C O N T E X T 1 0 5 : J U LY 2 0 0 8 3 ‘WHEN BRISTOL council removed the antique lamp-posts from David Cemlyn’s street in the St Andrews area of the city, it did not realise the volcano of anger it was about to unleash. By the time it came to uproot those in the next street, he was resorting to direct action, chaining himself to a threatened post and going on hunger strike. ‘“I live in an area totally developed between 1880 and 1900,” he says. “These lamp-posts were put up when my house was built.” ‘If the replacement of the old cast iron columns with what he derides as “motorway lights” was not galling in itself, the fate of the removed lights is enough to propel him into apoplexy. ‘Bristol Council removes the old lamp-posts and where they are in a useable state carts them off to one of the city’s conservation areas.’ From the BBC website ‘OUR DECISION [not to recommend the Robin Hood Gardens estate for listing] was made with the utmost careful consideration. In the first stage, which is consideration by our staff, the advice was consistently against listing. As is usual in contentious cases, the matter was then referred to our panel of external experts on the English Heritage Advisory Committee who took, by a narrow margin, the contrary view; and then on to our decision-making body, the commission, which endorsed the English Heritage staff view that the Robin Hood Gardens estate did not meet all the criteria necessary for listed status. ‘First, in our opinion, as a piece of community architecture, it fails as a place for human beings to live – and did so from the start. Its bleak entrance lobbies, prison-like boundary wall, the too few, narrow, twisting stairwells and the inadequate access to the long decks and people’s front doors do not make for a pleasing and comfortable environment. ‘Second, it was neither innovative nor influential. By the time the estate was built, in 1972, it was already out of date and at the tail-end of a movement, A new east window designed by Shirazeh Houshiary, in collaboration with architect Pip Horne, has been installed above the altar at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.This marks the final stage of the church’s renewal project.The artwork replaces a window installed following second world war bomb damage. Astley Castle inWarwickshire is a step closer to being saved by the Landmark Trust, following the Heritage Lottery Fund’s promise of a £1.47 million grant. Dating back to the 1200s, the building has lain derelict since it was devastated by fire in 1978. The Landmark Trust proposes to insert modern accommodation within the ruined walls.The project will also include a learning programme with local schools and eight public open days each year. Company, will explore the future of port cities, from Liverpool to NewYork, and Shanghai to Lagos. How can we best protect the integrity of historic maritime ports and ensure that their distinctiveness is not lost? The conference will emphasise the role of heritage, the importance of cultural tourism, and how waterfront projects in port cities such as Mumbai and Gdañsk have made use of previously redundant areas to fashion places where creativity has flourished. See www. english-heritage.org.uk/onthewaterfront. Gus Astley Student Award The IHBC is calling on current students to enter their best coursework for the IHBC Gus Astley Student Award, 2008. The top prize is £300, a chance to present at the institute’s 2009 Annual School in Buxton, and the opportunity of getting published in Context. The IHBC’s award is inspired by the memory of Gus Astley, the IHBC’s former membership secretary. Students are encouraged to enter course work as soon as practical. Submission must follow the terms posted on the IHBC website (www.ihbc.org.uk). The closing date for submissions covering the 2007–8 academic year is 31 December 2008. From The Functional Tradition by JM Richards, Architectural Press (1958) THE ASSIMILATION of industrial objects into the established, humanised landscape created in the eighteenth century – the curving lines of metal rails into the pastoral valleys of which they are now so characteristic a feature that their presence is even capable of evoking nostalgic sentiments; the rectangular masses of the textile mills piled one above the other into the slopes of the grey north country hillsides – has been so triumphantly achieved that we can perhaps gain from them some confidence that the new industrial structures of our own time, the airports and atomic power stations and the like, will in due course be assimilated too – but only if they, like their predecessors, are designed in the forthright but highly adaptable spirit of the functional tradition. ‘The award is tailored to meet the needs of today’s students,’ says IHBC director Seán O’Reilly. ‘Generally no additional preparation is required.’ Candidates need only email their best piece of coursework to [email protected]. Sheffield arts tower HLM Architects has been appointed to refurbish the Grade II* listed, 22-storey University of Sheffield arts tower in the city centre. The building, currently the tallest in Sheffield, is suffering problems associated with flooding, asbestos, lifts, building circulation, sanitation, heating and disrepair. The tower will be re-clad and internal areas will be improved. The interior design will make the building more efficient, improving the heating and ventilation, reducing glare, easing congestion around the lifts and lecture theatres, and improving disabled access.
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