lSp

MAGAZINE OF THE DEPT OF ARCHITECTURE QU B

COVER DETAIL OF THE PALAIS IDEAL OF FERDINAND CHEVAL

The Three Giants - Caesar Vercingetorix and Archimedes - the guardians of the Palace are tall figures of lime and sand encrusted with red and blue-grey flints and are considered by Cheval to be somewhat in the Egyptian manner The Tower of Barbary rises behind

BIG A3 was designed and edited by Paul Larmour

AAH bullbullbull BELFA~Tl

LOOKING FOR A SILVIR LINING ()

Just if the troubles were to stop t the Phoenix from the ashes goodies include old-time delights some of which are already (not only by bombs) Lower Crescent ed) The Palmhouse Botanic Gardens ch~ing little memorial fountain oJ Theatre (if isolated from its Surrol Bridge(thankfully renewed) La Gra Mysterleuse (also threatened) Cast

get into it) Smithfield (threal architecture) and goodie

a brand new grand super-speed motol ular scale emblazoned across the ci

rid of all the people in it of car parks wherein to depc

wlth and whatnots carried upon motor tioned a delightful programme of rE we an judge by recent progress) s cub~cles for living for super-plann bullbullbull exciting new shopping centres w swe~ps shoppers off their feet play you re lucky enough to find workmen swings etc in spite of being pesll bullbullbullbull new housing deteriorating long economically designed-for life

Its like a sum if you do away wit the result is o ts not positive determine to make a s Even if it to do away with barbed wire barrier walls and bombed buildings in one fe would be left - conglomerated rows 0

housing lack of play areas and open back streets more desolate areas wh dozers have had their fun redevelop swap your former neighbours for a bal hidden anonymity in multi-cellular c and promises of a rosy future from tl Executive Trees plants flowers al frivolities are forgotten in the rac the redevelopment ladder A quite d gr~und ~n ~elfast (in an area where I qu4te dlfhcult to find) was killed ( for a car park for those noisy smel but unfortunately such convenient con Where have all the flowers gone Sh Or have people just forgotten WherE architecture gone -didnt it have som with design - art even To do with P Is not life made of beauty and song bricks and mortar) Life is bullbullbull

bullbullbullbull Happenings toys games stimula~ to fall over things to moan about t around laughing at things to be gaze We need 3d offs climbing up walls streets - mm colour - the painters 0

cant keep up with all the newly form~ flowers - anywhere or everywhere all scale people embassies empresarios of cramped streets to make roam for ID sky small scale sympathetic redevel housing and town centres and rehabil work chairs awnings yawnings exclw inexclusive be-ins trendies paraph~ gnomes in the garden and music in the environment that people might (if we prayers) respect decide to look aft~ (ama~ing thoughtl) contribute to them

A Marilyn Monroe statue by Andy Warho Hall John Gilbert type inflatable tor n the top of the Europa Hotel publi( lnstead of motorways (I don t t own a c white pneumatics to enclose the School ureOutrageous Yes exactly outr people out of environmental apathy 0

of that comes tH pretending to be fl them and burned-ou

or uninteresting unen areas where the only signs of life are kids who make up for it by being extra (ie troublesome)

In areas of new housing first on the priorities should be landscaping and s shops pubs and social centn cream everybody aswell as the h What an opportunity for a new city - ff

revo~ution - Utopia from the debris utopla - or everybodys utopia () - c chaos a planner t s nightmare Or pe and more control with res peoples

Perhaps one day (hopefully) the barrie will be museum pieces

bullI

~ ~

1IfI

LOOKING FOR A SILVIR LINING (7) Author nknown

Just if the troubles were to stop tomorrow vhat of the Phoenix rising from the ashes Existing goodies include delectable old-time architectural delights Some of which are already being done in (not only by bombs) Lower Crescent (to be demolishshyed) The Palmhouse Botanic Gardens (threatened) a ch~ing little memorial fountain opposite the Lyric Theatre (if isolated from its surroundings) Shaws Bridge (thankfully renewed) La Grande Palace Mysterieuse (also threatened) Castle Lane (if you can get into it) Smithfield (threatened) playbuses (instant architecture) and goodies yet to come bullbullbull a br~nd new grand super-speed motoI~ay of spectacshyular scale emblazoned aCroSS the city (once they can get rid of all the people in its way) and deserts of car parks wherein to deposit the whereshyvith and whatnots carried upon motorway aforemenshytioned a delightful programme of redevelopment (if we can judge by recent progress) super-planned cubicles for living for super-planned people bullbullbull exciting new shopping centres where the wind sweeps shoppers off their feet playgrounds bullbull if youre lucky enough to find workmen who will install swings etc in spite of being pestered by kids bullbullbull new housing deteriorating long before its economically designed-for life

