The Dream Realised (courtesy of me)

Some great news just in at Channel 4 HQ – the Big 4 sculpture on the doorstep of the Richard Rogers designed home of C4 has been given an extension of 5 years by the planning department of Westminster City Council.

The public artwork – a 50-foot-high metal ‘4′ – was originally constructed in 2007 to celebrate both the Channel’s 25th anniversary year and the launch of the Big Art Project and was granted planning permission for one year, during which 4 artists were to decorate it. The installation is based on the Channel’s on-air identity, with metal bars forming the logo only when viewed from a particular angle and distance. It is basically a framework over which to date photographer Nick Knight, Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner, Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui and recent art graduate Stephanie Imbeau have added a skin.

Nick Knight, known for his work with Kate Moss and Bjork among many others in the realm of fashion & music, covered it with bare chest skin of various hues, adding the sound of a beating heart at its core. I recently did an Amazonimpulse and bought Knight’s new book, imaginatively entitled ‘Nick Knight’ – at £32.50 one of the most expensive tomes I’ve ever shelled out on. From an Allen Jones-like Suede album cover to exquisite nude shots of Kate Moss, it’s a lively spectacle.

Mark Titchner skinned the Big 4 with panels inspired by trade union banners and advertising, the slogans questioning the on-going role of television: Find Your World in Ours, Find Our World in Yours. He came in one lunch time to talk to C4folk about his work, shades of The Waterboys’ Mike Scott about him. My second encounter with him was a great rum cocktail-fueled chat with at the Tate Summer Party this year. Guardian photographer Vicki Couchman took a top class photo of me in front of Mark’s Big 4 for a Guardian piece on the inaugural Media Guardian Innovation Awards in 2007 (which Big Art Mob won).

El Anatsui paneled the 4 with metallic newspaper colour printing plates. What I remember most about when El (as he’s known to his friends) came in to chat about his career in The Drum, the basement space beneath the Big 4, was his generous championing of young, emerging artistic talent from Africa like Nnenne Okore.

Stephanie Imbeau won a competition to provide what was to have been the final iteration. Her Shelter saw the Big 4 fleshed out with umbrellas of a myriad colours. This is the version currently in place – it’s best viewed at night when it is illuminated from within [see below]. The umbrellas all come from London Transport Lost Property Office so no pissing away of public money there then.

The Big Art Project from which the Big 4 sprang started life as a regular, if very ambitious, TV documentary series. In the original visually rich proposal for the project from Carbon Media a space was left for the cross-platform treatment. Into that space went the Big Art Mob and a bunch of interactive ideas I put together inspired by the wonderful public art works that punctuated the proposal. The Big Art Mob was born of my messing about for 18 months with Moblog’s mobile picture blogging software after an initial encounter with Alfie Dennen in the basement of Zero-One in Soho. I was on the look-out for the right project to which to apply Moblog and Paint Britain which evolved into the Big Art Project proved the one – the first use of moblogging by a broadcaster and one of the first uses of Creative Commons licensing by a UK broadcaster (the first use was PixNMix, a VJ project I commissioned in 2004).

Besides the TV, web and mobile stuff, at the core of the Big Art Project was the creation of six actual works of public art, seed funded by Channel 4 and the partners we gathered. One of these was Dream by renowned Catalan artist Jaume Plensa, located high up on the site of the old Sutton Manor colliery overlooking St Helens, a 20-metre-high north-western rival to Gormley’s Angel on the opposite side of the country. It is the head of a nine year old Catalan girl with her eyes closed (I found that out by asking Plensa directly at the capping off ceremony, he was very cagey about who she was and reluctant to reveal much in that particular respect). Dream was Plensa’s response to a brief developed through conversations with ex-miners and other members of the local community. Initially he came up with a huge miner’s lamp but the miners themselves pushed him out of his comfort zone or at least nearer his true self

Dream most deservedly has recently picked up a couple of major prizes. Last month it won the prestigious annual Marsh Award for Public Sculpture which is given to a work of permanent public sculpture erected in the UK or Ireland. The definition of public sculpture is loose, but the location must be openly visible to the public without having to enter a building or gain prior permission. The award was presented at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.

Plensa also picked up the British Creativity in Concrete Award for 2009 for Dream at a special ceremony at Southwark Cathedral. This award is presented each year to an architect, designer or artist in recognition of a particular achievement for the creative use of precast concrete. It’s difficult to convey the photograph-like subtlety of the face, no more than a pale reflection in photos like above.

The moment I walked round the corner of a forest path and first saw Dream in April was one of the high points of this year and indeed of my career at Channel 4, and made every second spent on the Big Art Project over the 5 year lead up worth it. It was a moment shared with my former colleague Jan Younghusband (ex-Commissioning Editor of Arts at C4, now Head of Music at BBC) who proved so open to the multiplatform dimension. It was indeed a dream come true.

Night Shelter (courtesy of Tom Powell)

More on Big Art:

The launch

The mobile dimension

Mark Titchner’s iteration

More fun for the holidays!

Let There Be Peace on Earth (And Let It Begin with Me)
Music and words by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller
Illustrations by David Diaz

My Favorite Things
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rogers
Illustrations by Renee Graef

The Lincoln Center revival comes to the Rosemont Theatre, and perfection ensues.

The Lincoln Center presents:

South Pacific

by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics)
Book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Thru November 29th (ticket info)

Reviewed by Oliver Sava

Many would argue that the Lincoln Center’s South Pacific is the best revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein wartime musical ever devised. Having never seen South Pacific on stage before, I cannot gauge how director Bartlett Sher’s interpretation compares to previous productions, but I will say this: it is one of the most beautiful and emotional musicals I have ever seen.

World War II is in full force, and the threat of Japanese invasion has resulted in U.S. Navy outposts throughout the Polynesian islands. Romance is in bloom for Ensign Nellie Forbush (Carmen Cusack) and French planter Emile de Becque (David Pittsinger), but Nellie’s prejudices threaten to tear them apart when she discovers his two mixed-race children. The two actors have incredible chemistry, immediately establishing their softly smoldering passion with "Twin Soliloquies," a transcendent duet that probes into the characters’ hopes and fears and sets the stage for their tumultuous relationship. Seconds later, Pittsinger begins "Some Enchanted Evening," arguably the musical’s most famous song, and the audience is as spellbound as Nellie; the  quality of Pittsinger’s voice is ethereal, as delicate and powerful as the character that it belongs to. His Act II solo "This Nearly Was Mine," a heartbreaking rumination on lost opportunities, packs an emotional punch that left the audience with teary eyes and sniffling noses. There is simply not enough praise that can be showered on Pittsinger, whose portrayal of Emile de Becque belongs in a museum.

