What Is An Architect For? A light-hearted look at Construction’s most Misunderstood Professional.

A YouGov survey carried out between 6^th and 9^th July 2017 revealed a disturbing level of ignorance on the part of the general public about what an Architect actually does. Two thousand and thirty one adults were surveyed. Why that number? Who knows with surveys, but apparently 15% didn’t even know that an Architect designs buildings. That’s three-hundred and four-point-six-five people, which shows why percentages (and therefore surveys which sum up with percentages) often make little sense to whole people. Taking the breakdown of the survey figures further reveals that in in the lowest age group (18-24 year olds) an even more surprising 24% didn’t know this basic fact, but as they don’t tell us what proportion of the group were younger people, this still makes little sense. These younger people probably do know that an ‘architect’ designs computer operating systems and game scenarios.

So what is an Architect actually for? There are plenty of opinions out there in the worldwide aether, far too many of which are hugely inaccurate. The internet is full of lay-persons who still regard the architect as merely the one who draws initial ‘pretty pictures’ for a building project.  Others just know that architects are the ones to blame for everything that ever goes wrong with a building, from a roof that blows off in a once-in-a-hundred-years hurricane to a badly fitting door.

Wealthy individuals commissioning vanity projects suppose ‘their’ architect is a slave to their whims, who can radically alter designs at the drop of a hat, naturally without increasing the cost. Then people looking at modern spec-built houses grumble that the architect has made the porch and windows hideous, when it’s highly unlikely an architect ever went near the plans, let alone the window specification.

Computer ‘architects’ now usually earn far more than the average working Architect in the construction industry. Yet UK Architects are unprotected, unlike elsewhere in the EU, as it isn’t mandatory to actually employ an Architect on a construction project. Their resentment of the computing industry grows as, year on year, their remit and their incomes have been affected by the unqualified not merely abusing their professional name, but also using CAD to create misconceived building designs. The concept of the Architect as Master Builder is in serious decline.

Many inaccuracies are generated by the press, who also can’t tell the difference between an Architect, a spec builder and an interior decorator. To the Sun newspaper, Architects are silly elitists who don’t know what the ‘Great British Public’ wants and insist on building carbuncles, to the horror of the Royal Family, beside ‘Much Loved’ National Treasures such as The National Gallery (which the Sun never expects its readers to actually enter). The Daily Mail’s view is the same except for an expectation that their beloved readers might occasionally like to visit the place.

Auguste Endell, Architect of the Month, May 2016

August Endell was born on 12 April 1871 and grew up in Berlin. In 1892 he went to the University of Munich to study aesthetics, philosophy and art. Always an intellectual he became interested in the aesthetics of art and design and wrote a number of papers on the subject including 'On Beauty' in 1896 which can be considered an anticipation of abstract art. He befriended Jugendstijl sculptor and designer Hermann Obrist who influenced and encouraged him to move from academia.

A self-taught artist, Endell began working on translating his theories into architecture and the built environment and in 1896 received his first commission. Endell's design for the façade and interior of the Hofatelier Elvira, an existing building in Munich

Interior of Hofatelier Elvira 

which he embellished with typically turbulent Jugendstijl forms and motifs, made him famous overnight. The Atelier was to be run as a photographers' and artists' studio by Anita Augspurg and Sophia Goudstikker and was said to have been the first such business in Germany created and run by women. The building was vandalised by the Nazis and later destroyed by bombing during WWII.     

From 1898 Endell joined other artists and designers in the Munich arts and crafts movement where he became regarded as an innovative leader. He continued to publish articles and papers including in 1901 on "Originality and Tradition". At the same time he moved from Munich to Berlin which encouraged him to move from the flamboyance of Jugendstijl design and towards Modernism. He contributed to the design of the Theater Bunte, in Berlin Germany, which has since been destroyed.

Zaha Hadid, Architect and Dame, dies in Miami.

Zaha Hadid is one of far too few women who have managed to rise to the very peak of the profession. Her creativity has been a sock in the eye for the conventional and the staid. She was only 65 and will be greatly missed. 

Angela Brady, a former president of RIBA, described Zaha Hadid as “one of our greatest architects of our time”.

She added: “She was a tough architect, which is needed as a woman at the top of her profession and at the height of her career. She will be sadly missed as an iconic leader in architecture and as a role model for women in architecture.”

Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton, London.     Photograph: Luke Hayes

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/mar/31/star-architect-zaha-hadid-dies-aged-65

Nicholas Grimshaw, Architect of the Month, October 2013

It seems that engineering has always flowed in Nicholas Grimshaw’s blood. His buildings are noted for their innovative approach to construction and this urge to engineer solutions goes back further than his enthusiastic childhood experiments with Meccano and tree house projects. Two of his great grandfathers were engineers, one creating dams in Egypt and the other oversaw the construction of the sewers in Dublin. Grimshaw has said of his architecture that it, “glorifies construction, and the beauty of the way things go together.”