Its like a sum - if you do away with the negative the result is o Its not positive unless you determine to make it s~ Even if it were possible to do away with barbed wire barriers turnstiles valls and bombed buildings in one fell swoop what would be left conglomerated rows of obsolete housing lack of play areas and open space in the back streets more desolate areas where the bull shydozers have had their fun redevelopment where you swap your former neighbours for a bathroom and hidden anonymity in multi-cellular complexities bullbullbull and promises of a rosy future from the Housing Executive Trees plants flowers and such like frivolities are forgotten in the race to the top of the redevelopment ladder A quite delightful playshyground in Belfast (in an area where playgrounds are quite difficult to find) vas killed off to make way for a car park for those noisy smelly pol-luting but unfortunately such convenient commodities Where have all the flowers gone Sinful novelties Or have people just forgotten Where has all the architecture gone -didnt it have something to do with design - art even To do with people and life Is not life made of beauty and song (not even bricks and mortar) Life is bullbullbullbull

bullbull bullbull Happenings toys games stimulation things to fall over things to moan about things to roll around laughing at things to be gazed at in wonder We need 3d offs Climbing up walls colour in the streets - mm colour - the painters of King William cant keep up with all the newly formed gables flowers - anywhere or everywhere all on a grande Scale people embassies empresarios Clearing of cramped streets to make room for more sun and sky small scale sympathetic redevelopment of housing and town centres and rehabilitation ironshywork chairs awnings yawnings exclusively inexclusive be-ins trendies paraphanalia kitsch gnomes in the garden and music in the air - an environment that people might (if we say a few prayers) respect decide to look after or even (arna~ing thought) contribute to themselves

A Marilyn Monroe statue by Andy Warhol next to City Hall John Gilbert type inflatable tomatoes growing on the top of the Europa Hotel public gardens instead of motorways (I dont own a car) black and white pneumatics to enclose the School of ArchitectshyureOutrageous Yes exactly - o~trage to shake people out of environmental apathy - a negative acceptance of everything that comes their way - be it barren barracks pretending to be flats or waste ground leftaround them and burned-out empty houses in sordid mean or uninteresting unentertaining areas where the only signs of life are grubby looking kids who make up for it by being extra lively (ie troublesome)

In areas of new housing first on the list of priorities should be landscaping and shops (corner shops please) pubs and social centres and iceshycream for- everybody - as well as tlc houses What an opportunity for a new city - environmental revolution - utopia from the debris Somebodys utopia - or everybodys utopia () - comprehensive chaos a planners nightmare Or perhaps modified and more co-operative control with respect to peoples freedom

P~aps one day (hopefully) the barriers and bombs will be museum pieces

----~~

-

EXCUSE ME HAVE YOU GOT THE REAL TIME

Keith Hilton

Reality in schools of Architecture programmes has almost become a pre-requisite for acceptashybility That is reality as far as location brief and client are concerned There are obvious arguments that support this attitude It is easier to relate to the demands of a real problem and it would follow that the motivation to solve the problem will be higher than in a more hypothetical situation

Jnfortur1itely few design programmes can bf 1poundlt11 in the sense that the tirre available woulo very rarely equate with the rEal f time allowar~ce in practice Very f building~ go through the Gesign process from brief preparation to the poundrd cf production information in less thar fifteeuro months (or the equivalent of twc consecJtive academic years) The most frequent ccmplaint then concerning design programmes is that the time allowed is urxealistic This must nearly always be the case unless the project is very small TheIe are also natural fears that th is lack of tirre may result in students developing a superficial attitude to design problems However it does not follow that a shallow atti shytude will automatically result from not being able to devote the full or real time to a project In fact many architects and designers would agree that time spent on a design appears to work on a law of diminishing returns when related to the amount learnt That is when a new project or area of study is encounteree the basic problems can be appreciated and to a large degree resolved in a relatively short period of time Therefore if programme times were for example doubled it certainly wouldnt follow that the educational value to the participants would be doubled - even when allowing a reasonable procrastination factor Unfortunately the feeling that there is a shortage of time can lead to students graspipg the first solution however half-formed and drawing it up in the fear that a better alternative-solution might ot be reached in time f

bull

The ability to reject and rethink is an extremely important aaset to an architectural student and is a characteristic of many of the Detter known architects The idea that complete buildings appear to ar-chitects as in a vision must be one of the biggest myths of our profession Emphasis then should be placed on the process rather- than the end

PORTRUSH RAILWAY STATION A CASE FOR INVESTIGATION JDC Charlton

Railway termini and hotels are to the nineteenth century what monasteries and cathedrals were to the thirteenth century They are the only real represhysentative buildings we possess bullbull Our metropolitan termini have been leaders of the art spirit of our time Building News 1875