Cusack is no slouch in the vocals department either, showing amazing range with a great brassy belt that seems effortless. Her first solo, "A Cockeyed Optimist" has a youthful effervescence that captures Nellie’s naiveté, but Cusack then turns on the heat with the playfully sexy "I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," Charleston-ing in her bathing suit while splashing her giggling girlfriends with shampoo. The scene that immediately follows, an awkward confrontation between the half-naked Forbush and her renounced lover, is filled with tension as the audience watches the ingénue struggle with her combating emotions, but the payoff is glorious: "A Wonderful Guy" is a joyous exclamation of love that is heightened exponentially by Cusack’s commitment to her character, and watching her jump around the stage with unbridled glee is a fantastic release from the intensity of the scene that preceded it. After Nellie believes Emile to have died on a secret mission with Lt. Cable in Act II, she sings a reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening" with a lamentable sadness that makes her utterance of the line "Don’t die, Emile," incredibly tragic and heart-rending.

Pittsinger and Cusack are joined by a spot-on supporting cast, highlighted by Anderson Davis as Lt. Joseph Cable and Keala Settle as Bloody Mary. Davis has the voice of an angel, churning out incredibly high notes with ease, but he also brings fervent passion to his character. The intimacy between Cable and Bloody Mary’s daughter Liat (Sumie Maeda) is gentle, but there is a fire beneath the relationship that makes their inevitable split all the more heartbreaking. Davis also has great chemistry with Cusack, creating a strong bond of friendship during "My Girl Back Home" that comes from his understanding of Forbush’s troubles and the ways in which they reflect his own. As the injustices that have defined his beliefs become apparent to Cable, Anderson becomes increasingly fervid, culminating in the tragic "You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught," a raging criticism of how American society molds its citizens into hateful bigots.

Settle has the unenviable task of taking the stereotypical Bloody Mary and finding the reality that defines the character, and she does a phenomenal job. While Mary is primarily used for comic relief, Settle makes her sensual, astute, and just the right amount of dangerous, creating three dimensions from a cardboard cutout of a character. Mary takes advantage of the sailors’ misconceptions of the native people, proving herself not only a cunning businesswoman, but a deviously effective matchmaker to boot. Her enchanting rendition of "Bali Ha’i" has the mystical air that has made the song a musical theater staple, and she is aided by the phenomenal design team who create a towering image of Bali Ha’i simply with color and shadow. Mary’s hopes for her daughter fuel her actions, and watching Settle cultivate Liat’s relationship with Cable during "Happy Talk" is a welcome contrast to the brash mischief of her earlier scenes.

Design-wise, the show is a work of art, with Michael Yeargan’s sets stretching out to an imaginary horizon that feels amazingly real. Donald Holder’s lighting creating an ethereal atmosphere in the opening scenes with shades of blue and pink that pop off the stage, and stark monochromatic hues in the later moments reflect the dark turn of the storyline. Ted Sperling’s musical direction is out of this world, and the 26 piece pit orchestra have such an amazing understanding of Robert Russell Bennett’s orchestrations that it’s nigh impossible to not be completely enthralled in the music from the very first swelling of the overture.

Sher’s directing genius is clearly evident in the performances of his outstanding cast, but one specific directorial choice must be discussed in order to truly understand the wonder of his South Pacific. After Emile’s supposed death, Nellie becomes a caretaker to his two children, having overcome her prejudices when she realizes they pale in comparison to the love he has shown her. In the final scene, Emile reappears while Nellie shares dinner with his children, and his son and daughter rush to him as if he had just come home from a day on the fields, unaware of the moment’s gravity. Nellie does not rush to him, she does not wrap her arms around him and kiss him passionately. Rather, she is so overcome with emotion that she can think of nothing else to do but set the table for the returned patriarch, and as they all sit in silence, a family for the first time, Emile places his hand on the empty seat between his lover and he. The simple motion of Nellie putting her hand in his is done with such passion and intensity that it speaks louder than any words, and is the most subtle and absolute display of love that I have ever seen on stage.

If the opportunity to see South Pacific presents itself before its regrettable November 29th closing, drag yourself to the Rosemont Theater, whether that be by car, public transit, hitchhiking, or walking 20 miles in freezing rain. It’s a small price to pay for this theatrical masterpiece.

Rating: ★★★★

The Chicago engagement of the national tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s SOUTH PACIFIC will be led by internationally renowned bass-baritone David Pittsinger as Emile de Becque and Carmen Cusack as Nellie Forbush

done

The eight-time Tony Award-winning production will play the Rosemont Theatre for a limited one-week engagement Nov. 24 – 29, 2009.  For more information on the production, please visit www.SouthPacificOnTour.com or www.RosemontTheatre.com.

Le journal français Le Monde publie un article intitulé « La cohabitation des moyens de transport bouleverse les villes » où l’architecte britannique Richard Rogers y a présenté les esquisses d’une ville sans voitures, pleine d’espaces verts et de terrasses piétonnes. Le transport en commun est en vogue dans les grandes métropoles du monde, tout comme l’est l’automobile, il faut bien se l’avouer. Bien qu’elle n’ait pas très bonne presse ces temps-ci, peu de gens délaissent leur automobile pour prendre un train, un autobus ou un wagon de métro trop souvent surchargé.

L’une des avenues proposées et en développement dans le monde est de construire des « villages » collés aux gares afin que les citoyens n’aient pas à utiliser leur voiture pour les achats de proximité. Mais les tramways, les voies réservées aux autobus, les pistes cyclables et les stations de vélos en libre-service occupent tout de même de l’espace dans la ville, forçant les les responsables de l’aménagement à faire preuve de beaucoup de débrouillardise s’ils veulent en plus conserver ou créer des espaces verts. La suite dans l’article du journal Le Monde.

La cohabitation des moyens de transport bouleverse la ville

Couloirs de bus et de tramways, pistes cyclables, bornes de véhicules en partage : l’espace urbain doit faire de la place à ces nouveaux aménagements.

Le Monde.fr

L’auto-partage

• Historique
  • 1948 : la première société d’auto-partage est créée à Zurich.
  • 1970 : lancement d’expériences pilotes aux Etats-Unis (Philadelphie et San Francisco), en France (Montpellier) et aux Pays-Bas (Amsterdam).
  • 1997 : déploiement d’initiatives pilotes ou commerciales en Asie (à Singapour et au Japon).
  • 1998 : lancement de la première organisation d’auto-partage en France (Caisse commune à Paris), suivie en 1999 d’Auto’trement à Strasbourg.
• Répartition des membres dans le monde
  En 2006, 61 % des utilisateurs étaient en Europe, 34 % en Amérique du Nord, 5 % en Asie.
• Répartition des membres en Europe
  Allemagne : 28 %, Suisse : 25 %, Pays-Bas : 18 %, Royaume-Uni : 11 %, Autriche : 5 %, Italie : 4 %, France : 3 %, Belgique : 2 %.
• Principaux acteurs en France
  Selon l’Observatoire du véhicule d’entreprises de septembre 2009, Caisse commune (rachetée par Transdev en septembre 2008) compte environ 3 100 membres et exploite 130 voitures dans 35 stations à Paris. Mobizen (filiale de Veolia Transport), créée en 2007 à Paris, compte 1 800 adhérents, 70 véhicules et 65 stations. Auto’trement, créée en 2001 à Strasbourg, recense 1 200 membres, 26 stations et 6 en projets, pour 59 véhicules. Carbox (2008) exploite 40 voitures dans cinq stations et compte 700 adhérents à Paris. Okigo (partenariat Avis-Vinci), créée en 2007, exploite 28 stations pour 89 voitures et 550 clients à Paris. Okigo existe aussi à Rouen.

