Number 21 August 1992
GAKBRIDOE ARGHITECTURE
A review of current Architectural and Environmental Issues and events in the Cambridge area produced by theCambridge Association ofArchitects. The views in this newsletter are those of the individual contributors and not of the Association. Newsletter co-edited by David Raven and Colen Lumley. ’Cambridge Architecture Trumpington Mews, Trumpington, Cambridge. CB2 2LS
‘°IME CONTEMPORARY HOUSE” 80members ofthepublic enjoyeda unique opportunity on Sunday 28 June to visit5 contemporary houses in Cambridge, one from the 1960s and four completed in the last two years. The tours, (part of the World Day ofArchitecture Events) organised by the Cambridge Association of Architects and Cambridge Heritage, and sponsored by Eastern Electricity, were sopopular that tickets sold out very quickly. One man wanted tocome over specially from Hong Kong, butunfortunately is too late to geta place! i‹ was particularly interesting to start with two houses designed by architects for themselves, and then to havea 1960s house explained by the very satisfied client, before meeting both the architects and the clients of the last two houses. Reactions from those on the tour included “the most civilised morning I've spent in ages” and “please can we have more?” PeopleI talked to were clearly very interested in seeing energy conservation pervading a whole design in both Dean Hawkes' and William Fawcett and Diane Haigh's houses. These also introduced subtleties of using space and light which may be second nature to architects but are rare experiences forpeople living in speculative housing. For me the highlight was Eric Sorenses's “Keelson”, still cool crisp and clear after 30 years, with its marvellous use of space, structure and light, and a very satisfied client whose only complaint in all this time has been theheight of the kitchen units. Its description in “Cambridge New Architecture” back in 1970 as“one of thetwo or , e best modern buildings in Cambridge” still Yes! Some tour members must have been wondering what they had let themselves in foras we approached thefirst house through the architectural desert of Perne Avenue, butthesites became more prominent as we moved clockwise through
southern Cambridge. Ivor Richards' courtyard house inLatham Road introduced the idea of the individual house aspart ofa sequence of evolving ideas, and a specifically “Cambridge” use ofbrick which also referred to the 1930’s house on therear part of the site.A common theme throughout all5 houses was thedesign of external space as “outside rooms” to make thebest possible use of limited sites; John Cole's house on Wordsworth Grove was the most densely developed of all. Its large courtyard and entertaining spaces made it an ideal venue fortheconcluding talk and refreshments, it was also interesting asa conscious attempt to relate to its context of substantial brick and tiled houses (some people on the coach had been muttering about being very impressed with theindividual buildings but worried about thelack of relationships with their surroundings). We were very lucky that the5 houses provided sucha stimulating comparison of different approaches to design, energy saving, and the use of space and light. It would be lovely to repeat this tour, but sadly the logistics of organising access to5 private houses, with around 10 architect guides (and such minor practical problems asbackinga coach along the length of Latham Road!) mean that it has to be a “one-off’. We are very grateful to the owners and thearchitects for making thetour possible; the challenge now is how to build on the obvious potential and get the message of architecture over to that willing but waiting public whichjust needs tohave its eyes opened! One final thought: an engineer friend (female) pointed out that only one of the five houses hada window over thekitchen st.. andthat was the only house inwhicha woman architect played an equal part of the design! A few stereotypes still needing tobe overcome. John Preston
'Outside Rooms '. Wordsworth Grove. Bland, Brown& Cole
TO LET Delightful but surplus work space Suitable for architects, engineers, surveyors, planners, landscapers, graphic designers. Ifyou would lilce to be working ina barn, ina garden, on the edge ofthe fields 10 minutes from the City Centre,1 minute from the A45 contact us, now. Share libary, conference room, equipment. Stephen Brown, Cambridge Architects Partnership. (0223) 85-3686
PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS William Fawcett
Chesterton asa piece of tow'n. Student scheme by Benedict Zucchi. Jan' 90
