Cambridge Architecture CA 38

Winter 199617

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PHENOMENON

A noticeable feature of recent years is that many Cambridgeshire firms, particularly in the fast growing new fields of lT related business, are choosing to be located on the edge of the City, or in surrounding villages, in preference to City centre sites.

There is a current 'Bio map' of East Anglia which shows that about 150 firms or organisations are active in the dynamically evolving field of biotechnology, in locations in a cluster near Cambridge

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within the Green Belt.

One of the effects of this is to apply pressure on

A quarterly review of current a rch itectu ral, u rba n ist a nd e nvi ron m enta I issues a nd events in the Cambridge area produced by the Cambridge Ass oc i at i o n of A rc h itects.

The views in this gazette are those of the individual contributors and not of the Association.

existing centres of research. ln South

Cambridgeshire these are characteristically located in and about former country houses, in particular the Halls of Abington, Babraham, Hinxton and Newton.

Long before concern for conservation became a major force in planning and car ownership made country houses Meccas for the chattering classes,

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organisations like Tube lnvestments and the Welding lnstitute had taken over. Development was often low key and insensitive, sprawling over park-

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MAP OF EASTERN REGION

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land, garden, stable yards, paderres and vistas with

unbridled disregard. (The bodies of Humphrey Repton and Alexander Pope must have been in a permanent state of rotaiion.)

Development was generally piecemeal, incoherent and greatly varying in quality. Occasionally the situation would be redeemed by a fine building such as Douglas Harding's canteen at Abington 1976 and

Colin St John Wilson's Greville Laboratol Babraham 1974, bul generally the result *rs!ll' increasing affront to the original.

It was not only questionable to find country houses

so smothered but also to find such complexes thrusting out into open countryside often conspicuously. This is quite in contrast, for instance, with the constraints imposed in the Green Belt, in refusing out of town retail development such as at Duxford and in preventing the groMh of villages.

Recent intensity of demand has seen enormous development allowed. At Hinxton Hall the Wellcome Trust Genome campus has an in-situ population of 500 with the ability to accommodate 300 conference visitors in addition. At Abington the initial planning

approval was for 260,000 sq. ft of replacement

building for established activity plus 550,000 sq. ft of space for incoming organisations.

Typical of the type of firm needing space is Top: Section through new conference facilities at Hinxton Hall.

Above: Plan of Hinxton Hall Campus.

Sheppard Robson.

Right: Babraham section through new Laboratory. Felden & Manson.

Below: Eric Parry scheme at Abingdon.

Cambridge Antibody Technology, a company which has spun out from the Medical Research Council

and has gradually built up to the point of public flotation and a need to at least quadruple its sp' Revolutionary research, such as the genetic muv lation of pigs for human organ substitution, must shortly want to leave farm buildings at Babraham, for more sophisticated accommodation.

Although Planning Policy endeavours to encour-

age growth north of Cambridge, South

Cambridgeshire remains popular if only for its good connections. Stansted is just down the M11 and the improved A11 comes right to the door. (The Abington scheme uses the old 41 1 as an approach.)

South Cambs District Council has at least been able to exercise control over design. Eric Parry's masterplan for Abington is sensitive towards parkland traditions. Sheppard Robson combine advance laboratory design with conscientious conservation and respectful landscaping at Hinxton. Feilden & Mawson are gradually replacing a banal and chaotic mixture of buildings at Babraham with a refreshing collection of new facilities, a comprehensive landscaping scheme and the rescue and refurbishment of historic elements.

So although we would all prefer Wimpole Halls or nothing, there is some benefit in these new out-oftown work centres. They take pressure off urban and village locations, they disperse traffic and generally improve on what has gone before.

John Gummer's vision of more country houses, a high Tory reward system for entrepreneurs, may founder through having few places left to go.