Voir aussi

• Le Monde.fr – Covoiturage
• Le Monde.fr – Voiture : la révolution des usages
• Le Monde.fr – Aux États-Unis, Zipcar réinvente la voiture
• Le Monde.fr – Sans la technologie, pas de nouveaux services
• Le Monde.fr – Les motivations et les inconvénients à utiliser une voiture
• Le Monde.fr – “La voiture propre ne représente qu’une petite partie de la solution pour demain”

Big talent represents “South Pacific” at Gibson’s

By: Timothy McGuire

I recently had the opportunity to attend a media luncheon for the upcoming touring performance of Lincoln Center Theater’s production of South Pacific. Broadway’s successful tony award winning musical will be playing at the Rosemont Theatre for a limited one-week engagement November 24 – 29, 2009. (ticket info)

The passion and excitement for this specific production was evident in the enthusiasm expressed by the people involved in bringing this production from New York to Chicago. They sincerely believe that this is an extraordinary show offering the audience the rare opportunity to experience a performance done in the spectacular old Broadway fashion, featuring a huge full orchestra unlike anything seen in current Broadway productions today. The touring show of South Pacific promises to be a near replica of the prize-winning musical that started in New York.

The most impressive endorsement for this production was the opportunity to hear the astonishingly powerful and elegant voice of David Pittsinger, who will be playing Emile. The impact of Pittsinger’s romantically forceful bass-baritone voice just a few feet away brought the small audience at Gibson’s Steakhouse to emotional heights, and one can only imagine the magnificence of hearing the full production of his songs produced on Rosemont Theatre’s spacious stage.

David Pittsinger also was a terrific speaker, appearing genuine in his belief in the significance and relevance of South Pacific to today’s audience. Pittsinger is the living embodiment of his character Emile. His wife is born of minority decent and he has interracial children (who he is bursting with pride to talk about.) His belief in love, unification and racial equality is evident in his actions and his loved ones around him.

The original role of Emile de Becque was written for an opera singer, and David Pittsinger is a talented, internationally acclaimed opera performer working with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City (most recently portrayed Angelotti in “Tosca”at the Metropolitan Opera) and living and working most of the year in France. The advantage that Pittsinger is also a world-class actor increases the quality of his role and greatly supports the well-written book that goes along with the classically entertaining music in South Pacific. With themes of war and racial conflict, along with the joyous uplifting story and cleverly catchy songs, this year is a fantastic time to enjoy Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

今年1月15日に71歳で亡くなった建築家、Jan Kaplický（ヤン・カプリツキー）の追悼展「Remembering Jan Kaplický – Architect of the Future」（デザイン・ミュージアム）が、昨日のエントリーの「Mariscal: Drawing Life」とともに、今週末11月1日で終わる。プラハ生まれのカプリツキー氏は、、1968年のプラハの春（旧ソ連のチェコスロヴァキアへの軍事介入）後、祖国を脱出し、イギリスに亡命。パリのポンピドゥー・センター（Centre Georges Pompidou）を共に手がけた、レンゾ・ピアノ（Renzo Piano）とリチャード・ロジャース卿（Richard Rogers）の建築事務所、ノーマン・フォスター卿のFoster and Partnersを経て、建築シンクタンクFuture Systems（フューチャー・システムズ）を主宰。生物的なフォルムと未来派ハイテクを組み合わせた、常識を覆すユニークな建築物で世界的に有名になった。代表作には、数々の賞を受賞し、バーミンガムのシンボルにもなったSelfridges（セルフリッジズ）や、宇宙船を彷彿させるロンドンのLord’s Cricket Ground（ローズ・クリケット場）のメディアセンター等がある。亡くなる前は、チェコ共和国での仕事に力を入れていた。彼の母国での最初の重要な建築物となるはずだった、国立図書館の新しい建物の国際コンペに通ったが、「Octopus（たこ）」とあだ名された、紫と緑のしみにも見える奇抜なデザインに反対意見が相次ぎ、残念ながらプロジェクトはキャンセルされた。カプリツキーは、彼がデザインした、České Budějovice（チェスケー・ブディヨヴィツェ）に建築予定だった議会とコンサートホールの完成を見届けることなく、故郷のプラハで、娘の誕生を見届けた直後、急性心不全で亡くなった。

追悼展では代表作の他にも、世に出なかった作品、彼の太陽発電の乗り物、電気自動車、ジュエリー、2階建てバス、果てはビキニデザインまで、カプリツキーの想像力と才能を余すことなく展示。SF映画に出てきそうな、彼のユニークで未来的なデザインは、模型を見ているだけでも楽しい。下の階で開催中の、建築家の「David Chipperfield: Form Matters」に比べると規模が小さいのが残念だ。

“Remembering Jan Kaplický – Architect of the Future” at Design Museum will end at the end of this week on November 1, as well as yesterday’s entry “Mariscal: Drawing Life.”

World-renowned Czech-born architect Jan Kaplický, who died on January 15 this year, escaped to London in September 1968 in the wake of the Prague Spring, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He worked at the office of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, with whom he developed the design for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and then joined Foster Associates, now Foster and Partners. In 1979 Kaplický set up his own architectural think tank Future Systems with David Nixon, and had created innovative and unusual architectures style that combined organic forms with high tech futurism. His major works include awards-winning Selfridges Building which became an icon of Birmingham, and spaceship look-like media center at Lord’s Cricket Ground. Kaplický began to spend more time in the Czech Republic toward the end of his life. He won the international architectural competition for the new Czech National Library building, which was to have been his first major building in his home country, but his design plan resembling a green and purple blob and nicknamed “the Octopus,” was cancelled due to the strong objections as it would “ruin Prague’s panorama.” Kaplický died with heart failure in his native Prague, just after observing his daughter’s birth, without seeing the completion of another of his project, the Congress and Concert Hall Centre in České Budějovice (Budweis), with his own eyes.

In this exhibition, you can see gifted architect and designer Kaplický’s major works as well as his stream of ideas for solar powered vehicles, electric cars, jewellery, bikinis and double-decker buses. His futuristic design, perfect for Science Fiction movies, is fun and exciting. It is a shame that the space is much smaller than another architect’s less entertaining exhibition “David Chipperfield: Form Matters” downstairs.

Tiendas del Camden Market

El sábado lo comenzamos con un rápido desayuno en un Starbucks cercano al hotel, para coger el metro hasta Camden. Pasamos un par de horas recorriendo los puestos y las tiendas que hay en Camden Market y alrededores (Fer aprovechó para comprarse unas Vans) y paseando por Camden Lock (la zona del río, con las esclusas, es muy bonita), donde compramos unos regalos para Cristina y para Laura.

