CA12

PRINTED BY LABUTE

Number lfl April 1990

NEW PROFESSOR TALKS TO CAA

When Thomas Jefferson founded the Free University of Virginia it was with the ideal of no courses, no degrees, no compulsory chapel, no prescribed duration, students would leave when sufficiently educated - the university was to be a place to learn and a place to learn from.

The dilemma of vocational discirescentred in university schools the incompatibility of the essential scholastic role of the univers ity, with theD1e nd of theo ry, knowledge and action implicit in the practice ofa profession.

Jeffers on's m ax inn s refer particularly to the self-dir ected condition of education, wherein education ends at the grave rather than at the degree ceremony. In architecture, in this country, it is the exception that our institutions reflect this condition. Yet the idea itself is now institutionalised under the s obriquet of continued pro fessional development.

These reflections were inspired by the discuss ion at the open meeting of the Asso ciatio ns Executive in March. Aided by Professor Peter Carolin's commentary on his exposure to the academic life as an executive, in b is new post at the University ho olof Architecture, the disass ion ranged over practical objectives in strengthening the relationship between the School and local Architects. Professor Carolin evinced that change, under government pressure on profess ional education and r ese ar ct funding (and the consequences of

I 99R9 allied with the opportunities in C PD , presaged a new relationship.

With Professor Carolin's outlining of the aim to raise the profile to a national level, ostensibly to make it a more sustaining (attractive) economic proposition, the conse quences of vesting the regional CPD pro gr am me so complet e ly under the auspices of the University have become a hot topic again. The Association has always hada clear v iew o n the need for ade qu ate practitioner representation, since the build up to the establishment of the regional CPD centre, and before the University tool over the responsibility, and it is clearly concerned at the new directions it could be taking.

Other included the more widespread use of local practices asa resource for student exposure to practice and construction. The challenge was made that local practices could indulge ina certain salesmanstiptoattract student interest. The prospect ofa Regional Office in Kings Parade, Cambridge at the end of this year will, it is felt, serve to make theRIBA more visible to all, including the school.

The absence for some time of interest and representation of school staffo n the Asso ciations Executive Committee was noted as an area for improved communication and for involvement in thelectur es and exhibition programme. The high proportion of commuting staff isa hindrance in this respect. It was hoped the continued on PageR

The annual General Meeting this year will focus on the new prospects for the Eastern Region RIBA with the return to a full time secretariat based in Cambridge.The Association is geographically privileged to have the new Regional office in its midst and has a responsibility to support and foster its development. The premises in prospect for the Office havea potential to be more than an administrative facility and to be a step in the direction towards a regional architecture centre.

The Chairman of the Eastern Region John Howe and thenew Regional Secretary Elizabeth Hurst will lead an open discussion which will cover the opportunities raised by the implementation of a regional centre and aspects of the RIBA's regionalisation programme that affects this area.

z< uav zeeo at the

IBSTOCKBRICICWORKS DESIGN CENTRE

Hills Road, Cambridge 6.OOpm .

6.45pm : 7.l 5pm :

Buffet and wine Business meeting Discussion: ‘Regional Prospects’ Guest Speakers will be:

JohoHowe, Chaiman Eastern Region RIBA mlzabeth Hurst, Eastern Region Secretary (now based in Cambridge)

8.OOpm 1

Coffee and close

"ZMIS 22OUSE WOULD BUILD TRADITIONAL BUILDINGS"

packed Union debating chamber became something ofa cockpit for the Cambridge Forum fortheConstruction Industry's debate. This was reported in W for7 February, so what follows isa personal impress ion to comp lement that report.

Quilan Terry’s arguments for traditional building were based strongly on the low energy costs of traditional materials: which way ofbuilding is least harmful to our fast ilisintegrating planet? He justified classicism as a search for an intellectually valid form of architecture, but what was striding for me was the strong emphasis be gave to resource use rather than style.