Berkeley Deane Wise was civil engineer for the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway between IBBB and 1903 when the Midland Railway took it over remaining in charge until 1906 when he retired through ill-health During this period he produced a number of prOlific designs for stations from large termini to ~odest halts He did not design a rigid type of station which could be repeated over and over again but always changed the style and adapted his detailing for new buildings It has been suggested that the Midland were influenshycial in these stations but in fact only one was finished after the takeover this being BaUymena station 1903-4 having been started before the takeover The Midland in fact put the damper on station renewal

Wise used red bricks and timber as his medium in hoth mock Tudor and Scandinavian style designs the former typified by Carrickfergus and Glynn and the latter by Troopertane halt with ornamental wood carvings and high pitched roof and the conshycourse buildings at York Road Station comprising bookstalls which were removed to the Ulster Folk Museum in 1968 and excellently restored and booking office and station bar removed by the 1 R A in 1972

Wises finest work was undoubtably Portrush Station built in 1893 the mock Tudor style featuring a clock tower which dominates the square for-med by the station the town and a row of shops with an open vista to the harbour and sea on the other side The refreshment rooms which projected from the main facade wer-e demolished four years

result However a process without ~end result may well be of very questionable value The fact is that the edUcational objectives of a programme may differ from the real demands contained within the programme

Realism can even obstruct educational programshymes For example a housing vas incorporated into a recent 5th Year urban design programme and an objection frequently heard was that because a real area had been used as a base some students found it difficult to enter into the spirit of the game (The game inhabs in this case was a simulation of the planning processes involved in the development of a housing area)

This form of simulation then was seen as being clouded by the introduction of reality Yet ninety per cent of design programmes are in various degrees a simulation of reality One ~nswer to the problem could be the introduction of a live projects office Even this however as its own inherent problems How many offices could afford to employ the equivalent of a full year of students on one project Realism It is 31so difficult for students to have close contact with the project during the total design and conshystruction period Of course the live projects office can obviously be of educational value trealism apart

Another suggestion is th~t more realism could be introduced by the inClusion of competitions in place of design programmes However competitions are often set on an unrealistic time scale and frequently result in unrealistic solutions

It has also been suggested that a sandwich course could offer more contact with reality than the single year out in a conventional course Yet sandwich courses are not increasing in popshyularity

Perhaps more reality could be achieved by a combination of different methods Alternatively if the professional bodies didnt basically want generalist architects then there would be more time for specialist study

On reflection it would possibly have been better to start this article with a precise definition of the reality in the context of an architecshytural problem Perhaps if there was a little more real time available bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull

ago opening up the square to reveal the unsymshypathetic mass of Barrys Amusements and if the intention of demolition of the rest of the station is carried out the scale of the square will be destroyed if not the square itself it is such an important structure in a complex urban landscape

Northern Ireland Railways through its holding company wants to demolish the station replacing it with ~ commercial developement which would not reshytain the charm of the existing station This is all very well barring the architectural considshyeration but it is the sneaky manner in which NIR wants to demolish the station replacing it with a blank balance sheet building which gives rise for some concern

Towards these objectives NIRs architects a Belfast firm designed a new station slightly further down the line and this building was halfshycompleted before an unsuspecting Portrush Urban District Council realized that NIR were up to something ra~her nasty and had not yet applied for planning permission This was refused when NIR did belatedly seek approval Representatives of the holding company then showed the council their proposals for the station rite - a commercial developement with an excellent ~ateable value _ and tried to entice the council into giving the go ahead for the scheme thus ensuring demolition of the station But fortunately the council still smarting from lack of previous consultations have yet to make a decision

The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society list of the area gave the Station a grade A rating indicating their desire to have it retained as an important element of the town The question is should NIR with the assistance of their architects from Belfast be allowed to steamshyroller their intentions past the counoil and UAHS leaving Portrush a boring seaside town without its central element Portrush without its station would be like Euston minus the arch _ featureless

THE MINOS AFFAIR Robin Wylie

When I sat down to write this piece a recent re-reading of James Curls European Cities and Society was fresh in my mind At one point in that book James quotes John Donnes no man is an island associating with it his own not inacshycurate but certainly ungrateful remark that specialisation is the enemy of civilisation

Determinedly therefore I will avoid the specialists role by a bringing together of seemingly diverse topics to form my theme

The island of Crete the largest in the Aegean archipelago lies roughly equidistant from Europe Africa and Asia Minor Given extensive trading and thus cultural links it is scarcely surpri shysing that the first truly European civilisation was cradled here a fact mirrored by the story of Europa a Princess of Phoenicia who travelled to Crete on the back of a white bull The bull was of course Zeus in heavy disguise and by him Europa bore three sons Minos Phadamanthys and Sarpedon all identifiable with Cretan Royalty