Camden Lock (detalle y Fernando en unos asientos muy originales)

El río y detalle de las esclusas (Camden Lock)

Un puesto de Camden Lock (con una vendedora muy peculiar)

Interior de Koenig Books

Desde Camden cogimos el metro hasta Charing Cross (os recomiendo leer 84 Charing Cross Road, de Helene Hanff –y ver la película con Anne Bancroft, que en España se tituló La Carta Final–), ya que quería ver libros en Foyles, Koenig Books (especializada en libros de arte, fotografía y diseño –en el nº 80–) y en otras librerías especializadas que hay en esa calle. Después pasamos por el barrio chino, Regent Street, New Bond Street, etc., y finalmente dimos media vuelta para terminar comiendo en Spaccanapoli, un muy buen italiano que está en Dean St. (lo curioso es que estábamos buscando un Pizza Hut que no acabábamos de encontrar y, cuando ya estábamos sentados en este restaurante, vimos a través del ventanal un cartel que decía “Pizza Hut just around the corner”).

El barrio chino y los musicales son parte fundamental de la imagen del Soho londinense.

Leadenhall Market

Después de comer, paseamos por Oxford Street (fuimos a HMV y a Urban Outfitters) y después cogimos el metro hasta Bank. Ya en la City (totalmente desierta los fines de semana, parecía una ciudad fantasma), vimos el famoso “pepino” o “The Gherkin” (Swiss Re HQ, 30 St Mary Axe) de Foster, el Lloyds of London de Richard Rogers y el precioso Leadenhall Market.

The Gherkin (Foster) y Lloyds of London (Rogers)

Detalle de "The Gherkin" (Norman Foster)

Una calle muy "Ziggy Stardust"

La tarde-noche la pasamos en la zona de Brick Lane, un barrio estilo Lavapiés, pero mucho más “currado”: han reconvertido una antigua fábrica de cerveza, la Old Truman Brewery, en un espacio de ocio y cultura donde hay galerías de arte, tiendas de ropa, cafés, restaurantes como Al Volo, bares, pubs y clubes como The Vibe Bar o Café 1001, tiendas de discos como la de Roughtrade Records (en el Soho, en el 34 de Berwick Street, hay una tienda muy buena que se llama Sister Ray –venden por internet a través de Amazon.co.uk–), un mercado, etc.

Roughtrade Records y el bar Rootmaster, en Old Truman Brewery

Un original collage de la exposición "Young Masters"

Estuvimos en la Cynthia Corbett Gallery viendo la exposición “Young Masters” (obras de artistas jóvenes, inspiradas en trabajos de maestros clásicos), compramos un par de vinilos (Girls y The XX) en Roughtrade y estuvimos haciendo tiempo tomando una cerveza en un pub de Brick Lane (teníamos una reserva para cenar un par de horas después).

Instalación hecha a base de billetes de lotería y vista de la exposición “Young Masters”

Cena, música y espectáculo en The Brickhouse

The Brickhouse

La cena fue en The Brickhouse, un curioso local con tres pisos, mezcla de club, restaurante y cabaret. Cenamos estupendamente y lo pasamos mejor, tanto por el entretenido espectáculo de cabaret como por el ambiente y la fauna que allí había.

Al final, entre la cena (un menú de precio fijo con cinco platos), el vino, la propina y el espectáculo (actuaciones de cabaret que incluían a una contorsionista, a un travesti y a un presentador polifacético), la noche salió un pelín cara, pero mereció la pena.

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Kensington Palace

Y llegó el domingo, último día de nuestra visita a Londres (medio día para ser más exactos). Como sólo teníamos la mañana, aprovechamos para pasear por los Kensington Gardens (el Palacio de Kensington, el Round Pond, la Serpentine Gallery, etc.). En la Serpentine Gallery vimos la exposición de Gustav Metzger y el Pabellón de 2009, obra de Kazuyo Sejima y Ryue Nishizawa, de SANAA.

Kensington Gardens

Serpentine Gallery (2009 Pavilion, de SANAA)

Por último, fuimos paseando hasta Harrods (pasamos por el Royal Albert Hall, el Science Museum, el Natural History Museum y el Victoria & Albert Museum) para comprar un par de regalos y un encargo (sí, la dichosa bolsita de Harrods).

Royal Albert Hall y Victoria & Albert Museum

Museo de Historia Natural

En estos tres días y medio de visita a Londres lo hemos pasado estupendamente bien y, además, hemos tenido buen tiempo. Eso sí, nos han quedado un montón de cosas pendientes para la próxima visita. ¿Quién se apunta?

Maggies Centre, Hammersmith, west London (Photo: Richard Bryant/Arcaid)

Lord Rogers last night won the £20,000 Stirling Prize, the premier award in British architecture, for his design of a cancer support centre.

The prize comes as a ringing endorsement from his peers despite Rogers being bumped off the £1 billion Chelsea Barracks redevelopment project by the intervention of Prince Charles. His victory — for the Maggie’s Centre in Hammersmith, west London — came as a surprise. The favourite for the award had been an art gallery on a Danish island by minimalist architect Tony Fretton.

More

Hugh Pearman
Times Online

Lady Lucy ar rest

When I bought Lady Lucy her hull was rotten. We had to buy some trees from Borneo, dry them out for a year and then apply them to the boat’s hull in thin mahogany strips. We laid one “sking of planks diagonally across the hull and then another skin in the opposite direction. It took two years.

At the same time, Sir Norman Foster’s gherkin was being constructed replicating the sweeping curves of Lady Lucy and attaining its beautiful rigidity through the same technique of “double diagonal” cladding.

As I sit at my desk, I look at the gherkin which is about 50 yards from me. Lady Lucy sits in the mill pond at Hurley. I have never thought much about construction- I am no engineer. But I’m fascinated by these beautiful curves and the strength they supply.

Are there any architects out there who know whether Foster was inspired by traditional boatcraft?

This exhibition, until October 18th at CaixaForum, comprises some of the British architect’s main works, from his collaboration with Norman Foster and Renzo Piano to his designs in Spain, such as the Terminal 4 at Madrid-Barajas Airport, which earned him the Stirling Award in 2006.

Sometime last year this website attracted the attention of several members of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, an organization sponsored by the Prince of Wales Foundation in order to support and renew traditions of construction. While this organization does great work to preserve the techniques of traditional building cultures, they have yet to define what the traditional urbanism of their name really implies. The importance of such a definition I believe to be primordial. If modern planning measures continue to be adopted from one country to the next, any traditional technique of construction will become irrelevant, as they have in western industrialized (and post-industrialized) countries.

This all became obvious when a miniature controversy erupted and swept through the various internet discussion groups and blogs of the community over a proposed redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks in London’s Chelsea borough. An old modernist military installation was to be torn down and replaced by its new owner, the Emir of Qatar, with a new modernist megahousing development designed by Lord Rogers. There was nothing particularly interesting about this Rogers design, but Lord Rogers having written the plan of London, a plan that specifically calls for better design, it made sense that a Rogers design would be swiftly approved by the planning authorities. Hiring Rogers was the most risk-free option available for a multi-million pound development project.

Getting wind of this, and noticing that the Rogers design was an unremarkable piece of rehashed modern housing, the Prince of Wales hired his preferred architect Quinlan Terry to sketch up a counter-proposal that was more in harmony with the architecture of the landmark Royal Chelsea Hospital across the street from the barracks, which he then proposed to the Emir of Qatar through his personal relationship with him. The Emir, alien to the local culture and uncertain of what London considers to be “good design”, then decided to dump Rogers and re-think the development.