NORTHERN FRINGE Forsome years it has been obvious that the Chesterton British Rail Sidings and the Anglian Water sewage works site (comprising 90 hectares or 220 acres) represents one of the last areas within the City boundaries fora substantial development. In 1989, with other teachers at the University's Department of Architecture,I rana one-term exercise fora group of Diploma students, and when, earlier this year, the City Council issueda brief to consultants fora feasibility study, my practice joined with Colin Buchanan and Partners and Hillier Parker ina successful submission and we were appointed in March 1992. The study is notable for being overseen bya working party including representatives from theCity, the County and South Cambridgeshire District Council. The study was sponsored by the major landowners - the British Rail Property Board and Anglian Water and Cambridge United also madea financial contribution because of their interest in findinga new site for their stadium. The City's brief indicated three criteria against which thestudy would be judged: environmental quality and sustainability, phasing flexibility, and financial viability. Not surprisingly, it has been thelast of these which has dominated discussions. The cost of relocating Anglian Water's operations is enormous. No doubt they will be required to move inthenext 25 years anyway, either asa consequence of higher environmental standards or of changes in technology. In my own view it is therefore unrealistic to expect redevelopment alone to fund that re-location. Nevertheless those were theterms we had to work within and in present market conditions the only option which goes anywhere near to developing sufficient value is a substantial retail park. On the currently assumed “modal split” between public and private transport, some 7,000 cars need tobe accommodated on thesite to serve the development so that, whatever thedisposition of buildings on the ground, the principal land use would turn out to be surface car parking. It is questionable whether any precedents can be found fora satisfactory piece of urban design
within these constraints. After investigatinga number ofland use alternatives, we opted forplacing the major retail floorspace along the edge of therailway, frontinga North-south Boulevard (bicycles, pedestrians and guided buses only), with the private cars occupying thecentre of the site. The primary reason forthis strategy is so that, if and when ournational transport policy comes closer to that of Germany and most of theother countries in Europe, which encourage theuse of public rather than private transport, maximum flexibility is retained for developing the major part of the site for housing and other uses. With theBritish Rail Parkway station and the City's proposed guided bus system, the site is well-served by public transport and a major shopping development (at out-of-town scale, but in-town as it were) is not sucha daft idea. I hope that eventually the Chesterton sidings could grow intoa bit of real town, with mixed uses anda proper urban character: this has been many architects' aim in the 20th century, never realised because of the influence of the motorcar - perhaps it will be achieved in the 21st century? Nicholas Ray
H C Moss (Builders) Ltd Small Works Department
This mastercfass was given on2 7th June by Tim Soar in conjunction with the Site Work exhibition at the Architecture Gallery and Dark Room Photographic Gallery. I expect that most ofus find out own architectural photos sometimesa little, shall we say, disappointing. Tim Soar showed two architectural photography masterclasses just how much skill is required to transfer into photographs our first hand experience of architecture. First, the camera: a Linhof5 x 4 plate camera ona sturdy( !) tripod. The camera isn'ta single object, itsa case full of parts that can be configured to the needs of each individual shot. Everything can be adjusted, tilted, swivelled, raised, lowered, moved tothe left or right; and there are abouta dozen difference lenses to choose from. Second, th subject matter: the masterclasses were help theForbes-Mellon Library of Clare College (Philip Dowson andArup Associates, 1984) witha somewhat octagonal main space. Tim Soar challenged his pupils: which single view captures the essence of the space and the architecture? Much wandering around the library, and the general consensus was to look across the space towardsa double-height bay window with sunlight flooding through it. The camera was transported to the vantage point, the adjustments adjusted, the lenses swapped, thepotted plants shifted to move thecameraa critical few inches and there, upside down and back tofront on the ground glass screen, was the image. Then thefunstarted. Photographs are made with light and photographic film, but photographic film does not react to light. There are(at least) two problems: contrast and colour. The sunlit window ofcourse gave far toomuch contrast, as Tim Soar showed witha quick Polaroid print. Out came theflash-gun,a 6000w monster on its own tripod. it killed tl/ contrast but threw shadows thewrong way. Y_ Another flash gun, another Polaroid. We were making progress, but time was nearly up. Tim Soar ended by describing colour problems and showing thearray of colour filters that he keeps tohand. Tim Soar told us that he can take six shots ina day: amazing, so many! And the point of the technology is self-effacement, the maximum ofeffort to achieve the minimum of artifice.