Daiid Yandell

JON HARRIS - 'artist in residence'

SCULPTURE IN THE CLOSE was taking an RIBA Eastern Region I

study group to see the Morris & Co work in Jesus College when we were confronted by this amazing sightl No,

David Yandell reviews an exhibition of paintings

and drawings at The Octagon Gallery,

it wasn't a misguided attempt to

Fitzwilliam Museum 17 January - 9 March and

the School of Architecture, Scroope Terrace.

improve insulation levels in a Grade I listed building, but part of an installation in First Court, Jesus College by

Harris has been Cambridge's unofficial adist-in-residence for over thirty years. The two current exhibi-

Thoughts". No SAP ratings or U values were given! I was relieved to see

Nina Saunders entitled "Pure

that no trace was left after its

tions demonstrate the productivity, diversity, exploration, perceptiveness and humour that have characierised his output. He has never seriously sought commercial success and rarely found it and it is typical that these shows are not of his making. lnstigated and organised by a network of admirers and friends they provide both thanks for and worthy recognition of his contribution.

The local architectural community owes him particular thanks in a city whose picturesque aspects have been over exposed. He concentrated on less obvious subjects, and by so doing has taught us to re-value the alternative 'backs': the back alleys, streets and yards. He has poinied out ihat ihe city

Jon Harris

removal at the end of the "Sculpture in the Close" exhibition. ln contrast, Barry Flanagan's "Bronze Horse" (on long-term loan to the College) has been a particularly successful addition to the Court. Arguably even more successful is the Richard Long "Mud Work" on the end wall of the

College's Upper Hall (recently altered, after protracted negotiations,

by Nicholas Ray Associates to provide a new fire escape door and a new enclosure for kitchen flues). No one knew what Long was going to produce when he locked himself in the Hall for a day, but his concentric handprints are amazingly appropriate in colour and texture to the early C1 6

is not a series of set vistas and facades, but a { .ogeneous place where tops and rears are as

Upper Hall (restored by David

Roberts in the 1960s), and provide a welcome central focus to what had become a rather awkward end wall. I

ffiort"ant as fronts. ln this way he has heightened

our experience of the commonplace, the ordinary surroundings in which we live. His view of St.

am very pleased that the College

have now decided to retain this sculpture in situ, but will it pose

Johns Chapel from Park Street car park shows how the grim and the uplifting must co-exist.

There is a cerlain contrariness in this, similar to the viewpoint often taken in his paintings of looking at subjects directly into the sun. This unconventional view creates a sense of solidity in buildings and reflections not normally experienced.

We have also benefited by seeing what happens when Harris comes at his subject matter by closely experieniing it. He has made brick vaults and dry stone walls, he has altered and restored town houses and remote cottages. He has walked and cycled deep into many landscapes. Resulting from this are 3-D drawings with almost X-ray vision showing how things are put together. The freehand maps for the National Trusts are both explanation and enteftain-

some interesting conservation challenges in the future?

John Preston

Jon Harris

ment. The paintings of vernacular buildings feel almost 'built' in blocks of paint, almost made from I - clay, clunch and sand of the materials repreFrequently drawings are anatomical expoL*O' sitions of buildings.

To this type of experiential knowledge he has also brought scholarship. An article written and illustrated for 'Granta,' when only a second year student,

'Pure Thoughts' by Nina Saunders.

shows not only a visual appreciation of Cambridge's early 19 Century vernacular buildings but also a deeply researched siudy of their origin and authorship.

However in a town where academic 'graviias' is

often over-revered Harris has always been a debunker. lt could be ihat he will be best or equally well remembered for his enormous personality -witness how the smoke detectors at Scroope Terrace are brought into the exhibition, and experience his impromptu hilarious McGonagal renditions at celebrations and his outpouring of cartoons and greeting cards, rich as fruitcake with visual puns and literary reference.

We have been fortunate to have this free and adventurous spirit in our community, to have benefited from his inquisitiveness and energy.

'Pure Thoughts' by Nina Saunders and 'Bronze Horse' by Barry Fianagan.

'Mud Work' by Richard Long, Upper The Pickerel, Cambridge 1968.