The Prince of Wales and Quinlan Terry counter-proposal

Lord Rogers' Chelsea Barracks redevelopment proposal

I am not going to analyze the controversy from all of its fascinating angles, such as the design quality of the architecture, Lord Rogers (of the House of Lords) teaming up with British Republicans to denounce the monarchy’s interference with civilian life, or the absence of affordable housing in Chelsea. I am interested in only one question: is this traditional urbanism?

At first sight, the Terry design is reminiscent of the 18th/19th century style of palatial construction in Europe. (In fact one of the “blocks” features echoes of Buckingham Palace.) In terms of authenticity, the proposal is flawless. The Rogers proposal is also a palace, although one with much fewer attractive qualities. But does Chelsea really need a palace?

Providing a response to that inquiry is precisely what a system of urbanism is supposed to achieve. The system in place for London unfortunately requires that one have enormous financial means in order to participate in any kind of development, and inevitably that implies that only large speculative development will be so much as imaginable. The Chelsea Barracks proposal is entirely a product of modern urbanism, and by intervening into that system, the Prince of Wales and other traditionalists are sanctioning the very thing they claim to be opposed to.

As luck would have it, I wrote about the different processes of urban development using London neighborhoods such as Chelsea last year. Combining this with our models of the processes of urban emergence, we can develop the idea even further and try to conceive of a proposal for a traditional urbanism that develops the Chelsea Barracks site.

When I last covered Chelsea, I used its housing typology as an example of a linear, non-complex model of housing development. While linear housing is characteristic of the neighborhood, it is not the entire tissue of it. If we analyze the morphology of the neighborhood we find many clusters of housing rows, but these clusters do not necessarily repeat from one block to the next, and they are intermingled with other, uniquely programmed buildings of varying scale, the most prominent of which being the Royal Hospital. This means that, despite the neighborhood’s texture being only semi-random and not completely emergent, it performs at a remarkable level of complexity.

This kind of fabric is very common of British-American subdivision development during the 19th century. Here it is in a pure grid form in one of Montreal’s inner core “Plateau” neighborhoods.

We can observe that the middle of blocks is populated very differently from the major streets, despite the fact that they are not very different from a design standpoint. We don’t need to propose anything more complicated than self-optimization to explain this pattern. During development, housing builders would work from the center of blocks outwards, where there was the least perceptible traffic, and shops, churches and other activities located where there was the most traffic. The outcome is a complex tissue with perceptible characteristics, not only random noise.

In comparison, here is the texture of a new neighborhood in Las Vegas (Henderson), Nevada.

It is the same housing model repeated a thousand times, some lots facing backwards from the main roads. This new neighborhood might as well define linear development processes. The only feature of this neighborhood is the house, and so it can only function at any level of complexity by ejecting its residents out into town for any activity.

Of course some might say this is not a fair comparison. Those old neighborhoods are old, and therefore have had a long time to achieve maturity. But a neighborhood maturing implies that the neighborhood is planned to have a life cycle taking place in time, of which the early stage of growth is critical to its final morphology. What did a young, new neighborhood look like in 19th century British-American urbanism? It consisted mostly of very large lots of gardens and other large events (such as, for example, a Royal Hospital). These new neighborhoods were advertised as a pastoral refuge from the city. Look at this engraving of Milwaukee’s outskirts in 1858.

Its overall density is much lesser than that of Las Vegas new neighborhoods, and it has a distinctively pastoral quality. Yet what happened to those traditional neighborhoods was often that, very rapidly (the span of 2-3 decades) they became very dense urban neighborhoods, at which point the rate of new growth plunged and the fabric remained stable.

See for example this comparison of the urban fabric (1897-1915) of the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, from the book Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs.

In less than two decades the neighborhood was populated from a pastoral grid dominated by the campus of Columbia University to the dense, New York-style neighborhood it remains today. In these examples, growing a mature neighborhood was intrinsic to the development process adopted, and once this process wound down there was very little left to change to it. The neighborhood was mature because it had reached its equilibrium with the socio-economic context. Correcting deficiencies is what is meant by a neighborhood maturing, and developing a mature city implies that one is avoiding mistakes during its development. If we are employing a development model that is set in advance, no mistake can be either corrected or avoided during production.

Notice then that in traditional neighborhoods, the construction of mass-produced housing came last, after the neighborhood had established itself as a socio-economic system at the fringe of an existing city. Because of this, the mass-produced housing is a complement to that tissue, and contributes to the established complexity of the neighborhood, even super-charging it with population density. This not only ensured that there was no environmental alienation for the new residents, but also that there was a limit to how much repetition there could be from housing builders.

In modern urbanism we require all new developments to be programmed for a certain type of use, whether we are building a housing subdivision, an office or industrial zone, or a “mixed-used” development. If this is not know and debated in public, no development project can be approved. Only when a proposal has gone through this ordeal can anything be built, and making changes involves going through the process again, so the developers just subsidize the mistakes, or leave certain parts of the plan unrealized and a gaping hole.

In traditional urbanism this is never necessary. In fact it is possible for entire blocks to be left as pasture or gardens, creating an ultra-low density urban tissue. Only as further development becomes truly needed are these blocks transformed into housing and other programs. A critical difference is that no planning permit or approval is necessary to further develop a neighborhood. Instead the residents have an envelope of building rights set in building codes, and everything within that space is considered to be automatically approved. Because of this the development of a neighborhood can be undertaken in a large number of successive decisions, where the next building to be added is not only determined by the citywide market but also by the current state of the neighborhood. This in turn allows a local community and economy to grow, which is absent from modern developments.

This is all very interesting for new neighborhoods, but how would that apply to a small urban redevelopment site in the middle of a centuries-old neighborhood? Clearly we aren’t going to be building up from pastures. This is where a “new” traditional urbanism becomes relevant, as we need to invent a new process that restores the features of traditional urbanism, but can also function in the context of mature cities and modern structural requirements.

Although the redevelopment of a large urban block is usually undertaken as a large real-estate project, it can also be considered as a nested process of urbanism (urbanism within urbanism). Much like the city-wide process of urbanism is characterized by regulations intended to achieve equilibrium, the redevelopment of a block of the city should also be designed as to achieve its equilibrium with the city as a whole but (and here is the defining characteristic of a traditional urbanism) also within itself. This is what does not happen in linear development processes such as housing subdivisions, or 19th century housing terraces. They provide equilibrium with the larger scale, but amongst themselves they provide no complement. For this reason, although you’re likely to see a lot of some housing model repeated in one place, you’ll rarely ever see it used again elsewhere. Mass-production does not work for buildings the way it does in automobiles.

Time and interaction are the critical factors. The reason large-scale development like the Rogers and Terry proposals get approved and built is that everything must be conceived and approved in one step. The architectural design is rushed in order to make proposals as soon as possible. The form can’t evolve over the course of development. This process is justified by the need to control the architectural character of the city, but it is not necessarily so. It only follows from controlling architectural character because we rely on static information systems and processes to conduct building. In fact, many of the traditional building techniques that preservationists are attempting to preserve do not translate into modern information systems (building plans). If instead of drawing the full plans, the proposals simply supplied the component patterns and a parameter space for them, then there could be an infinite variety of different instances of these patterns populating the new space, all fitting a particular need and applying a specific method of returning to equilibrium. If we wanted to release control even more, we could define some buildings from the neighborhood as models and whatever patterns they featured as automatically approved. And seeing as this is the 21st century, we could define these patterns inside software that could randomly generate any possible permutation, such as the City Engine.

