Alistair Fair
@alistairfair.bsky.social
Reader in Architectural History, University of Edinburgh. C20 architecture in Britain. New towns. Theatres. Book 'Building Modern Scotland' available open access. Own views. No age ID so no DMs but I can do e-mail!
Art
31%
History
18%
One of the best buildings of the 1950s/60s in Britain, and definitely one of my favourites too. Spence's drawings really show how much he was thinking in terms of light and atmosphere.
Best 'locally distinctive bus shelter' = the Isle of Lewis' concrete structures, not conventionally beautiful but practically designed to allow passengers always to find a spot out of the wind.
Perhaps they should have the original RMJM elevations intact! I was always astonished by the amount of waterstaining on the 'new' stone facades, which suggested poor materials or workmanship, or an issue with the water run-off detailing ('elevational plumbing' as the late John Partridge called it)
How much of this was a conversion - i.e., was the frame from the LRC building re-used and re-clad? Or was the hotel all new when it opened?
Just delivered by the postman, this substantial new collection edited by @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social @petermandler.bsky.social and Simon Gunn with a stellar lineup of contributors. I'm looking forward to diving into it over the next few days.
@c20society.bsky.social and here it is looking good in 1988, in that year's brochure for the Austin Maestro!
Lunchtime perambulation around the University of Glasgow. The (former) Modern Languages building (now Law?), by Walter Ramsay, 1958-59, showing the often gentle modernism of the 1950s. Perhaps now overshadowed by the brutalism of the adjacent Queen Margaret Union, but I'm quite partial to it.
I will look forward to seeing that!
I can imagine an interesting volume of urban/social history organised around bus routes. Birmingham's 11A/11C route could be the basis of a good chapter. A colleague here a few years ago supervised an excellent dissertation which looked at Edinburgh through the prism of Lothian's service 35
Wang Fuk Court must surely be the end of bamboo scaffolding on housing. Flexi 2 HOS blocks intrinsically safe – only 8 flats/floor – but the scaffolding is like wrapping them in a ‘temporary Grenfell’! Big questions for HKSAR Buildings Dept. to answer (esp. with other live cases - eg Sui Wo Court)
My colleague @milesglendinning.bsky.social is the latest recruit to Bluesky. Follow him for insights on the architectural history and heritage of global mass housing
Reposted by Alistair Fair
Wang Fuk Court must surely be the end of bamboo scaffolding on housing. Flexi 2 HOS blocks intrinsically safe – only 8 flats/floor – but the scaffolding is like wrapping them in a ‘temporary Grenfell’! Big questions for HKSAR Buildings Dept. to answer (esp. with other live cases - eg Sui Wo Court)
brilliant title! Looking forward to this
Stir-up Sunday. 7 hours down, 1 hour to go. (This is the pudding; the Christmas cake and mincemeat were made in September and are maturing in the cupboard.)
Aged 9/10 (!) I wrote to the local councillor to say that the street name signs on our road were damaged. Prompt reply to say they'd be dealt with. Within weeks new ones appeared.
Excellent news for the end of the week as @thesahgb.bsky.social recognises the monumental efforts of the Buildings of England/Scotland/Wales/Ireland team over several decades.
I'd certainly give them a try if you're over that way.
I'd try one of the BHF furniture shops
Theatre at demolition risk over Raac loses listed building bid
East Lothian Council has said it has little option but to demolish the Brunton Theatre building.
www.bbc.co.uk
Disappointing news about the non-listing of the Brunton Theatre, despite it being deemed list-able by HES. A replacement building will cost £50m+, replacing the roof was estimated at £22m... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Alistair: let's de-centre the architect in architectural-historical writing. Meanwhile Duolingo:
My copy of this issue of the AR came via a colleague who had various things that had once belonged to Percy Johnson-Marshall, one of the Coventry planners in the 1940s. Given that the cover says 'Johnson' in biro I do wonder if this issue once was his.
Archive-based teaching this afternoon, on the post-war reconstruction of central Coventry.
experience: the Barbican Arts Centre's men's with the very long trough urinals and foot-operated sinks.
Alistair Fair
@alistairfair.bsky.social
· Oct 27
I've long wanted to see the theatre: an important influence on the Festival Hall as well as post-war British theatres.
Alistair Fair
@alistairfair.bsky.social
· Oct 17
A Network SouthEast Clock.
HTML/CSS/Javascript implementation of the wonderful clocks once seen on Network SouthEast stations.
aj-computing.co.uk
to my great delight, I've just discovered a version of that clock online: aj-computing.co.uk/network-sout...
Alistair Fair
@alistairfair.bsky.social
· Oct 17
I like this though the numbers don't seem to sit entirely happily in the circle - as you say, analogue would be good. (All that said, they could and maybe should just have reinstated the Network SouthEast clackety 24 hour clocks)
essay prompt: 'discuss the "wide variety of retail and cultural experiences" imagined by Ebenezer Howard'
Love that little curved balcony above the entrance. I'm imagining proclamations of interest rates and such things!
End of week reading. @samwetherell.bsky.social's excellent new urban history of post-war Liverpool.
Yesterday - teaching @edincollegeofart.bsky.social Architectural History students in the archive. Drawings of Coventry Cathedral from the Basil Spence archive, as well as many other items that showed the collaborative process by which the cathedral was designed and built.
Alistair Fair
@alistairfair.bsky.social
· Sep 23
I'd long wondered if Clarence was an acronym (because Strathclyde had a wee dog called RALF - Road & Light Faults). I thought it might be 'Central and Lothian something'; it was Customer Lighting And Roads ENquiry CEntre.