Jon Harris

Hail.

wrote to the Bursar of Kings to ask permission to build there. He had a good chance of success since the Bursar of Kings was Keynes himself. He replied, agreeing to all the details and generously proposing a peppercorn rent.

Keynes maintained a close interest in the project and architect George Kennedy must have had to contend with a decidedly "hands-on" approach from his esteemed client. Keynes designed the air conditioning sysiem which blew air over blocks of

ice obtained from a local fishmonger (with the result that audiences began to associaie great drama with the unmistakable smell of haddock).

He established the size of the orchestra pit by get-

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ting his friend the leader of Sadlers Wells orchestra to mime all the different musicians while he drew chalk marks round on the floor (with the result, of course that it was far too small). ln an attempt to wean undergraduates off beer, he proposed the idea of a roof top wine bar selling half

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price champagne, and it was Keynes who devised

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e the opening programme of ballet followed by .9 Mickey Mouse cartoons. Where are such men of

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vision today?

the years went by little money was spent on t theAsbuilding and slowly but surely it declined into

elegant decrepitude. The tiny, wedge-shape.*d stage meant that ballet and opera were all impossible to perform; disabled access andttiG escapes were totally inadequate and front-ofhouse facilities were incapable of providing the subsistence a modern theatre relies on, in fact

STAGING A COMEBACK

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So what did happen to the Arts Theatre? ln April 1993 it closed for an 't8 month refurbishment programme and an appeal was launched for the E3 million needed to meet the cost of the work. Three and

they were making a loss. By 1993 the deficit had

become so great that drastic action was

a half years and nearly e7 million later the Arts

inevitable, and not just a refurbishment but a total rebuild was on the cards.

reopened. Now we can see what all the fuss was about.

There is a lot which hasn't changed at all. The auditorium is the same shape and size as before (it actually seats between thirty and forty more than it did, depending on how you calculate it). There are still two rather narrow entrances; still a restaurant on top and a bar at the side... There's an odd feeling of

One gets the feeling that a certain amount of brinkmanship then prevailed. The theatre began to be demolished by SDC Builders, the opportunity of a deal with Corpus Christi had arisen allowing the backstage to be enlarged, and the Arts management were keen to press on. Many unexpected problems arose - hundreds of mediaeval cats down a well, problems with basements and surrounding properties - but it must have been clear early on that the publicly announced target of t3

d6jd vu about the whole place which is certain to colour our judgement of the building for some time until it establishes a new identity, as it surely will.

Nostalgia must have been particularly acute for the theatre's architect, Barry Brown of Bland, Brown and Cole, whose association with the Arts goes

million was going to be woefully inadequate.

Money was rolling in from various sources but it

was not enough. We agonised and peered

back nearly thirty years to when he first trod its boards as a stage-struck undergraduate and later

through the hoardings at the pile of deserted.r- ''r ble and half finished fly-tower as the months r\ 1 by (see Cambridge Architecure Autumn 1994).

What was needed was a fairy-godmother - and, right on cue, that's what came along. ln May 1995 the National Lottery, not long after it had been set up, paid out one of its first big grants to the Arts Theatre - a staggering e6.4 million. Now everything the Arts wanted was feasible.

A new contract was let, this time to Wates, and work began in earnest. lf so much is apparently still the same where did all that money go?

The stage is now 50% bigger and a sensible

President of Footlights. He had already been working on a scheme for the theatre for about four years when it closed in April 1993. By that time the building, though not particularly old, was falling apart.

It was built in 1936, the brainchild of Lord Maynard Keynes, who unlike most economists had made a fortune of his own and was able to stump up the

836,000 building cost himself. He had found a vacant plot behind Kings' hostel on Peas Hill and

rectangular shape. lt also has a mechanically operated fore-stage which can produce a range of configurations, including a decent sized orchestra

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pit, in about twenty minutes (it used to take all day). The new fly-tower contains a hi-tech film screen as well as all the gadgetry a director could wish for. Below, the facilities for actors and musi-

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cians have been vastly improved, although the much loved arrangement of dressing rooms opening off the Green Room, apparently unique to the Arts, has been retained. The intention was to make backstage as good as front-of-house and to remove the "us and them" barriers between cast and crew, radical ideas in theatre design and testimony to the deeply held beliefs of an actor-architect.