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Interiors. Forbes-Mellon Libarary
ANNUAL EXHIBITION TheUniversity Department of Architecture Annual Exhibition was rich in European dimensions continuinga developing trend in recent years. Schemes displayed included projects in Paris, Luxembourg and Lisbon as well as London based schemes seeking to ensure its future ina European context. In the Introduction to the exhibition catalogue, Prof. Peter Carolin argues the case for greater diversification and identifies in the work ofthe departmenta range of studies, collaborations etc all contributing toa Europe sans frontiéres. By implication the continuing need for theoretical work and thevalue of identifying and studying ends as well as means is also restated. Trying to establisha balance between these has clearly beena major preoccupation with this school more than most over recent years. It will be interesting to see how the work ofthedepartment develops with signs in the wind ofperhaps greater pragmatism as well as diversity. David Raven
4 RCHITECTURE IN •JOTOGRAPHY SINCE EARLY MODERNISM The remarkable exhibition of architectural photography SITE WORKdivided and shown jointly at the Architecture Gallery and the Cambridge Darkroom Photographic Gallery through July was accompanied by an architectural photography masterclass given by Tim Soar,a panel discussion and various educational visits by schoolchildren. Architects have low standards of expectation in architectural photography in the opinion of Peter Carolin, past editor of the Architects Journal, chairing the panel discussion. This was perhaps reflected in the small proportion of architects at the event. The five speakers, drawn from backgrounds echoing thefascinating range of issues raised by this collocation of images, demonstrated the wealth of ateenjoyed by thevarious manifestations of ographic representation of architecture and the bit environment. Martin Caiger-Smith, curator of the exhibition, was interested in the convergence of theseparate aesthetics of photographic practice and architecture; underlining the impossibility of neutrality in the selection, flaming, foregrounding, illusionary, and abstracting, manipulation of the monocular vision of photography. His concern was to show important pictures of buildings, rather than pictures of important buildings. This synoptic approach contrasted the intentions of commissioned photography forthepurpose of exegis of the architectural work, with that of the photograph using the built environment asa medium forartistic, pedagogic, or documentary journalistic purposes. So many hares started, the fulfilment was in drawing to our attention, less than in the following and trapping of any of them. Quoting Thomas Fischer he cited challenging the greater influence of the technologies of photography (and publishing) on architectural thought and design than even thenew technologies of steel and glass and reinforced concrete. Little has developed since the 1930s in photographic interpretation. Professional photography has not kept pace with change. The tragedy is that advertising and the media, trading off art images, have finally usurped therole of art. Colen Lumley
P&0 building and Customs House (after renovation) Freemantle.
