THE COCOON

During the tours and Thinking Aloud, we've been talking a bit about buildings we like and I've found it hard to identify a personal favourite, however, today I visited The Natural History Museum in London and was reminded how much I love this building. In some ways it is similar to The Oxford Museum, which I also like, with its cathedral-like central hall and ornately carved columns, painted ceiling panels and terracotta panels.

(You can take a virtual tour of the Natural History Museum architecture at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/history-architecture/architectural-tour/index.html)

While thinking about Mind Into Matter and reading a bit about contemporary architecture, it has dawned on me how much architecture is changing in the 21st century with revolutionary use of new materials and design techniques, and an emphasis on sustainability. One of the things I really enjoy about architecture in London is the way new and old exist so successfully side by side. I was amazed to visit the newly opened glass walled building which houses The Cocoon today, to step out of the ornate halls of the original building into the huge glass atrium of The Darwin Centre and travel up in the glass lift which gives fantastic new views of the exterior of the original building.

"Outside the Natural History Museum, the new Darwin Centre is shown here from the Wildlife Gardenadjacent to the historic Waterhouse building. it's clear how the new building links the Grade I listed Victorian Waterhouse building and Museum gardens, bringing together the old, the organic and the new." http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/history-architecture/architecture-darwin-centre/architectural-slideshow/index.html

SHELTER

This morning's weather made me think of Alan Power's talk yesterday in which he mentioned one of the most basic of our physical needs - the need for shelter. Alongside this thought is the notion that is reflected throughout the exhibition, that no matter what grand visions an architect might have, ultimately his or her buildings are for people to inhabit and must fulfil certain functions.

What a pleasure to be indoors in a safe, warm and dry place.

PERSONAL TIMELINES

At Thinking Aloud this week, we were discussing two of the group's fascination with and passion for architecture. It was difficult, they said, to pin down exactly what fuelled this fascination, but they listed several things which contributed to it. One of those things was the way in which architecture reflects social and cultural history.

Alan Powers' throughly informative timeline, running down the centre of the gallery offers some surprising information. Visitors to the gallery have added their own ideas of important events to a more personal timeline folder in the resource area of the gallery.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

It's great to explore an exhibition with an enthusiastic group of Walk and Talkers who point out something new to look at and think about each time.

Yesterday I particularly enjoyed the insight given by Nigel Green's contemporary photographs of the buildings, commissioned specially for the exhibition. His glimpse through a half open door into a splendid room at The Reform Club reminded us all of the uneasy relationship between public and private, with the tantalising view of  a place accessible only to a private membership. The notion of public and private came up again as we talked about Nigel's image of light flooding through the windows onto the landing and staircase at Clouds House. One of the group recalled childhood visits to a relatives home where, behind one of the closed doors on the landing (through which one would never dream of going), there was an aged aunt who had long since taken to her bed and was never seen - a strange experience which I can recall from my childhood too.

As we left the exhibition, the final discussion was about the photographs of Tony Fretton's British Embassy in Warsaw. The beautiful reflections of sky, trees and surrounding green areas belie the bomb-proof glass in the front skin of the building,  the strangely "trapped" green inner courtyards, the office furniture arranged in precise military rows, the hostile spiked metal railings shutting off the outdoor passageways all acting as reminders of the times we live in.

Thinking Aloud comments from the group:

a favourite building - The Lowry, Manchester (pictured right)
most disliked building - County Hall, Lewes
why they love architecture - the "wow" factor and
"Architecture is frozen music" (quote: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

SPECIAL THINKING

The idea of architects as special thinkers is still going round in my mind. What is a special thinker? Are we all special thinkers in our own way? Or does that de-value the notion of being a special thinker.

Referring to my constant companion, I Googled "special thinkers" and found that The Economic Club of Chicago was holding a Special Thinkers Forum to "address the questions and principles of complex adaptive systems and their lessons for business". Other "special thinkers" are portrayed as visionaries such as Will Marre, who, Google tells me, is founder of the "American Dream Project" purportedly a special thinker with "... a new vision for improving life at personal, local and national levels".