The auditorium has been refitted with new seats

and cherry wood panelling. With no'space to

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ESCALIER Ronald Haselden has created a spectacular sound and light installation, "Escalier" which consists of a constellation of small intense coloured lights embedded in the outer walls of the central spiralling stairway. The light switches are activated up and down the walls in response to movement, causing each light to glow briefly and emit discreet musical sounds. Their tumbling configurations were determined

by throwing down bunches of cocktail

)ase its size the priority was to preserve the

ufrue atmosphere of a 680 seat auditorium in

which an actor can hit the back row with a whisper.

The proscenium arch and the circle are all as before and familiar features such as the plaster reliefs have returned, but the distinctive pentagon is now only a pattern of starry lights on the midnight blue ceiling.

The thirty or so extra seats have gone where the transverse aisle used to be, circulation from side to s de now provided by new corridors at both levels behind the auditorium. This was made possible by

reorganising the back of the shops on Peas Hill which on the ground floor also create space for a bar, bringing new meaning to the words crush-bar.

To borrow a theatrical phrase: there's the rub.

The reality in theatres today is that front-of-house subsidises the activity on stage. Consequently bars and restaurants are squeezed in wherever possible.

An extra one was created by shifting Davids into a new home on the bookshops' other site across the

way. On a cramped site with todays economic

imperatives there was probably no alternative but it 1. - pity that a way could not be found to create a .rous foyer where people could meet, see and be seen and get a sense of the building as a whole.

Although the brief stipulated that the main entrance should remain on Peas Hill there ought to be space

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for an unmistakably "main" entrance on Saint Edwards Passage; a double height foyer perhaps with auditorium glimpsed behind a grand staircase. lnstead this part of the building is crammed with bars and an economy-sized grand staircase pockmarked with diode lights and playing tunes of the telephone "hold-on" variety. This "installation" (by artist Ron Haselden) was originally to have played "abstract" sounds. Mercifully it can be turned off.

The frontage to Saint Edwards Passage has been

sticks and marking their resulting position

accommodation above the auditorium. The quaint, rather dowdy, roof-top restaurant and terrace have been replaced with a swish new

on the stairway plan. An element of chance is incorporated in the sequencing by a series of programmes and the hidden location of pressure points.

The installation, completed in December 1996, was commissioned in collaboration with Commissions East and received funding from the Eastern Arts Board.

Commlsslons East ls an independent non profit organisation which acts as the visual art and craf t commissioning resource and public aft advisory service for the East of England. For further information contact: Alexander Murdin or Natasha Freedman, Commissions Easf, St. Glles

bistro with a huge conservatory roof and soundproof floor. The feeling of being among the rooftops has largely gone and while this will be missed by the romantics it was inevitable given

the proximity of the Kings student rooms.

Above are two levels of office space for theatre staff and the plant room.

Disabled access was a priority and there is now a lift serving all levels. lmproving access was a key element in the lottery bid, and what would we have done without it? Of the t10 mil-

Hall, Pound Hill, Cambridge CBs 1AE. Tel: 01 223 356882. Fax: 01 223 356883.

lion to be raised, t7 million has come in two tranches from the lottery, the balance, when it

has reached its target, from the appeal.

Approximately t6.7 million has been spent on construction, roughly a third of that in services, such as air conditioning, telephones, computers and lighting. t875,000 has been earmarked for refurbishing the Festival Theatre in Newmarket Road, also run by the Arts. The remainder has gone on furnishings, fees, VAT and the not

inconsiderable "start-up" costs, running the organisation while the theatre was closed, recruiting staff etc.

