and creating the energy.

Double acts

The opening of two major exhibitions show how Scotland is reappraising its architectural heritage. Last week the Modern Galleries in Edinburgh, opened Back to the Future Sir Basil Spence 1907-1976. This week sees the opening of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956-87 at the Lighthouse in Glasgow which features two films by Saul Metzstein, film-making son of Isi Metzstein, one of the leading figures at the GKC practice. The films mark a fascinating step in the evolution of architectural documentary.

Fresh from the Battle of Ideas

Architects and critics fall back on describing architecture when the debate gets difficult. This was one of the conclusions from The Age of the Metropolis discussion at The Battle of Ideas, which Blueprint had the honour to be media partner of. The discussion as a whole was a neccesary riposte to the Global Cities exhibition at the Tate, which was informed by the work of the Urban Age network. Blueprint contributor Austin Williams was the first to point out that the statistic which justified that exhibition, 50% of the world’s citizens now lived in cities, had been modified to include the phrase “urban areas”. It was no wonder that Global Cities, had little architecture in it. It is impossible to plan, create and develop when one is motivated by a fear that the situation is beyond ones control.

Doris Salcedo

‘When you see the reaction of the public to the Turbine Hall, they are amazed by the space. It’s extraordinary when you think of the level of difficulty of, say, the pyramids – it’s a straight-forward, industrial building. I think it’s a narcissistic reaction. People are thinking of the power and of what it represents – people are always looking up.’ With a wry look, Doris Salcedo describes her plans for the latest installation at the Tate Modern. The Columbian artist is standing among works made over the last 10 years at the White Cube Gallery, timed to prefigure her major installation at Bankside. The latest large-scale project in the Unilever series is a new intervention that, for the past six months, has functioned as a labyrinth of Carsten Höller’s metallic slides.

The Sheds of Julian Perry

We urge you to go and see Julian Perry’s exhibition A Common Treasury at Austin Desmond Fine Art in London. Julian’s paintings are inspired by the sheds of Manor Garden allotments, demolished to make way for the 2012 Olympics, and are featured in the October issue of Blueprint. The exhibition runs from 17 Oct to 16 November.

Austin Desmond Fine Art,
Pied Bull Yard
68/69 Gt Russell Street
London
WC1B 3BN

Blueprint Open Studio Special - This Is Tomorrow

This special Open Studio will be held in the Royal Festival Hall Function Room Level 5 on 22nd September at 3pm. Paul Kelly, director of the film This Is Tomorrow by British band Saint Etienne, will show parts of the documentary and discuss with band member Bob Stanley and some of the Hall’s refurbishment team the ideas behind the project and the RFH design. The film was initially shown during the RFH’s reopening programme in June with a live orchestra and choir accompaniment and performance by St Etienne. The film tells the story of Britain’s most inspiring building from its opening in 1951 to its recent renovation by AHMM. Have a look at this for more information. 

Blueprint Open Studios is a series of informal evening events hosted by leading designers and architects in their own studios. The events are an opportunity for you to listen to designers talk about their work and get a sneak preview of forthcoming projects. Blueprint Open Studios will take place once a month and places are limited.

BOOK NOW!
This special Open Studios talk is FREE. To get tickets go to Southbank Centre or call 0871 6632500 (open daily 9am-8pm) Please note that availability is limited so book in advance