Diversions

Taiwan Talk - 11/25
The Department of Architecture I National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Delightful and conscientious professors, active and ambitious students - two days’ notice to put together a lecture in Taipei.

Fun to do + engaged audience + intelligent questions = most enjoyable.

Mews Interludes - 07/25
Blessed by living and working on a street with no through traffic, why not fill it with something fresh, vital and fun as an excuse for unconstrained design and a damn good party.

Ruislip – 06/25
In these times of re-use, it’s good to see TfL trying to take advantage of some of the empty stock that languishes in the farthest corners of their depots. It remains to be seen whether this poorly constructed unit can be put to good use and so achieve the benefits to which they aspire.

Woods and Cook – 06/25
On our way to imagine Peter’s forthcoming exhibition in Norwich, we pass by a corner of Norfolk where once I had planted young trees. There is little difference between finally seeing your building topped out and the joy of turning a field into woodland.

Hatton Cross – 01/25
Another surface project where nobody looked underground until the design was well developed and largely agreed. On this occasion the new solution could be considerably better, but at what detriment in cost and time.

Momentum – 03/25
It’s good to be working with Momentum once again, on yet another impact assessment of yet another unpublishable major development. They seem to revel in intellectual discussions with a practical bent, looking for answers rather than just the next variation. A rare commodity indeed these days.

Senses – 05/25
When setting myself a writing task it seems good to pick a subject that makes me think more deeply about the things I take for granted. Five senses, five stories.

Hounslow – 05/24
The multi-faceted approvals processes that underpin work for TfL can be their own worst enemy. Decisions are made, slowly and piecemeal and signed in indelible ink, and no one ever steps back and considers that, had the project started with what has been arrived at, the overall solution might be very different and considerably more sensible.

ARB CPD – 12/24
CPD seems to me a necessary thing, but how practical are the targets when you have less to do. The knowledge of us ancients no doubt has considerable uses, but old dogs and new tricks have always been uneasy bed fellows. While I fill the forms easily enough, let’s hope the inflexibility of the system does not preclude the youth from being passed the lessons learned by others recently retired.

Succession 2 – 11/24
It started as a way to while away a few holiday days - take one picture, write its story, each unrelated and each in a different style. Then bring the stories together and see what happens.

Bakerloo Line Extension– 10/24
It pleases me greatly that BLE the is pressing ahead, at least in the minds of those high up in TfL. It pleases me even more that both the design team and the client team are being led by smart young designers that used to work for me.

Newcastle – 07/24
The mixture of fear and adulation that accompanies the arrival of AI in the design world is amusing but seemingly based on little knowledge. Running a scheme through one small corner of it shows it’s not yet ready to dispense with my purpose, but as a means of snapping out of designers’ block it’s quite remarkable.

Odeon – 01/23
One of those wild ones in need of a quick idea in an interesting location to pinch the incumbent designers out of their torpor. Great fun.

Tower Hill
Some projects seem to go on forever and Tower Hill is no exception. It started on a scrap of yellow paper some years before I upped stumps, went through an unfortunate period of disinterested works-architects and over-subbed contracting, and has now come back into my orbit in a most pitiful state. This time it is hoped that it will be given the attention it deserves.

Succession 1
Projects that turn up on my doorstep after I’ve upped stumps are excellent opportunities for those who are starting up and might not yet be so visible. It’s good to think that there’s such continuity, and that the industry will stay in safe hands.