This beauty is exemplified in the gridshell domes designed for the Eden Project in Cornwall. The project was initiated in 1996 with the idea to create giant greenhouse biomes containing different eco-climates. The aim was to educate people about environmental matters. The Eden Project has become an international success and is the largest tourist attraction in Cornwall.

Despite his grim, northern sounding surname Nicholas Grimshaw (who shouldn’t be confused with Radio DJ Nick Grimshaw) was born in Hove, the quieter neighbour to the bright lights of Brighton, on 9 October 1939, just a month after the outbreak of WWII. He was sent to Wellington College, a public school for the children of British armed services officers. One of his childhood pleasures was building tree houses.

He subsequently studied architecture at Edinburgh College of Art before winning a scholarship to the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London – he graduated in 1965 and went into partnership with Terry Farrell. They worked together for fifteen years and one of their joint creations, the 1976 Herman Miller Factory in Bath, described as an outstanding early Hi-tech building, was given a Grade II listing just last month.


Grimshaw set up his own practice in 1980 and has continued his technologically advanced approach to design which is particularly appropriate for the transport projects the practice has become famous for. Structures include the new International Terminal for London's Waterloo Station, whose enormous curved roof welcomes international visitors to London via border controls within the station.

Nicholas Grimshaw has been acknowledged as one of the most foremost, technologically modern architects in the UK, alongside Richard Rogers, Norman Foster and his former Partner, Terry Farrell. He has lectured internationally and received a Knighthood in 2002. In 2004 he was elected to the presidency of the Royal Academy of Arts, a post he held until 2011.

He continues to lead his much expanded practice, now known simply as Grimshaw, which has offices in London, New York and Melbourne, Australia, where it has completed yet another award winning railway project with the Melbourne Metro. The most recent offices are in Sydney and Doha, in Quarter. The latest Grimshaw project is a watery version of the Eden Project. NIRAH (National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats) will be the first large aquarium project devoted to freshwater species of plants and animals. 

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sources include:
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/academicians/architects/nicholas-grimshaw-ra,136,AR.html

http://grimshaw-architects.com/person/grimshaw-sir-nicholas/

 http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2004/dec/19/architecture.highereducation )

I shot the photographs at the Eden Project in 2003.

 

Serpentine Pavilion by Sou Fujimoto; Picture of the week 28 September 2013

Every summer for the past 13 years, the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, London, exhibits a new, temporary pavilion designed for the site by a noted architect. The new pavilion for 2013 is the creation of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. This is not exactly weatherproof, being a white lattice structure, consisting of 500m cubes, with a hollow centre containing a smallcafé, but it's still summer in London and the fine weather has made Fujimoto's construction very popular.

The lattice encourages people to climb up, along certain designated pathways and who can resist a climbing frame? It's made of tubes, like scaffolding and is stronger than it appears. The colour gives the pavilion an almost transparent look which, combined with the overall irregular shape is intended to allow the structure to blend into the landscape and the sky. This is not quite the effect achieved but what is dramatic, apart from the obvious desire it creates in people to interact with the structure, is the constantly changing geometric patterns and altering views as you look through one cube and then another.

Sujimoto's pavilion is a great success, as a work of art it looks great and is popular. As a building, its limited functionality luckily suits the great summer weather London has had this year and overall the cloud shaped pavilion creates an exciting chance for the public to interact with the ideas of an award-winning architect.

Serge Chermayeff - Architect of the Month – August 2013

Serge Chermayeff was born in 1900 in Grozny, Chechnya, then part of the Russian imperial state. His family sent him to England at a young age to be educated.  He went to Harrow school, but his family’s business was destroyed by the Russian revolution and he was unable to follow his ambitions to go to Cambridge. He spent some time in Argentina, then returned to England to work as a designer for furniture manufacturer Waring and Gillow.  He became a British citizen at the age of 28. As an industrial designer he created Bakelite radios for EKCO.

De La Warr Pavilion, staircase (2013)

In 1930 he established his own architectural practice.  His work was modernist and Bauhaus influenced. His first building was a small concrete house for a schoolmaster and his most famous building in England came about when he joined up with German architect Erich Mendelsohn in 1933. They entered and won an RIBA competition to design a new, modern pavilion for the seafront at Bexhill-on–Sea. The building was sponsored by the 9th Earl De La Warr. The brief was for a completely modern structure with no heavy stonework. 

De La Warr Pavilion, seafront elevation (2013)

The resulting building is a beautiful Modernist design which shows signs of the Bauhaus and Constructivism as well as the more Anglicised version of Art Deco, which excelled at seaside and marine- style design. The pavilion has been recognised as being of international significance and given a Grade I listing.  The Chermayeff Mendelshon partnership created other buildings including Cohen House, built alongside a development by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry in Chelsea.

