Arquitectura: Awards for best British buildings leave classicists out in the cold
In pictures: RIBA awards 2008
Robert Booth
Thursday May 29, 2008
The Guardian
Classical and traditional architects are furious that there is not a doric column or a Tuscan pediment to be seen in the RIBA's list of 92 buildings, which instead celebrates the lords of the hi-tech movement, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster, and a school of designers who followed in their pioneering modernist footsteps.
The RIBA concedes that its awards largely represent contemporary modernist architecture, but insists there is no prejudice against traditional designers and says awards are only granted on grounds of architectural quality.
But the lack of traditional architecture on what is effectively the longlist for the Stirling prize, Britain's most prestigious architecture award, has sparked accusations that the RIBA judges are behaving like "style fascists".
Quinlan Terry, one of Prince Charles' favourite architects, said he has given up entering his buildings for RIBA awards because he knows they will be rejected on grounds of style.
"These awards are a con," said Robert Adam, one of the country's leading classicists, who is currently designing more than 20 country houses. "They purport to be about architecture, but they are only about one kind of architecture. The RIBA and the architectural profession are behaving like style fascists. This is a battle between building architecture that a professional clique thinks is right and producing buildings the public likes."
Buildings on the RIBA's list which will be favourites for the Stirling include Wembley stadium, St Pancras station in London, and the BBC's Glasgow headquarters designed by David Chipperfield, who won the £20,000 award last year.
But entrants from classical architects were rebuffed, including a country house in Hampshire by Adam, voted this year by the Georgian Group as Britain's best new building in the classical tradition. The group described it as a "triumph", "a cleverly conceived essay ... by an architect at the top of his game".
The building did not get beyond the first stage of the RIBA's judging process.
Julian Bicknell, an architect who has built neo-classical homes across Britain, accused the RIBA of "self-imposed blindness".
"It is a tragedy that the RIBA awards juries choose to ignore work done in supposedly traditional styles," he said. "It means there are no acknowledged standards to distinguish high quality work from the dross produced by mediocre developers."
For others, rejection of traditional designs is the latest battle in a war between modernism and classicism which has been raging in British architecture since the end of the second world war. "I am a champion of modernism and I believe contemporary architecture is the way forward and has always been the way forward," said Lord Rogers, whose practice won awards for Terminal 5 at Heathrow and a prefabricated housing development for Wimpey Homes at Milton Keynes. "The architects of the renaissance recognised that. But modernism has always been a shock and it seems some people are taking a rather long time to recover."
One of the RIBA's most senior judges risked stoking the fires further when she said the quality of traditional architecture had rarely been good enough to deserve an award. "There is no prejudice against classical architecture, there is a prejudice against poor architecture," said Joanna Van Heyningan, an architect with 20 years' experience as a RIBA judge. "This is a problem for people who have devoted their lives to one style of architecture because it has diverted them from pursuing quality."
In response, Quinlan Terry, who is building a new infirmary for Chelsea pensioners next to Sir Christopher Wren's Royal Hospital, said the RIBA awards were a closed shop, given by modernists to modernists.
"I don't enter because it would be a waste of time," he said. "Anyway, the RIBA's insistence on modernism is starting to look out of date. For the modern movement to get going in the 1950s they had to denigrate traditional architecture. People still say it is morally wrong to build a classical building and that modernism, which looks forward to the future, is classically correct. But people are now waking up to the fact that a lot of modernist buildings were awful. A lot more work goes to classicists now. We are building for rich Russians, but Mr Average likes traditional architecture too and wants a house with a pitched roof, a door in the middle and windows on each side - in other words, something that looks like a house."
In 2005 Terry was embroiled in a row with Rogers who urged the then deputy prime minister, John Prescott, to block his proposals for Chelsea Infirmary. Terry said his design was "sympathetic and deferential" to the neighbouring Wren building and featured sash windows, a modillion cornice and a Tuscan pediment. Rogers rubbished it as "architectural plagiarism". In that skirmish there was only one winner. Building work on Terry's hospital, which stands a couple of hundred yards from Rogers's converted Georgian home, is close to completion.
Some of the winners
The RIBA has announced 92 award winners. These are among highlights:
East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton Architect: Heatherwick Studio.
The judges said: "It is both strange and captivating; weird but lovable."
Rivington Place ethnic contemporary art centre, London Adjaye Associates.
"A masterclass in inventive external expression. The cafe is decorated more like contemporary Kenya than Shoreditch."
St Pancras International station, London Alistair Lansley.
"The design strategy has both coherence and drama ... that intentionally establishes the magnificence of the architecture."
Terminal 5, Heathrow Rogers Stirk Harbour.
"A triumph of quality of thought, tenacity of purpose and attention to passengers' needs."
Thomas Deacon city academy, Peterborough Foster + Partners.
"A pleasure to be in, this building will be a beacon for secondary school design."
Old Market Square, Nottingham Gustafson Porter.
"A fluid inviting public space. It allows the surrounding buildings both to complement each other and stand out for their architectural character."
Hilton Tower, Manchester Ian Simpson Architects.
"The landmark 50-storey tower ... has the excitement and bravura of the Manhattan tradition."
BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay, Glasgow David Chipperfield Architects.
"A singularly awe-inspiring volume."
Manchester Civil Justice Centre Denton Corker Marshall.
"The largest court building to be built in the UK since the Royal Courts of Justice ... elegant and beautifully executed."
Wembley stadium Foster + Partners and HOK Sport.
"It is an outstanding, practical achievement. The arch is an enormously successful London landmark."
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/architecture/story/0,,2282539,00.html
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