Colin Stansfield Smith, opposing, focused immediately on the latter, arguing that tne implication of the proposal is that architecture is purelya stage set. He wanted to achieve confidence in the present, liberation from pessimism about the future: we must face up to the global revolution, and build on the past to create a society fit for tomorrow! Brave words fromthe modernist side, but shouldn't they have included more ofa response to the wider issues raised by the proposer† Richard Biscoe-Taylor suggested a design check system based on ease of maintenance, sound practice, durability of materials, and cost in use. Building rules derive from the pro perties of materials, and the rules have not yet been drawn up for modern materials. He compared thethermal movement absorbed by traditional lime mortar with expansion joints which degrade after 10 years, and argued that the majority of 1960s

HZiwPRorZisson TAZ2fs to cAA

School would trite advantage of the opportunities provided by the CAA Newsletter and to guest-edit an edition and encourage participation in its contents by individual members ofstaff and students.

The arguments connected with currclar pressures andthe tellectual aspirations and status of the School have for too long stood in the way ofa recognition that the architectural milieu and its standards coexist ata number of levels, international, national, regional and local, and that schools and the practising community are mutually sustaining in this respect.

There are only two schools of archi-tecture in the Eastern Region and if these do not engage at the local level it must, not least, be to the impoverishment of the profession. The meetng was optimistic from, and grateful for, Professor Carolin's participation in the discussion, which ended with the impression thata constructive relationship could be built on, through continued exploration, and practical inter-acti on and communication.

and early 1970s buildings in Oxford colle ges are now giv ing severe maintenance problems: Blue Boar Quad at Christ Church had dry rot within5 years of being handed over!

He was followed by the best, and best received, speech of the evening — but was Peter Clegg aware that although opposing tné motion he made thebest case of all for buildingwithin an evolving tradition?

He argued fora pluralist and accommodating tradition: certainty and an exc lusive definition of tradition produce an architecture and a society that are afraid of change. His conclusion was that we should accept the value of traditional construction, learn from it, use it, but don't feel constrained by it. Architecture is a dynamic multi-disciplinary venture involving science and art: ‘imagine askinga scientist to follow tradition!’

The debate which followed started witha cutting criticism of Terry's use of ‘reconstituted stone’ (‘concrete which looks like stone and behaves better than stone’9.

Gordon Hannah citeda building of 5 traditional materials, one of whose wings fell down and was never rebuilt, part of whose roof later collapsed and had to be reroofed in a different material, and currently witha 64 million repair bill — Ely Cathedral! Kate Macintosh said that any retreat into the past which is not a reinterpretation of the past isa result of fear of the future. A builder asked for modern materials to be used well, rather than abused; ‘build something which I'm proud to look at’. When thespirit of the age is consumerism and the prime motive is financial, you cannot

expect quality — this froma student.

Most comments from the floor were against the motion, and Leon Krier, like the proposer before him, seemed to feel like Daniel going into the lions' den after previous encounters with Cambridge Architecture students. He tool up the consumer's view: 9 9% of mo us ebuilders pretend to build traditional buildings because that is how people want their houses, while they want their cars to be mo der n. Krier argued for ecological building — for long term use rather than as an object of consumption. We should consider the life — and the beauty of buildings over £iOor 500 years rather than over the next5 months or the next5 magazines. Buildings must have universality, not just thespirit of our time.

In his final speech, Quinlan Terry seemed resigned to a f amiliar conclusion; ‘it is easy to put up a straw man and then kno ct him down’. He uses modern mater'/ on occasion, but has to work with. his clients’ budgets — hence his use of reconstituted stone. He concluded by adjusting the motion: be would have preferred ‘We would build in traditional materials if we could', the real purpose of the motion is the wish to build traditional buildings. Evolution is not always a nigner sequence.

My prediction for the outcome was 5:l against, and it was a surprise to find the margin was only 18 2 to8 1. I still wonder, thougn, why the opposers never addressed the wider conservation issues raised by those proposing the motion.

6olza Prestao

ZiNERGYJ OLOBAZ* RESPONSIBILITY OR DETAZ¥*ED CONCERN Thecurrent dicussion ofthe

in already semi-arid are&s and

When we have done this the

‘Green House Effect is now an

raise sea levels due to melting of

tects and has been the subject of

water. Surely there is surely enough

articles in recent months. However,

lead for us to makes ignif icant

the conduction losses. So we seal

but it seems to De just too early to say what ishappening. A much quoted statistic is that heating our

the Building Regulations. We hear that the effect of these regulations is equivalent to those in Sweden in

ventilation, in some cases with heat reclaim. So far so good, but we cannot check our results.

50% of the COR released each year.