Was it all worth it? The answer has to be an emphatic "yes". Cambridge always had a theatre to be proud of, mainly because of its reputation as a launch-pad for an impressive list of acting alumni. Now it has a theatre which can attract the top touring productions with facilities smaller in size but equal in quality to any theatre in the land.

Jeremy Lander

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rebuilt to match almost exactly what was there

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before. There is a big stainless steel scenery door,

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a stage door and, picked out in cherry (used throughout to signal "auditorium") the public

Saint Edwards Passage after reconstruction

entrance. Above, apad from some timber details changing to stone, the building is all as it was.

Surprisingly, this was not a requirement of the plan-

Consultants on the Afts Theatre refurbishment advertising in this

ners, or the lottery donors who felt that here was the chance to make "a statement", but the architects' own decision. A genuine desire to preserve the character of a cherished old building or a crisis

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s a Quantity Surveyors Davis Langdon

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of confidence symptomatic of late C20 architecture? Whatever the case the architect's ironic remark that "we don't do the outsides of buildings" will strike a chord with most of us in practice.

One area which has changed completely is the

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Arc h itectu ral Re se arc h Ltd,

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The Co n se rvato ry Restau rant

Archeological lnvestigation The Cambridge Archeol og ical U n it.

mercial research opportunities.

' The proposals incorporate two public squares around which will be shops, caf6s, lecture theatres and shared research facilities. These are linked by a bold colonnade running east-west in parallel with the Coton footpaih to provide a covered pedestrian and cycle route between the departments. A large perspex model of this formed the central feature of the exhibition. lmmediately off this there is also a

Sports Centre intended for University use, with some access to the public through clubs and coaching facilities, together with a network of canals and lakes. A park and cycle scheme is proposed to serve City Centre University sites. A bold landscape strategy is envisaged to form substantial

windbreaks, to provide a setting for the buildings and to exploit selective views of Kings College, the

University Library and open landscape. This is intended to be put in early to provide an estabIished setting for the buildings which are expected to be phased-in over a 25year period.

This plan is to be welcomed as perhaps the first attempt in this City to provide a framework for development but what will the new buildings be like? None have been designed, nor will be as part of the master plan outline planning application, but

some computer aided drawings by Richard MacCormac at the exhibition. oave a sens.

scale, conveying a feeling of lightLlegant builoll!!# of 4-5 storeys, perhaps a little like the centre of Milton Keynes, enclosing turfed and planted courts.

The proposals will be subject to comment in a forthcoming issue of CA. David Raven

BEYOND THE CRINGE from effluents to affluence lf plans by Anglian Water materialise to miniaturise and high tech the Cambridge sewage plant, the quintessential tinctures of the North Cambridge environment (eau de Milton) are a threatened feat/iJllir:,

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WEST SIDE STORY

A public exhibition opened on 28 January at the Senate House to reveal the promised plan for the expansion of west Cambridge. This followed a more formal presentation made to the University's academic community. The exhibition was introduced by the University Vice-Chancellor, then followed brief explanations from Richard MacCormac, David McQuitty from landscape consultants Colvin & Moggridge and transport consultant Geoffrey

ture of our local heriiage. Redevelopment measures that, if they do nothing else, put a spin on the des-

ignation 'brownland sites', are the subject of a forthcoming public inquiry looking at this and other jolly projects for the northern fringe. Prompted by the competition for an edge of town site, and fol-

lowing in the wake of the Gummerisation of Duxford, Sainsburys are pushing ahead with a

scheme for a 300,000 sq ft retail footprint ot1

Park). To make their proposal irresistible in the faie

of conventional wisdom (the local authorities

Reed from Hannah Reed. A questionnaire was pro-

Northern Fringe Working Parly last year earmarked

vided for comments to be returned to the City

the site more appropriately as a reserve for high tech related development) the developer's scheme

Director of Planning. And an outline planning application is to be submitted shortly.