Architects, it seems, are a combination of many things - business man, mathematician, artist, philosopher,  visionary and more. Alan Powers mentioned in his talk yesterday the Victorian architect A W Pugin, who believed that architects had a moral and social remit to change the world, a responsibility which continues to be taken seriously in the light of our changing planet and the challenge to re-think the way we live and use our planet's resources.

mind into matter - 1st Walk and Talk

Did the first walk and talk on Saturday for mind into matter. First thing to say is that I'm now really into architecture and doing the research for the exhibition has opened my eyes to what is around us - everywhere! There are buildings EVERYWHERE I've just not really noticed them before and they're amazingly interesting things to think about. I mean just look at those mock tudor fascias on the semis at the end of Hangleton Drive in Hove that I see every day on the bus home. What is that all about?

I introduced the tour by talking about how difficult I found it to think about architecture as a subject even though I acknowledge that we are surrounded by buildings and that for me my first experience of the exhibition was about finding a way in, literally, a door. The other question I kicked off with is something that I find particularly interesting to consider, which is: how can we visualise a building we don't know by seeing photos and blueprints of it? What do we do as we look at the exhibits and try to put together the building in three dimensions in our mind. Again, what are the ways into experiencing an imagined building?

Talking our way through the exhibition I really noticed subtle aspects of its clever curation e.g. that you enter straight into the display of the most contemporary building, the British Embassy in Warsaw, and then pass through that to the Reform Club. People noticed how the architect's drawings have changed over the years so that there are those really fluid and sketchy drawings by Tony Fretton compared with say, the beautiful drawing of the artichoke plant at Cloud's House. That is not to say that Fretton's drawings aren't beautiful, just less elaborate, I guess.

Loved the way the exhibition opens up when you get to the Pavilion exhibit so that you look, in effect, straight through a glass display case to the bandstand and the sea beyond, becoming aware of the building through its near transparency.

There was lots and lots to say. I particularly loved the story of the stonemason O'Shea brothers who carved their own animal and flower decorations into the capitals in Oxford Museum. That there is a picture of James O'Shea and that he has gone down in history for doing his own thing is, I think, a miracle of history honouring the creative courage of an individual.

My group enjoyed entering their own histories into the book of dates on the resource table and Wendy, one of the gallery invigilators pointed out how alarming it looks if you stand by the date of the year of your birth and look down the timeline up to the present day. To see one's age laid out like that in feet and inches makes you think. Buildings, birth, death, permanence and transience. It's not just bricks and mortar and blueprints, is it!

Fascinating.

And thanks for Judith for coming along and lending your lively participation to the event.

Susan Diab

CAPTURING THE CONCEPT

Since beginning to think about architecture in preparation for my role in leading Walk and Talk sessions for Mind Into Matter, the subject has been cropping up everywhere!

By pure co-incidence last week I was lucky enough to go to a discussion event where Sir Nicholas Grimshaw was one of the speakers, and to see Capturing The Concept, an amazing exhibition of his sketchbooks. The exhibition contains Sir Nicholas' sketchbooks from 1982 to 2007 (he averages about 2 a year) open at selected pages to show drawings and annotations representing his thoughts and ideas for ambitious projects like the Eden Project and the refurbishment of Waterloo Station, committed to paper for the very first time.

In his foreword for Mind Into Matter, Alan Powers talks about "the architect's role as a special type of thinker", a notion which really became clear as I pored over the drawings and heard Sir Nicholas talking about the space we were sitting in for the discussion. His comments about its aspect and light, its situation in relation to its surroundings, the flow of people around and through it, all demonstrated his immersion in all things spatial. Add to this the technical knowledge and visionary qualities which make it possible to transform an idea from a few lines on paper into an extraordianry structure which is not only beautiful but functional too, and one begins to get an idea of the special thinking which our great architects harness.

(Capturing the Concept can be seen at the Royal Academy of Arts from 6th November to 31 January 2010)