| Amateur architects are already banned in India,
| and with the watchdogs on urban aesthetics running unabated and
| the national design code right around the corner,
| picture this...
The amateur architect
by urban fox, times online correspondent
The Gherkin, part of Ken Livingstone’s attempt to reinvent the London
skyline, is only one of many strange, adventurous and sometimes
wonderful corporate and public buildings going up on all sides
.....
It was going to be a big project. We were excited. She was excited. The
children chanted, “triangular prism! Triangular prism!” over the cornflakes.
Two months later, the architect called. She sounded a bit crestfallen.
They’d said no, she said. No poncy glass bits were allowed in Camden. If
we wanted a room in the roof, it was going to have to have a mansard
roof. That was all they were going to approve anywhere for the
foreseeable future. So did I want her to redraw it?
We tried again, with the mansard roof they wanted. All that was left of
the original design was a big window in front, opening onto a midget
terrace.
Six weeks later, we heard back again. But it was only computersaysnooo
again. No terrace in front. Hadn’t we heard the first time? All they
were approving at the moment was mansard roofs with two standard size
windows in front and standard slate tiling on the sides. So – did we
want to submit drawings that looked like that?
Well, I suppose we do. And I suppose we will. But It seems a waste of a
lot of excitement, time and several thousand quid’s worth of
architect’s fees, and I can’t help wishing they’d told us earlier that
only one design was being approved all over Camden.
.....
cont'd....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18389-2198705,00.html