The plan is not a comprehensive strategy for the whole of west Cambridge and is essentially concerned with ihe strip of land of 60 ha adjoining the southern side of Madingley Road which extends from Clerk Maxwell Road to ihe east up to the M11 boundary and is defined on its southern boundary by ihe Coton footpath. The site is to accommodate the University's Physical Science Departments by some relocation from the City Centre and some general expansion to provide modern research and teaching accommodation for the 21st century. The

brief to the consultants has been evolved by University Estate Management with Jack Lewry of R H Partnership acting as the Project Officer and link with the consultants. The plan incorporates

existing facilities on the site including the

Cavendish Laboratory and the Veterinary School, and independent companies Schlumberger, British Antarctic Survey and the CAD CENTRE. As well as creating opportunities for scientific advancement it is hoped to stimulate further closely related com-

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western extreme, o"t*"l"' ti',"" t"i"ril" prrriYd Regional College on the city side of the 414 (Arbury

comes gift-wrapped with a contribution towards the

construction of an additional carriageway to this section of the A'14. Other goodies in the form of leisure facilities and landscaping are a bonus, but the copperplating is in the appointment of Sir Norman Foster and Partners of Law Faculty and Duxford aerodrome fame, to design the complex.

The opportunities of combining the Chesierion sidings and Anglian works sites has led to a series of studies for this eastern extremity of the fringe

(Chesterton Park) which, successively, have opened the development to forms of mixed developmeni which are more comprehensive in scope, including residential possibilities and retail on the same scale as Arbury Park, and even a new station.

These proposals in the nonsense zone where City meets 414 and South Cambs meets City, is, in any

sustainably self-respecting urbanist's eyes, the place to bury the A14 and define the edge of the city in a belt of forest irees. But retailing is the ultimate expression of modern vernacular culture and market forces drive all. Everything for profit, but for

the profit of who? There waS a iime when trading Ied to the blossoming of art and architecture in European cities and a kind ,of urban life that was enjoyed by all. Looking at the artists impressions of new developments that are rushed out in a couple of weeks in contrast io months and years of shifts in strategies and locations, it is tempting to ask who

is in control and what hope for a reasonable accommodation of any fine feelings under these circumstances towards the character of the city? The public inquiry does not hold out much hope since

the procedures are focussed on developers schemes which have not been set in context with the wider considerations of development and the knock-on effect on city centre development.

A new factor in the scrummage is the latest proposal, by Chelverton Land Lease Developments, for redevelopment of the John Lewis site in St Andrews

Street. Although originally unimpressed Robert Sayles are revisiting the scheme which, coupled with substantial increase in other retail floorspace, will occupy and transform the middle floors of the Lion Yard car park into a two storied galleria from St Andrews Church dog-legging back to St Andrews Street at the Emmanuel Street end; the proposals all suitably dressed up as clapped-out Eclwsr6lun pastiche to correspond with the genius

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? Report on a Cambridge Women's Architects Group Meeting The need to involve women in the man-made environment was one of the key points emphasised at the last major UN Conference of this millenium - Habitat

11, held in lstanbul in June 1996. The two main themes of the conference were: Adequate shelter for all and Sustainable human settlements development in an urbanising world.

The UK National Agenda outlining what is being done and what is planned to improve the quality of life cities, towns and villages in ways which are consistent to sustainable development was launched at the Habitat 11 Conference. Gummer announced the need to build 4.4 million new houses in the UK. lt was explained that these new houses were required because of changing lifestyles not increased population. Three main groups of people identified are: the elderly, single parent families and young single people. All three groups have limited resources and need support. The first two are predominantly female. The Habitat I1 Agenda acknowledged the close linkages which exist between human settlements and eco-

nomic and social policy and the essential need to

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involve women in the UK Agenda. The DoE are content for market forces to respond to this need.

directly confronted by these projecis and there is

Developer led mass housing excludes the user from involvement in the building process. A key idea in the policies agreed in lstanbul was that people have to have a sense of ownership to ensure longterm maintenance and improvement, Studies undertaken by the Rowntree Foundation demonstrate that

.rnd putative planning guidance. The proposals jh#eleased stand in tn"bity Planners minds as an alternative to retail development in Chesterton Park.