With the architecture out of the way, there would only need to be a fixed design for the frame of spaces around which the urbanization will take place. Grids are flat and unspecific, and so a good project will have a place structure that creates inequalities of movement. (Even New York’s grid has subtle inequalities in the short-blocked avenues and long-blocked streets, creating vastly different spaces in character.) Crescents, squares and alleys on a completely open surface should be the extent of planning a new neighborhood, and it will be important that this design have value all of its own. It is quite possible, for whatever economic reasons, that only part of the surface will be built, or even that nothing will be built. A good urban design must work in all states, including with nothing on it. Remove the buildings from the Terry proposal and there is still a rather interesting landscape. The Rogers proposal, without its buildings, has nothing. Terry is therefore much closer to the goal.

Negative space in modern plots

In the final step, how does the developer make money? Sustainable development, after all, has to be profitable in order to be sustainable. In a traditional city, plots were subdivided over time as the need arose. In a modern city lots are defined as a standard shape, and then later sold off for some standard price. This approach has the unfortunate side effect of creating a lot of negative space. The developer of the Chelsea Barracks could instead sell or auction off space as an elastic product. The first buyer would choose the first spot on the open surface, in relation to the hierarchy of the urban grid. The second buyer would place himself in relation to the urban grid and the first buyer. These buyers at first would come from long-time residents of the neigborhood aware of some particular way of extending the neighborhood, but unable to find a lot a space at the right size before this project became open to the public. This process would continue until all the space had been consumed, and the end result would be that all buildings would be related to one another through the sales process. If the space was priced high enough, the later projects would only be initiated after the initial ones had been completed, and the impact of time would generate the demand for building programs complementing the initial projects.

In such a way the urbanism within urbanism would create its own socio-economic subsystem, would feature a randomly adapted but uniform architectural signature, and would complement and extend the external urban tissue.

While I’ve detailed a process for developing a small block within a city, this process is just as applicable for doing development of new cities, or new suburbs of cities. There are fewer constraints and difficulties involved in these other cases, which is why I wanted to use the example of the Chelsea Barracks site. Urbanisation is a universal phenomenon, and although the patterns change, the underlying principles are everywhere the same.

The end of a holiday is meant to be a bad thing but on waking up on Tuesday morning, something wasn’t right. I hadn’t felt at my best the night before but I had kept drinking and just assumed it was my body catching up with me. However, the aching pain in my bones and joints indicated that this was a bit more than a hangover, in fact, my head was fine, probably the only thing that was working well at that point.

A leisurely morning of trying and failing to picking up presents for people saw us eventually move onto the airport. Except the thing is, I dragged people to Terminal 4, even though the building with Terminals 1,2 and 3 was the place we were flying from. Terminal 4 was designed by Richard Rogers, the brains behind Heathrow Terminal 5 and the Millennium Dome and of course, the architect whose exhibition we went to see on Sunday.

That was probably less exciting for others who weren’t me but I thoroughly enjoyed it but it was good to be on the road home, people were starting to get tired and angsty. It shows how different personalities can really affect how people interact, especially when people are tired and have spent a lot of time with each other. A lot of the difficulties stem from my personality, I tend to prefer avoiding conflict with people I like so whenever they do something I don’t agree with or wouldn’t do myself, I tend to say nothing and just let it pass. This usually means I vent my frustrations and emotions onto more inanimate things, say the repeated digs about Pablo Picasso and whatnot. Compare to this to others who are very quick to huff and moan at the drop of a hat or waste no time at all in telling me to stop getting angry about things that aren’t important and you can see it’s a recipe for trouble. The ironic thing is that my way of dealing with these things is done with the intention of reducing arguments but heyho, different personalities deal with things in different ways and when your personality style is outnumbered, it’s always going to make you look bad.

Mind you, given that this sort of behaviour affects a few of my friendships, the common denominator being me, it is probably fair to say that I’m out of whack, which may mean…I should start getting angrier or a bit more free in speaking up for myself. We’ll see how it goes, watching other people, it seems to be easier to lose it often but in small doses as opposed to people like me, who lose it infrequently but on a much larger scale….that ain’t good! And of course, the problem is, I am more used to being on my own and the longer that continues, the harder it becomes to travel as part of a group. It reduces the looks of pity from strangers that the lone traveller gets but it adds more hassle along the way. However, on the whole, it was a really good trip and although I definitely recommend Madrid, I would still say I prefer Barcelona.

Another thing I would recommend is not fishing about your bag when you are not well and a bit drowsy, one dropped camera later, and I’m looking at the cost of replacing that. I’ll need to scan that travel insurance and see if there is any way (or point) in using that to get myself a new one. That should be my travelling done for another while so I suppose there is no great rush to get a new one. This can be laughed at, especially when compared to a tale of woe from a work colleague (no, not the crazy one who has yet to make her mind up about Hitler). She went to pick up her new car and one of her kids asked could he come along with her. Given that the child had been unwell the past few days and travelling has never been at the top of his best adventures, well….it almost writes itself. Yes, all was fine until the journey home in the new car when suddenly a small voice pipes up “mummy, I don’t feel too well….” Too late. Oh well, that new car smell is over-rated anyway. So that was an interesting story to hear back in work but it was work which was also bringing a pessimistic air to late Tuesday night.

The thought of an early rise and the return to work was threatening to bring the night to a dark and foreboding close but some of the football results couldn’t fail to bring a smile to my face, the fan and media uproar afterwards, was even better, although in my mind, I found it hard to dislodge the image of Charlie Brooker’s mock crying whilst saying “boohoo”. Not having seen the match, I cant comment on the decision, some people I trust say it was a penalty and the teams from the big Uefa nations get far too many decisions against the smaller nations but heyho, we don’t get an inch of sympathy from anyone for that, so again, boohoo. So with Sevilla triumphing and then Shakira being on Jools Holland, even being back home I couldn’t avoid some Spanish and Latino tinged fun.

And after a day filled with the working class ballet or whatever title is being bestowed upon football to make it more palatable to intellectual types, it was time for some proper culture (and as a true Glaswegian, I cant help but say that in a nasally tone and pronounce it Proper kultyir). Don’t get me wrong, I can analyse the hell out of football with the best of them (and in a better style than that muppet Andy Gray, the only time anyone should be recreating his “take a bow son” line is when someone else boots Andy Gray in the haw-maws) but sometimes it is just random stuff from overpaid and over-valued players being cheered on by idiots and best to just be enjoyed on a basic level.

Which brings us to art…now, I don’t what art is but I know what I like. The morning got off to a lively start at the Caixa Forum where an exhibition of Richard Rogers work was going on. Okay, no one should be cheering architects in the manner that footballers get lauded, there is a paucity of Greek Thomson scarves and posters on kids walls but at times, these architects are capable of conjuring up moments of majesty and wonder that will have people enthralled at their water coolers for a long time. They are also able to put a roof over people’s heads, which is probably more important.