Both Chermayeff and Mendelshon were members of The Modern Architectural Research Group, or MARS Group, a think tank created in 1933 by architects and academics in the UK who were involved in the Modernist movement. These included Fry, Morton Shand and Wells Coates as well as supporters such as John Betjamin. The MARS group proposed a radical plan for the redevelopment of London, at its height there were 58 members and their greatest success was in 1938 with a show at the New Burlington Galleries, which unfortunately left them in debt.

Despite the success of the De la Warr Pavilion, Chermayeff’s partnership with Mendelshon only lasted a few years. By the end of the 1930’s, Chermayeff’s practice was in difficulties, he went bankrupt in 1940. This and the war persuaded him to emigrate to the USA. He became involved in academia, co-founded the American Society of Planners and Architects and worked in universities in California and Chicago as well as Harvard and MIT. He published several books and his working life concluded as head of architecture at Yale, he retired in 1970.

Chermayeff designed his own house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, where he lived with his wife Barbara and family for 55 years and died in May 1996. His son Peter is an architect and his son Ivan is a graphic designer.

Cuthbert Brodrick, Architect of the Month for July 2013

Architect of the Month - Cuthbert Brodrick 1821- 1905

Interior of Leeds Corn Exchange, built in 1860
(photograph c1980)

Cuthbert Brodrick was born in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in the coastal town of Kingston-upon-Hull on 1 December 1821. He was one of ten children, the sixth son of John and Hannah Brodrick. His father was a wealthy merchant and ship owner, and the family lived at 39, George Street, in the best residential area of Hull.

Brodrick attended Kingston College, he left school at fifteen to become a pupil in the offices of Architect Henry Francis Lockwood at Dock Street in Hull, where he stayed for 8 years learning the profession. In May 1844 he set off on the Grand Tour of Europe, travelling through France and Italy to  Rome, no doubt hoping to expand his architectural studies and expertise.

This must have worked, on his return to Hull in in 1846, Brodrick was offered a partnership in Lockwood’s practice. He turned this offer down to set up on his own, at Savile Street in Hull.

In 1852, when he was 31, Brodrick entered a national competition for the design of a new town hall for the burgeoning town of Leeds. It is said that Brodrick's mother Hannah tried to dissuade him, thinking he had no chance of winning. The competition was judged by Charles Barry, known for his work on the Palace of Westminster and Brodrick's design won. Leeds Town Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in September 1858.

At the time, Leeds was in competition with Manchester for the title of cloth-manufacturing capital of Great Britain. Manchester had just achieved official status as a City and Leeds was determined not to be outdone, however their application to become a city was turned down and Leeds had to wait until 1893 for city status. In the mean time it acquired a magnificent Town Hall. The building and Cuthbert Brodrick became famous, and he moved to Leeds, to set up his practice there, at 30 Park Row. 

Brodrick's next competition win was a design for a new Corn Exchange for Leeds. The old one was only 35 years old, but already inadequate in scale for the growing needs of the corn factors (traders). The first stone was laid on 7th May 1861 on the site near the Kirkgate Market, which had opened there in 1857 following a move from Briggate, though the famous market hall, home of the original Marks and Spencer, would not appear until 1904 .

Corn Exchange interior in around 1915

The builder chosen for the Corn Exchange was Samuel Addy, stonemason, who had been responsible for the Town Hall's clock tower. The Corn Exchange's domed roof structure, in wrought iron, was made at Kirkstall Forge, which is said to be the oldest iron and steel works in Britain, by Butler & Co. The Clerk of Works was apparently a Mr Cairns. The building project was delayed by the discovery of previously dug pits on the site as a result of earlier digging for iron ore, possibly to feed Kirkstall Forge. This discovery no doubt gave Brodrick and Mr Cairns a few sleepless nights but, despite hold-ups, Leeds Corn Exchange opened for business on 28 July 1863.

In 1870 Brodrick moved to France and bought a house at St. Germain, near Paris. After he retired he spent his time painting, exhibiting his work and indulging his love of gardening. In 1898 he went to live near his niece in Jersey, where he rented a house at Gorey on the west coast of the island. He designed and planted a garden there, perhaps his last design task. He died on 2 March 1905, and is buried in St. Martin's Churchyard, Gorey.
  
Other buildings designed by Cuthbert Brodrick include:-

The Leeds Mechanics Institute 1860, which became the Civic Theatre in 1949 and in 2008 the Leeds City Museum;

The Oriental Baths in Cookridge Street, Leeds 1866 - demolished in 1965 - site now occupied by an unattractive Weatherspoon's pub named 'the Cuthbert Brodrick,' though obviously not designed by him;

The Scarborough Grand Hotel;

Headingley Hill Congregational church 1864 - now known as the Ashwood Centre and used by City Church, Leeds.
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Acknowledgements and for further information and photographs of Victorian Leeds, see http://www.leodis.net/discovery/default.asp

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This is the first of what will, I hope, become a regular feature on the architects who have designed some of the iconic, and maybe not so iconic, buildings around Britain.  Buildings which we usually take for granted, but have histories of their own.