The issues of inner and fringe city shopping are

some doubt that the lnquiry is set up in a sufficiently wide-ranging way. The 6 June date set for the lnquiry and the timing of public presentation precludes proper consultation with the public and amenity bodies, certainly of the wider locational

quesiions and considerations of urban form and effect on the shape of Cambridge. Many questions must arise from schemes dreamed up with such inadequate design consideration and consultation.

Once again the planners are running behind the developers assessing and living off the prospect of talking-up the design after ihe principle of development has been adopted. Real design has different

speculative housing otfers poor value for money, provides poor standards of space and specification and

is not adaptable to changing needs. There is an urgent need for women to get involved in the development process. Without balanced representation of all sectors in society we will be living in environments which will be inappropriately designed, unsustainable and place an unacceptable burden on future generations. For more information on the Habitat 1 l Agenda telephone O17O7 875253 or fax on 01707 875286.

Yasmin Shariff

foundations and carries with it the seeds of authen-

tic urban form.

Herman Ewticks

Hannah, Reed and Associates

Partner of Dennis Sharp Architects and currently ViceChair of the Hertfordshire Association of Architects.

NORWICH CATHEDRAL APPOINTMENT Last September Henry Freeland of Freeland Rees Roberts was appoint-

ed architect to Norwich Cathedral.

The position had been occupied by Bernard Feilden, then David Mawson, and on his retirement Keith Darby all of the Norwich based practice Feilden and Mawson for the last forty years. Keith Darby died in 1996 and Hugh Feilden took over as acting Surveyor of the Fabric.

Henry, architect to King's College Chapel since 1987 and architect to Guildford Cathedral since 1995) took

up his appointment at Norwich in November and was installed (which literally means given a choir stall) in a

ceremony at the Cathedral in February.

The appointment has a dual role calling for both regular inspection of the Cathedral (and numerous buildings in the Close) as surveyor to the fabric and also as architect for any alteration work. He has worked on numerous conservalion projects on ecclesiastical and secular historic buildings across East Anglia over the

past twenty years and is well suited to the task. The Dean of Norwich, Stephen Platten said "We are delight-

ed at this appointment. Norwich Cathedral has been well served by its architects and Henry will bring a particular variety of skills and experience to the post".

LETTERS...

GOG & MAGOG A PROJECT FOR THE MILLENIUM I have read Neil Ruffles article in the

Summer 1996 edition (36th) on the subject of the Gog Magog Park. Neil has displayed the vision, the difficulty will be finding someone to pay for the idea. And convincing the payer that the notion of cycleways and pathways is a step forward into the next Millenium and not a nostalgic glance backwards into the previous one.

Neil's vision of the future should be broadened to take into account all

RIDGE ARCHITECTURAT RESEARCH Acoustic design for the Combridge ArtsTheofie

transport issues. Birmingham,

Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers Construction Project Managers Planning Supervisors'

Manchester and Nottingham have done it. The starting point is to establish a Greater Cambridge Passenger

Transport Executive which will require an Act of Parliament. The Executive should have the following aims:

. To provide an alternative means of E:E!

Telford House Fulbourn Cambridge CB1 sHB Tel: 01223-882OOO Fax: 01 223-881 888 E-mail : hra@hracam.demon.co. uk

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snd, other excitrng buildings Research and innovation in construction

Cambridge Architectural Research Limited Offices also at London and Doncaster

The Eden Centre 47 City Road Cambridge CB1 lDP tel 01223 460+75 fu0l2Z3 464142 e-mailhfo@cultd.com

mass transport within the 414/M11/ A11 triangle. . To resurrect Prolessor Braithwaites' linear motor and monorail idea, the remnants ol which are still to be found in a field near Sutton at Ely.