You may not know the name but you will have seen the Millennium Dome, Terminal 5 at Heathrow, the Lloyds Building in London and maybe even Terminal 4 at Madrid and they are all attributed to Rogers. There’s a better element to his work than many architects with the importance of the social value being central to the design, which definitely appeals to me. So much of the work looks fantastic but the fact that it can be produced efficiently and bring a whole deal of benefits to society is important It also brought home the fact that his original design was chosen before the Squiggly bridge in the tendering for Glasgow’s latest bridge across the Clyde. Roger’s tender won but when the costs were examined and made public, the outcry saw a cheaper work selected. It’s a shame but given the current economic climate and the lack of additional benefit the dearer bridge would have cost, a level of pragmatism must be applied.

Next stop was the Reine Sofia, dominated by Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. There appeared to be people taking pictures of the people taking pictures of the drawing such was the excitement and attention being placed on it, which I found quite strange to be honest. The section was largely devoted to war based art and much of it was very good. I’m a fan of propaganda artwork, of which there was much to see and some of the pictures of the Spanish Civil War were extremely interesting, most notably, The Death of a Militia Man by Robert Capa, which has always been an attention grabbing picture.

However, Guernica…….I’m not convinced. I think the thing is, if you are being that abstract, it allows many people to take their own opinion from it, which means that it is open for criticism as much as the fawning praise it gets. A look in the gift shop indicated the level of analysis which was given over to this painting and perhaps, if I took the time, that would explain a lot more and help me get into it. It’s certainly a piece of art that was developed in stages and no doubt a lot of thought went into it but again, that style of artwork just doesn’t do it for me. In my opinion, Jonathan Richman was on to something; maybe if someone had called Pablo Picasso an asshole, he would have tobered up and did some more palatable art. Haha, no one called Pablo Picasso an asshole, not like you (me)

I can handle Dali, some of his work is decent and even his abstract stuff has some tangible quality I can take but at this moment in time, Picasso’s work is the Emperors New Clothes to me. I very much doubt my voice will be the one to shout “here, that Pablo is pure naked” and have people change their opinion but I’m just putting it out there.

So that was the morning and after a short break in the afternoon, things were back on the go that evening with a traditional Spanish meal on the cards. That was rather tasty, allowing us to relax and enjoy a few cerveza’s later on knowing that we had at least went for a traditional meal. After a bit of shopping, the bars were hit, with the 6 Coronita’s for 15 euros in the Irish bars being the best offer in town!

Those that know me will understand I’ve never been the bonniest person around but lately, I’ve been worse looking than usual due to an increasing amount of psoriasis on my scalp. This can be caused by many different factors but stress and overly worrying can be a major cause of it and I think we’re beginning to see a reason here! I’d love to be like the MAD character, Alfred E. Neuman, and his catchphrase “what? me worry?” but for whatever reason, my personality is not like that. So anyhoos, that’s been a further dip in the confidence and my way of reacting to it is by trying to make a joke about it and showing it up for the nonsense it is.

As we were off to Madrid and the weather was pretty warm, I got a number one cut. On the downside, this was going to expose the unsightly blotches but on the other hand, it would keep my scalp cooler and prevent any itchiness and the inevitable clawing that follows. One of our party said that it looked to be very sore but to be honest, it looks bad but doesn’t feel bad, and its impact is definitely more psychological. Anyways, we were discussing it and I remarked “it just looks really bad but you can just add it to the list of things that make me look like a modern day John Merrick.”

This was met, in all seriousness, with “You look nothing like the racing bloke”. Haha, that of course is John McCrirrick whereas my comparison was to the Elephant Man! Neither of them are characters you would wish to be compared to I suppose, at least Merrick had plausible excuses for being that way, McCrirrick just comes across as an awful dislikeable man.

For the record, I’m not really like either of these men, for my confidence levels I may as well be but its not really about looks. I have some really stunning and fairly handsome friends who are also single so it’s clearly not just about looks, a lot of factors need to come into play.. I just lack in a lot of areas. Theres been a few failures this year so its probably best to sit back, badger the doctors for even more assistance in getting rid of these blotches and carry the fight against fat into 2010!

So….

Here I am again!

Yesterday, I was taking a wander into town, enjoying the sunshine with my ipod providing the sound track, and on came a version of a song I’d not heard before. It was very odd, as just 3 weeks ago I had to stop myself purchasing the Rogers/Hart score of ‘Cinderella’ (because I’d given up my day job!) and the song was from that same show. ‘Sweetest Sounds’, beautifully sung by Sarah Vaughan, as if she ever sung any other way! Even more odd that I’d never heard it before – although my music library is pretty full, and so to put it on shuffle and work my way through that way does take a while..
Anyway. I fully intend to add it to my repertoire.. Looks like I’ll have to buy that book now!

Recently, I have been rehearsing with both the boys in the quartet and the girls in Solaris.
I’ve a gig with each this week. London with the boys on Wednesday, and Hexham with the girls on Friday.

On Wednesday, we shall be playing a mini-set at the Spice of Life jazz club in Soho. By all accounts its a lovely venue to play, and I’m hoping to get a big crowd down, not least to cover my costs of train fares this week!
We’ll be playing for half an hour, at around half 8, and then the main artist will be doing her thing.

On Friday, I’m returning home to Hexham (where I was born!) to sing some a cappella with my friends in Solaris. I’m really looking forward to it, as we don’t get to gig that much, particularly up there. It’s part of the Hexham Abbey Festival, and we’ll be on at 9:30 at the Forum Cinema.

But enough of the future, lets look at the past..

The Pizza on The Park gig was fun. – It’s a lovely Venue, and we got to try out some new arrangements on the friendly audience there. I’m already looking forward to our return in November.
The following Thursday (11th) I made my first ever TV apprearance. It was a little surreal, but quite enjoyable really! We headed to the BBC building, which is just nextdoor to LCM, so we all knew it well! As I went off to get my makeup done, and be interviewed by Harry and Christa on the sofas, the boys set up in The Venue at the Music College. The interview seemed to go like a flash! I’m not even sure whether or not I said anything i was supposed to! But the two presenters each got an album, and Harry made a (terrible) joke about me ‘working as a waitress in a cocktail bar’ when he first met me – I served him in Harvey Nichols many times before. Then we recorded about 45 seconds of ‘Feeling Good’ (about 15 times!) in the space I hadn’t sung in since my Final recital in 2007!

Finally, we set off back to my house, as the BBC folk cut together all the footage to make it on the News at half 6. I hid myself in the kitchen and made dinner for Aidan and Matt, so I didn’t have to watch it with them! (Too embarrased at watching myself on screen!) and then caught it on the iplayer later, where I watched it about 6 times over!
Eventually, I decided I didn’t think it was too bad for a first time! hehe

So yes, I think that’s all going on at the moment. Although I do seem to have misplaced my microphone, so if anyone should have seen my lovely EV 767, please return it – I miss it very much.

Thanks!