The facts thatI believe we could

accessible guide to the alternative

detailed level of how to pr oduce well designed thermally efficient

related. Parts of this picture seem to be emerging and I feel thata

of alternative forms of building constructio n and of different thicknesses and types of insulation.

best seller.

issue of major concern for Arcliiseveral conferences and journal

so far there has been very little hard fact which we as Architects can use to inform our work. Recent press reports have even questioned whether there is any ‘Effect’ at all

building stock is responsible for

Also we know that CFCs (as well

as their effect of ozone depletion) and methane are very effective

green house gases. There seems to no scientific dis pute over

be

whether there will be a temperature rise as a result of these changes and that this may reduce rainfall

ice and thermal expansion of sea concern for there to be a strong

changes in the way we build. Should we not be at least consider high thermal efficiency in buildings, that is far greater standards than are required by the new partF of

1955.

know more about are at tne very

buildings. I don't know how many architects calculate the cost benefits

9EVELOPINO ARCHITECTURE

IntheJanuary Newsletter under ‘Architect as Developer’ Roger Perrin calls for the building industry to be more “product orientated (rather9 than just concerned with professional etiquette and development profit (so that) new styles and technical innovation would evolve naturally just as they do in other industries”.

He argues that ‘traditional divisions’ not only limit product development but the independent architect is presently unable to influence many levels of decision

envisagesa Utopian future in which themajority of architects ‘will find a new freedom in the design departments of product orientated developm ent, construction and design companies’. He states without further justification that be expects buildings of the future to ‘have forms which represent the materials and structure from which they are made’ without references ‘toimages from history or other industries.’

Inevitably Roger Perrin is arguing to justify his own particular design

accuracyof our calculations is questioned by the ventilation heat

losses which we cannot calculate

with accuracy, which always dwarf

the Dui1d i ng t he b e st we c an, providing ventilation to rules of thumb provided by the Building Regulations that are at best approximate or fitting mechanical

Wh at we

need is

an e as ily

solutions ava ilable, cost benefit

decent guide covering the essential elements of the subject would bea

law 9teen

of fairly refr es hing and s lick buildings witha certain consistency of des ign quality but is this the result ofa particular process or the hand ofa particular designer?

At the end of Bateman Street we have watched Tartan in action refurbishing a ratherbrash and

ugiy office block of the 70’s and imposing with great effecta similar

lopers or agent's po cRets. He

Histon Vision Park we seea group

style°.

I like the feel of his buildings but it seems to me tobe to do primarily with style rather than process. All design offces develop their work overthe yeasand asa resub of experience restricttheir palette, argue the case for what they know will work and look good and then produce it.So what's the difference?

David Raven.

Peterborough was designated in 1967 as an overspill from London, for regional gr owth and to provide a counter-magnet to London (they must have been joking. with the recent winding-down of the Development Corporation under central government measures, the Southern Township pr oposal represents a front line demonstration of market forces as a substitute for planning. The combination of free market driven development with the intended, prescriptive design guidance for buildings makes odd bedfellows.

Itwill be noticed that the monetarist abhorrence with ‘planning’ refers only to planning by public or governmental agencies. Planning by property investors is another matter (and goes undera different name like strategic financing or some such) because the simple issues of returns and prof itability provide effective measures of the economic temperature and are self adjusting.

Economic values of oourse underpin our political structures and daily life but they areb ecomingthe subj ect,

rather than the means of existence.

Nowhere isthis more obvious than in such schemes as Docklands and the schemes for new settlements for Cambridge and now Peterborough.

Listening to the presentation by the development team forthe new township one was struck by two impressions.

The quality of the planning team, in the choice of its consultants, Shankland Cox / Ove Arup/ Davis Langdon and Everest; and second, the poverty of the planning context in which they were obliged to operate. It is no matter how good the team if they are lined up to play the wrong game.