. To integrate the mass transport

system into the Gog Magog Park and other parkland developments within the triangle. o To eliminate the use ol motor cars by the year 2010.

It will require an eflort of political willpower and expertise that has never been demonstrated in the Cambridge area but is commonplace in the more robust and less cerebral environments ol the big cities.

A Clarke for Jam€s R. Knowles

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.AA/R,BAD'ARY

15. April Eastern Region Architecture Awards Ceremony al The Judge lnstitute ol Management Studies, 7.30pm. Tickets !5.00 from Barry Pulford 01733 263158.

6. May CPD Seminar lntelligent Artificial Lighting. 6 Kings Parade.

5.00 * 7.00pm. Refreshments. t2.00 at the door. Details Roger Frome Jf,dZJb.

CAMBRIDGE ASSOCIATION OF ARCHITECTS DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:

€*." {}avis l-ungrlun &- Erer*s't *ls* .ft:uturing I)sv,is l-ungdon &{ un ugcrrtt:nl Iror furttrcr infornra{ir;rt ott tlte citsl atltl :ttrtliliorts contaet Stephcn llugr on (()1223) 151?5lt

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 9 June : 6.30pm Venue and Speaker to be confirmed

Nominations invited for Chairman and Treasurer for 1997-98 Viren Sahai,39 New Road, Ba 7AY. fellFax: 01223

ARCHITECTURE GALLERY 7 - 30 April. VILLA D'ESTE,

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CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology Downing Street, Cambridge ',-;)---,/ (

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New Hall Old fthools

The CAU provides a full range of archaeological services below and above ground, from deep excavation to architectural recording. Our efficient practise and attention to detail is highly complementary to the needs of business and the maintenance of high professional standards. Some of our recent projects include work at The Arts Theatre, Ely Cathedral, University Old Schools, Cottenham Moat and New Hall, |esus and Trinity colleges.

For Information Contact: Mr Christopher Evans, MIFA Tel (01223) 327802 Fax (01223) 374686

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k%aqr_ plotting @*"ns'os a\railable at

Exhibition of the famous gardens and villa celebrating the new publication by David Dernie and photographer Alastair Carew-Cox. 2 - 31 May. ROUTE, PLACE & MONUMENT Georgian urban space in Bath, Edinburgh and London2 - 28 Jun. PROJECT Department of Architecture/ University of East London.

5 - 31 July. To be confirmed.

1 -27 Aug. Architectural Perspeetives. Society o{ Architectural lllustrators.

HELLMAN cartoons and illustrations by the greatest living architectural cartoonist.

29 Aug - 4 Oct. EASTERN REGION ARCHITECTS. An exhibition to celebrate the 30th anniversary ol the HIBA Eastern Regir

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SUBSCRIBERS AC gazette is free to its readers and its modus operandi determines.that it should remain so for as long as possible. lts scope could, however, be broadened if

funds were available to al,ow regular 12 page editions. An invitation is oflered to all to become a Subscriber to ACg (f4 pa minimum) to enable this to happen.

Subscribers will be listed as patrons of CAg in the winter editions (CAg Subscriber, cheques

payable to Cambridge Association of Architects).

Letters and contributions to Ca mbri dg e Architectu re at e welcomed. Copy deadline for

Spring lssue,30 April 1997

Tlre Gopy (Dentre

rssN 1361-3375

Plotting prices start at t5 per plot file on 75gm paper folded or flat, with extra copies charged at our normal copy prices.

Scanning of large format drawings maximum width 841 mm from €20 for one off scans same size from any original. Discounts are available on multiples.

Anne Cooper John Preston David Yandell

Cambridge Printing Park, Milton, Cambridge CB,46AZ.. Telephone 01223420862

Editorial Board:

David Raven ICO -editOrs

colen Lumley I

Cambridge Architectu re c/o Trumpington Mews Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 2LS

Tel 353115/843931 Fax 576t188 I 844426

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