"Iconic" building saved

[jean]

Many years ago I heard a brilliant rendition of Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecote on the excellent organ there.

Many years ago (about 1973 I think it was) I sang at its consecration, along with Liz Forgan and a few others..

I remember the inside as full of interesting twists and turns and places where you could position bits of choir. I had completely forgotten the exterior. Is it really pink?

[eighthobstruction]

ff....is the Bristol and West Building still standing by the Floating Dock....??

[ardcarp]

I am sorry. Deeply sorry. Humbly sorry. But I cannot love Clifton Cathedral, the Concrete Society's Winner of Winners in, I think, 2007.

Love it or hate it, the building was (if I recall correctly) conceived by the architects on the basis of the relative importance of areas within being represented by proportional heights outside. In other words, above the high altar the building is tallest and above the gents' toilet, the lowest. An example of form derived from purpose.

[teamsaint]

If you mean the white square building then on the basis of this picture it is still an eyesore now.

I have seen a lot of worse looking office blocks.
The one in front of it, for instance.

[mercia]

that cathedral reminds me slightly of the elephant house at London Zoo. (actually it's nothing like it) Interesting shape though, not many windows ?
meanwhile the Hayward Gallery reminds of a council incinerator or nuclear bunker and the seminary looks very grim (at the moment) - only occupied for 14 years ? - what are those silo-shaped thingies ? Love Ronchamp though. So now you know.

[LeMartinPecheur]

that cathedral reminds me slightly of the elephant house at London Zoo.

mercia: is the issue for you - as it very often is for me with modern architecture - that there is nothing to set the human scale and human function, in the outside at least? Doors and windows cease to have any reference to the c.1.5 to 2m human being. OK, since antiquity doors in particular have tended to be made big as a symbol of riches and power, but only up to a point. Some windows stayed human-size in the 19th/early 20th century, even if it was only the servants'/ wage-slaves' garrets!

Clifton catherdral's doors do look elephant-sized, so it's clearly an elephant house

Absence of detailing in modern architecture adds to this. Is this intentional, or just cheapskate?

All goes completely out of reference when a 100-floor office looks like one big window, of course...

[David-G]

I have seen a lot of worse looking office blocks.
The one in front of it, for instance.

It depends upon the context. The building in front is fairly appalling, I agree; but it doesn't make a great statement, it sits fairly blandly within the townscape. Whereas the big white block may be "iconic", and may look good to some (although it just looks like a white block to me), but it sticks out like a sore thumb and has no place in a historic city centre.

[MrGongGong]

mercia: is the issue for you - as it very often is for me with modern architecture - that there is nothing to set the human scale and human function, in the outside at least? Doors and windows cease to have any reference to the c.1.5 to 2m human being. OK, since antiquity doors in particular have tended to be made big as a symbol of riches and power, but only up to a point. .

Indeed



Human Scale ? Human function ?

Taste is one thing, doing a 'charlie' and making up guff to explain your taste is another (and i'll NOT post the Fire Station again I promise !)

[french frank]

If you mean the white square building then on the basis of this picture it is still an eyesore now.

I see it with quite different eyes now: it seems to be to elegant and 'classical' (but not in the ancient sense).

ff....is the Bristol and West Building still standing by the Floating Dock....??

8thO

It is now a Radisson Blu hotel, clad in blue reflective panels and looks quite stunning in certain weather/colour conditions. I was quite disappointed when they failed to pull it down, but now I think it's very beautiful (no concrete, though). This is one of the best views:

[mercia]

mercia: is the issue for you - as it very often is for me with modern architecture - that there is nothing to set the human scale and human function, in the outside at least?

not sure - I'll have to think about that. If I'm brutally honest it was probably only that triangular bit at the top that reminded me of the nellie house - I'm like the man on the Clapham omnibus, always ready to give an opinion about things I don't really understand.

I haven't found many pictures of the Clifton Cathedral online, I think there's some lovely stained glass - in another photo the interior looks rather gloomy with little natural light (?)

[LeMartinPecheur]

Human Scale ? Human function ?

Taste is one thing, doing a 'charlie' and making up guff to explain your taste is another (and i'll NOT post the Fire Station again I promise !)

MrGG, thank you - your cathedral photo makes my point exactly! As any fule kno, those little pointy things all across the frontage were designed for lifesize statues of saints (possibly in this case removed by Oliver C Cromwell & Co Ltd?). Not to mention the slit-windows on the tower staircases: tiny things that reveal - and surely not accidentally - the grandeur of the rest.

I expand the point: buildings such are Gherkin are certainly BIG. But grand? - I think not. For that, one surely needs human dimensions drawn somewhere on the object.

[teamsaint]

Kinda on topic, as we don't have a "What building are you admiring/enjoying now" thread....perhaps we should.

Anyway,the sum of money required beggars belief.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/21/palace-westminster-renovation-cost-taxpayers-3bn

[Flosshilde]

Didn't one of the recent Speakers spend that much on wallpaper for his apartment?

[Flosshilde]

According to the Palace of Westminster site, the building cost 'over 2 million pounds' and was finished in 1870. Using the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £2,000,000 in 1870 is worth £207,726,315 now.

[teamsaint]

According to the Palace of Westminster site, the building cost 'over 2 million pounds' and was finished in 1870. Using the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £2,000,000 in 1870 is worth £207,726,315 now.

so it looks likely to cost, in real terms, 15 what it cost to build?

God knows what the bill would have been if it was PFI.

or perhaps that IS the problem !