It is possible to imaginea different seen ari o; where creativef inanc ing integrates public and private funding o n a s cafe in which research and develop ment can be harnes s ed toa spectrum of issues affecting the design and planning of human settlements, f unded out of the profits and contributing to the general wellbeing and o ngo ing projects. Where the considerat.ion of the design of our built env iron me nt is dr iven by a serious

concern fora rather fuller set of values affecting the quality of living and design, not devolving this responsibility to the phonus fiallonus of a property investor's priorities and vision of how we are housed and what people need for the future---. “a traditional village green is the focus of one of the Your distinctive residential nesgñDOUrGoods” .When central government has reneged from itsr ole of fostering planning frameworks, local authorities, professionals and business interests will have to take the initiative in formulating new and imaginative structures; which are inclusive, and which do not relegate human and social values in the design and planning of our built environment. But before that we will needa new breed of planner, with insights into the conceptual aspects of planning and urban design, to work alongs ide the legis1 ators and administrators, but not with them. Let us hope that, post 19 9D, exposure to themore inventive continental ventures will force a new enlightenment.

Colen Lumley.

making which impinge on design quality, like the money side and who is involved. In his company the profits are used to refine tne

product rather than line the deve-

p hilosop hy and his pos ition in

Tartan which has designers, contractors and developers in one company. But what isthe evidence

of this improved product? At the

Recent Graduates We offer an excellent and interesting working environment on the edge of Grantchester, we design and need assistance with a Community Centre, Doctors' Surgeries, Offices, Furniture Design, Landscaping and a recently won competition to designa very interesting series of college buildings

Ian Steen Architects 48 Mill Way, Grantchester, Cambridge CBS 9NB 3R25 84i515l

A Beg1onaZ Perspect1ve RIBA Eastern Region affairs have been dominated over the past few months by two interconnected events. The first was my arrival, as full-time Regional Secretary, setting up an office at the Martin Centre, delving into my p r edecesso r’s ‘Easte r n Region’ archives, and starting to make contact withtheten branches and innumerable practices in the region.

The second and more exciting event has been the gradual focusing of plans for the establishment of a new RIBA base for the region in central Cambridge. Things are developing apace: a building nas been identified, the terms of the lease are being negotiated and compatible sub-tenants are being found. The high street’ s ite we have inmind offers scope to develop a number of services which will be or direct benefit to rnemiiers. nIBA Publications Ltd hope to take the ground floor and are relishing their first opportunity to opena fully stocked bookshop, accessible to the general public as well as building professionals. We are also working on plans for the devolution of the C lients Advisory Service, for regional projects, to Cambridge, and will develop a comprehensive library ofp ractice infor mation, alongsidea computer database, in order to offer the best advice to clients on the selection of an architect.

The new office should act as a catalyst in achieving a nigher profile for architecture and the profession on the regional scene; for forging stronger limes with related professions; and for informing the wider public — potential clients, students, schoolchildren, about our work. However, we must walkbefore we can run! The result of the Region's bid to headquarters towards the costs of this expansion should be knovm attheend ofMay, so watch this space for more details of how things progress.

The RIBA Eastern Region is one of the largest in the country, with over 2, 0 OO corporate members, spread over six counties. It has the highest number ofbranches of any a region (I gather that the first ever branch was formed in Essex). Maintaininga lively and efreo•tivo communie•atior+s nGtvrorR is one of the key functions of a regional office if it is to support individual members and branches and to ensure that they are accurately represented at national level.

At a mundane level this means acting as a clearing house fo r inf o rmatio n. Here are some snippets:Eastern Region Architectural 'four of Bruges2 1 — 25 September 1990, approx £2 20, including day’s architectural tour,B & B + ensuite bathroom, return air and train

4

travel (from Stansted).

Deposits needed by 9 May 1 990.

Details from Regional Office.

RIBA Community Architecture Group: We are lo o King for an Eastern Region representative on the Community Architecture Group. This involves attending quarterly CAG meetings in London and commenting on Community Projects Pund applications. Please contact me if you are interested in this area of work.

A ‘ careers' info 'ation e ref being prepared and should be available from the RIBA by August.

1 BB0 Fraetiee Directory: The 1 990 PracMce Directory is now out Practices who tool expanded entries will get a copy free. I am expecting to have some copies in stock at the Regional Office for those who would like to pick one up free. (Or send £5 for n&p to head officer Expenses: Members who wish to become more involvedinregional or branch affairs should not be deterred by travel costs. Athough membersare normally expectedto cover ther own expenses, ifyou cannot do so, takto your branch whowiloferreimbursement.

Elizabeth Hurst, Eastern Region Secretary, The Martin Centre, 6 Chaucer Road, Cambridge, CB2 2EB. Tel: Cambridge 524157.