Comments on: Do the English appreciate good urban landscape design – in Lewisham or anywhere?

By: The Buddha's Face

The Buddha's Face — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:30:56 +0000

I live near Lewisham and can sympathise with your sentiments but Peckham is worse ! BTW this is a lovely little blog – you have inspired me to link to you from my little creation the Buddha’s Face blog http://thebuddhasface.blogspot.com/

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:18:01 +0000

Hmmm…the history of the invention of the car is quite interesting. The car certainly took some time to arrive on the scene in a useful format. Interesting also to note that the first electric car was designed in 1881. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile ]

I assume by 1961 cars were being garaged on a regularly basis.[ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7535007/1929-Austin-found-in-a-garage-and-five-decades-since-it-was-last-driven-it-starts-first-time.html ]

In 1927 the Royal Clarence Hotel had ‘customer’ garages. Quite an extraordinary thought that drivers were able to ‘garage’ their cars at locations away from home – much as they had ‘stabled’ their horses. [ http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/garages.php ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:13:15 +0000

Maybe the porte-cochères Humphry Repton was so fond of could be classed as carports? Otherwise I have no knowledge of the subject. I have noticed that many carports in London get converted into extra rooms sooner or later. In the days when cars rusted to nothing, they said there was less rust in a car port than a garage.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:02:10 +0000

Tell me more.

It must have been quite exciting at the time to have one of the first modern new town homes with a carport?
[ http://www.heritageexplorer.org.uk/web/he/imagebythemedetail.aspx?id=4589&crit=&ctid=32 ]

Do you know who had the first carport/garage in the UK?
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_automobile ]

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:43:47 +0000

Liz, thank you for the correction re Jeremy Paxman. I did not know he was a cyclist and wish he would start each interview with the words ‘may I ask if you are a cyclist?’ He could then give a softer treatment to people who could say ‘yes’ (like David Cameron and Boris Johnson). I have no objection to him slagging people off, because most of us deserve it, but I do think he should slag off the right people for the offences in question. For urban design, this must include politicians.
Christine, ‘The Lawn’ is an ironically brilliant name for the First Tower. My comment on Harlow is that the large-scale and the small-scale design were way-ahead of their time but the medium-scale design was terrible. Another way of putting this is that the Landscape Planning and the Detailed Landscape Design were good but the Site Planning was terrible.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:18:53 +0000

‘The Lawn’ in Harlow built in 1951 was the first residential tower block in Britain. [ http://www.heritageexplorer.org.uk/web/he/imagebythemedetail.aspx?id=4590&crit=&ctid=32 ]

Here is a good commentary on the good, the bad and the ugly of Harlow and the new towns.
[ http://www.architecturecentre.net/docs/debate/projects/?MDo1OTE6MA== ]

By: LIZ

LIZ — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:20:03 +0000

Paxo actually lives part-time in W14 near Olympia, frequently seen on bicycle.
The Stonor family abode has is own stable conversion as an idyll for writing – who wouldn’t enjoy writing in such an unobtrusive atmosphere, with huge time-off in the summer and time for staff parties, which I have attended complete with ping-pong, swimming pool and croquet…a familiar lifestyle of policitians, methinks, and a long way from his heritage of tenement blocks in Glasgow only 150yrs ago.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:13:51 +0000

Sounds like the best of British ingenuity is required to solve this problem.

It would be great to see the introduction an idea of residential living in towers (of different sizes, shapes, forms and use mixes) that is particular to the British context and the multitude of infill and urban sites where they might be located.

Taking the garden tradition to the sky should inspire this generation of landscape architects to ensure that peoples lives do not become all steel and glass and pavement….

By: Tom Turner

Tom Turner — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:24:56 +0000

There is general hostility to residential skyscrapers BUT many of them have been built for, and are bought by, young urban professionals as ‘affordable housing’ and ‘re-development of brownfield sites’ etc. The planners have a dilemma because the population is rising, through immigration, and the people do no want to see new development on greenfield sites. So residential towers are the solution.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:04:59 +0000

I wonder what a typical English residential skyscraper might look like?

1. At the University of Essex: [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/34817853@N00/4370757263/ ]
2. For Leeds ‘Spiracle Tower’. [ http://www.archicentral.com/spiracle-by-make-15253/ ]
3. Also for Leeds ‘The Yellow Box’ building. [ http://www.archicentral.com/phs-shortlisted-for-36-the-calls-design-competition-in-england-26305/#more-26305 ]