A VISIT TO AUSTRALIA Preconceptions are obstructive. The image of Australia asa flat desert populated by koalas and lager loving male chauvinists is ill founded. A visit to the south west corner of Australia produced experiences of such gems ofpastiche as Freemantle (now carefully preserved) exhibiting the influence of western philosophy, the colonial past and the eccentricity of the pioneer. One can readily identify with the enthusiasm fora multi-lingual design vocabulary which is now developing. Not only does water go down theplug hole the other way, but thesun is in the North and still rises in the East. The paradox continues, the contrasts unfold witha growing consciousness ofa fragile environment which is at the same time threatening and dangerous. Even deep within the city scale of Perth one feels the dominating influence of the landscape. In the more rural and isolated concentrations of population this dominance assumesa supremacy where thefour principal elements become an almost primaeval experience. The palette of materials available is both broad and rich to the point of opulence. The designer has further opportunities withina planning system, rigid in its constraint, of where you can build and how much, butfree in respect of what is built and in which style. Not surprisingly, and as the Australian Soaps might suggest, the restrained and conservative urban styles (clear leftovers from Beckenham, Willesden and Doncaster predominate. Even those edges are being eroded and architects and builders with vision, energy and daring are taking risks, drawing distinctions and redrafting the accepted boundaries. Light, which thetraditionalists in Australian Architecture worked so hard to exclude, now penetrates the core of habitable space. Constantly one is aware of how thenatural elements are courted, rain-water is saved and recycled, solar energy cools internal spaces, rammed earth technologies subsume theart of the mason. The Australians use more bricks per
capita than anyone else. Sustaininga wide range of hardwoods. These themes ofa sometimes rugged naturalism havea counterpoint in the technology of materials, the re-interpretation of previous technologies and of those transferred from other industries and disciplines. It is self evident that here there are design philosophies which are visionary and purposeful yet mindful of past legacies and the future generations to come. Without sounding likea representative of the Australian Tourist Board, it is hard to express the energy and enthusiasm with which thebuilt environment is being approached. However to seeit is to believe it. Until you experience the light dropping into the Karri Forests you will not appreciate what happens when theleaves of the trees (85 metres tall) hang inthevertical rather than in the deciduously horizontal plane. Australia has suffered at the exploitive hands of commercial developers. The thread that the early pioneers, explorers and settlers wove into the life-style and landscape is still evident. There isa growing recognition of Aboriginal traditions and influences which isa reflection of a conscious and caring culture which is emerging. “So let us then be wise; let us create structures that are not wasteful by virtue of their impermanence, let us create form so saturated in the essence of human spirit that the5 cannot go. Thatby virtue of their “being” the 5 are permanent. Let us within our budgets and programmes create one permanent structure rather than two-three-four dispensable wallows. And all this because it is wasteful to build, and build again, and build again on that very same piece of land. If we hear thecall of permenance we will build well, and thereby treat this land wisely.” Stephen Neille RAIA Journal (Vol 32 No.1) Simon Danischewsky
Building Experiences Trust:
GusMilstein
The International conference forBuilt Environment Education which took place at Homerton College between 13th and 15th April, brought together professionals from various disciplines interested in the relationship between architecture and education. The conference was organized by the Building Experiences Trust, which, under the chairmanship of SirRichard Rogers, promotes awareness of the built environment amongst young people, through thejoint effort of volunteers from all areas of the construction industry. Over 80 representatives from 17 difference countries attended the event, which opened with presentations describing Built Environment Education experiences in Russia, the USA and Denmark. Richard Rogers’ address set the subject in its global context making reference to todays ‘economic morality’, its effect on the environment and the value of Built Environment Education. International perspective The workshops, some ofwhich involved the participation of children, explored the theory and practice of learning about the built environment with the benefit of the experience of people from places as far apart geographical and culturally as India, the USA, Eastern and Western Europe. Madhavi Desai, who runsa voluntary young people's education programme with her husband innorthern India, led one of the workshops. She drew attention to the contrast between the passive and unstimulating tradition of child upbringing and school education, and the rich historic and culmral patterns present in today's life in the cities and villages. The illustrated children's work showed elements of universality as well as having great vitality and enchantment. Ina cross-cultural attempt at feedback, participants were asked toproposea project to be undertaken with Indian children. Interacting with children A group of8 to 13 year old children from local schools, led by Bob Smart, created an emergency city in the Egyptian desert, complete with living areas, factories, systems of communication and energy generation, cultural complexes (includinga university) as well as places of entertainment. In the process, heated discussions and debate on issues of use of land, ecology and planning took place, and at the end the city was officially declared open by its newly appointed 12 year old Mayor. A class from Romsey Primary School in Cambridge presented to the delegatesa slide show about their local area, the result ofa project developed jointly by their teacher and the writer. The next steps In the UK, the national Curriculum with its specific requirements to address issues associated with the built environment, providesa great opportunity for architects to contribute to school education. At present this depends on the effort of volunteers. Contrastingly, in France the organisation ‘Architects-in-Schools’ has official status and a budget which allows some 20 architects to be employed indeveloping methods and teaching aids for use in schools. In Canada and theUSA commercial sponsorship is being increasingly used toprovide the necessary funding forthe projects.
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