TSx

En la entrada de ayer se me olvidó comentar que hace un par de semanas fui con Fernando al CaixaForum de Madrid a ver la exposición “Richard Rogers + arquitectos“.

Richard Rogers es un arquitecto británico que se dio a conocer internacionalmente en los años 60, por sus diseños de alta tecnología. En aquella época, trabajaba junto a Norman Foster y sus respectivas esposas en Team 4. Entre 1971 y 1977, junto a Renzo Piano, diseñó el polémico Centro Pompidou, que tiene la característica de que las instalaciones discurren por el exterior del edificio. Actualmente es director para la arquitectura y el urbanismo del Greater London Authority.

Algunas de sus obras más conocidas son el Millenium Dome (Londres), la Terminal 4 del Aeropuerto de Madrid-Barajas, el hotel Hesperia Tower (Barcelona) o el edificio Lloyds (Londres).

La excelente exposición que podéis ver en el CaixaForum de Madrid, consiste en una revisión detallada de los trabajos de Richard Rogers, desde sus primeros años con Norman Foster hasta la actualidad, ilustrada con todo tipo de materiales: maquetas, dibujos, fotografías, filmaciones o escritos del arquitecto. Está abierta al público hasta el 18 de octubre y la entrada es gratis.

Detalle del interior de la T4 (Aeropuerto de Madrid-Barajas)

Being back in London for a few weeks after almost a full year in the States, I decided I needed to try and catch up on all of the restaurants I’ve been missing out on. My go-to human dining guide in Los Angeles recommended I go to The River Café the last time I was in London. Now, a year later, when my mother offered to take me for lunch, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to finally see why he had recommended this restaurant over the million others London has to offer.

Discreetly located in an old Hammersmith warehouse on a narrow street that runs parallel to the Thames, The River Café is tucked away as if intentionally impossible to find. In fact, we drove past it twice and finally had to ask for directions. My mother had been before but so long ago she couldn’t even remember how to find it, nevermind recognize it once we got inside! Being the darling daughter that I am, I put it down to senility – until I read that the restaurant had burned down a couple of years ago.

If the wood fire oven were slightly larger, it would conceal the whole clock projected behind it

The co-proprietor Ruth Rogers is conveniently the wife of London’s most famous architect, Richard Rogers. And yes, he performed his husbandly duty and designed the £2 million refit – although I think he should have saved his energy. The 22-year-old establishment looks more like a canteen than a classic mainstay. Its bar superfluously stretches from one end of the already-long room to the other, high ceilings prevent you from hearing anything in the consistently overbooked dining room, and a large projected clock is hidden on the far back wall, but is not concealed enough to disguise how ridiculous it looks. Despite all our aesthetic complaints, after a beguiling smile from our waiter and a delicious white peach bellini – generously served in an elegant highball glass rather than the usual stingy champagne flute – my mother quickly forgot about the noise and focused on fulfilling her mission to find white peaches this late in the season.

Ever since we went to Harry’s Bar in Venice (where bellinis were apparently invented), it’s become a ritual for me to make my mother her favourite cocktail every time I come to visit. However, the recipe will only work with white peaches or nectarines, which in London in September are nowhere to be seen. Having been obsessed with finding the elusive vital ingredient ever since I got to London 3 weeks ago, when my mother spotted white peaches on the menu at The River Café, I noticed her sudden rush of elation as she sent our waiter on a quest to find out where they could possibly have come from. 

Continuing our detective work, I clocked a plate of wild mushroom pasta arriving in front of the woman next to my mother and we both immediately decided to follow suite. Mysteriously, it wasn’t on our menus. After a lot of confusion our waiter realized that it was because we had only been given the set lunch menu: an easy mistake in my eyes, an intentional con in my mother’s. In any case, we got our Papadelle with Scottish girolles. Thank God. I later looked more closely at the menu and discovered that the cheapest “Secondi” plate would have set us back £29 and most probably have ruined my appetite – having been the one to insist we go there. We also ordered a green side salad with tomatoes lightly drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  This seemingly innocuous  dish turned out to be a small revelation as, for once, the tomatoes actually tasted like a tomato should.

The wide, flat, Papadelle pasta was simple but delicious. It tasted like it had been made fresh on the premises – which I assume it had – and the texture was perfect. It had been subtly immersed with thyme, parmesan, and fresh chopped chili the latter of which I had asked for. Although I think it could have been a bit more flagrant, I notoriously always try to add more flavours when I should know better, and the wild mushrooms were perfect just the way they were. In fact so much so, we ended up buying a bag of them to take home at Morton and Bennett (the restaurant’s local deli in Turnam Green).

Ruthie Rogers and Rose Gray’s Italian recipes are famous for their use of seasonal ingredients (they change the menu daily) and exquisite simplicity (using Tuscan peasant dishes for inspiration). And they are clearly doing something right as the establishment’s third decade of regulars are consistently willing to pay eye-watering prices, they’ve just published an 11th cook book, and proteges like Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and Sam Clarke have adapted their style thus continuing their legacy.

Fig Dessert, after we'd eaten some and neatly redesigned the plate for the photo

After our meal and another glass of Prosecco, I had a cappuccino to wake me out of my coma. They only have whole milk, a cunning tactic as I find it is guaranteed to make coffee taste a whole lot better. My mother and I then decided to share a dessert. To my delight, the waiter recommended the baked figs, which have recently become a bit of an obsession of mine, to the point my boyfriend has “endearingly” nicknamed me Fig Face. About 10 of them arrived, oozing light, juicy syrup, sprinkled with almonds, and a blob of thick cream on the side. Although I thought there was no way we would be able to, we licked the plate clean.

To match the food, the service was impeccable. In my favorite restaurant critic A.A. Gill’s words:

“The River Cafe has the most pulchritudinous and elegantly friendly waiters in London. It’s not unusual for middle-aged customers of either sex to fancy the staff of either sex; but the River Café is the only place where every time I come here, I’m convinced that all the staff really fancy me.”

Girolles, Eierschwamm or chanterelles from Morton and Bennett

Despite barking out endless requests at him, our waiter never ceased to charm us with his patience and huge flirtatious smile. When my mother quizzed him about the “proper” name for girolles, he couldn’t answer her question but endearingly informed us what he knew of their origins and demonstrated what they look like fresh using his hands for effect. Most importantly (for my mother anyway) our waiter even tried to end our impossible mission to find white peaches – he sent over their manager who consulted with the chef and informed us they had been shipped over especially from Italy. Despite the bad news, he drew us a map with two alternative places we could try, which is how we came to find the deli with the girolles instead. The charm even extended to the owner of Morton and Bennett, who guessed my mother was Austrian and told us he had just got back from his daughter’s wedding there. He was able to inform us that girolles are called Eierschwamm in German and also knew the word my mother had been pressing our waiter for: chanterelles.

Being the darling daughter I am, the next day I went to Portobello Market and found the last piece of the puzzle: white nectarines. Victory was mine and my mother got her favourite bellini.

A.A. Gill’s review of the River Café:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/a_a_gill/article5155039.ece

The River Café Website: http://www.rivercafe.co.uk/rc_page.php

Richard Rogers website: http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/rshp_home