In The Odyssey Book XIX Crete sits in the midst of the wine dark sea a fair land and a rich begirt with water and therein are many men innumerable and ninety cities

Today Crete is still beautiful but not as fertile as formerly the forests of Cypress bave vanished and the ninety cities have become a few towns Rugged mountains form an almost contiuuous backshybone leaving cultivable plains at the broader parts of the Island Near these plains stand the ruins of Minoan Palatial Architecture

The development of this culture accelerated from the beginning of the Bronze Age in 3000 BC to produce a system of writing and a developed palatial architecture around 2000 BC In 1500 BC the last and most brillant period late Minoan was virtually wiped out by a violent catastrophe A thousand years later the Egyptians related to the Greek sage Solon how Atlantis a large powerful and populous island in the course of a single dreadful day and night and after a series of calamitous earthquakes and inundations disappeared for ever beneath the sea It is known that Thera the modern volcanic island of santorin which is only thirty miles north of Crete did erupt at that time and comparing this event with the recorded eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies in 1890 similar titanic waves must have engulfed much of Crete In any event only Knossas the principal site was re-occupied

arlt trat oruy 01 a i_ Si011 1 ime Cind in GorfuGed cu-shy-tumslancs-Tlepeople of Crete would-se~m to h~ been a peaceful and religious people brilliant and gifted living in an attractive and stimulating environment Physically they were small broadshouldered slimshywaisted natural athletes who perhaps initiated the athletic festivals later beloved of the mainland Greeks They appear on contemporary Egyptian wall paintings as the Keftui or people of the islands

Minoan religion centred on the Great Godess the Earth Mother and continued the neOlithic deVelopments of cave sanctuary labyrinth and the horns as fundashymental tenets Legend places the birth of Zeus in a cave concealed from his father Cronos Because Cronos feared the future power of a son he had until then devoured all his male children It is significant that Minos the son of Zeus frequently descended into caves to consult his father and on one major occasion returned with a complete code of laws for his people

Other traditions related to Minos describe a great fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean the construction of the great labyrinth by Datdalus and of courSe the ultimate death of the Minotaur at the hands of Thesus aided by Ariadne the Kings daughter

The Bull-leaping Games were a central activity of Minoan life expressing one primitive belief that the earth was tossed upon the horns of an enormous bull as in the Iliad Bk xxIn bulls does the earth shaker delight n a coy explanation of earthquakes and inshycluding the sacrifice necessary to placate unfriendly primal forces Perhaps Minos at once king and Priest wearing a bulls-head mask led the ceremonial officiated at the sacrifice and became in folk memory the minotaur part man part beast demanding annual tribute from the Athenians

The palaces of Crete may be considered as representing in their siting orientation layout and construction a complete ritualisation of Neolitic and Bronze Age culture a polyfunctional entity of great subtlety

If we examine the siting we find that in every case a clearly defined pattern of landscape can be reshycognised with certain elements present in fixed reshylationships These are firstly an enclosing valley in which the palace is set secondly a gently mounded hill to north or south and lastly a higher distant double-peaked mountain on the same axis

While there must be many complexities of meaning associated with these forms the principal reference must be to the earths motherly form The forms through their controlling axis define and focus the constructed elements of the palace the labyrinthine

tshy --shy-=1-shy -

The Grand Staircase

paGSage ~ne open cour~ _ the _o~lum~~ J)~ilio-Iand

the pillared cave--ihusthe natUral ad the c~nlshytructed are fused in a harmonius combination It is the dominant feature therefore of Minoan life and thought to be in total and profound harmony witb ndture cUnoan palatial archuecture particularly as it survives only in an incomplete and ruinous state can be virtually incomprehensible to the observer AW Laurence in bis Greek Architecture refers to the insane jigsaw of the ground plan at Knossos

On closer scrutiny however a clear structure emerges planned to respond to a complex set of requirements ceremonial residential religious manufacturing and warehousing which in turn stem fromthe executive and economic functions of the palace The plan is arranged on mainly two levels around the central court To the West storage magazines and associated with the central court shrine and throne suites all supporting a large $uite of public rooms on the first floor To the North-east workshops and storerooms supporting dining rooms kitchens and a conjectural Great East Hall sanctuary for the Mother Goddess In the South-east corner the Domestic Quarter the Royal apartments consist of a four storey block containing the Grand Stairshycase Because of the ground levels this part of the Palace lies nine metres below the central court so that it gives access at the half way point of the staircase It is significant that the most important rooms within the domestic quarter namely the Hall of the Double Axes and the Queens Megaron are at the lowestlevel where they may relate directly to open porticoes terraced gardens and the landscape beyond

To understand more of Knossos and the Palace of Minos as it can be seen today it is necessary to know something about the excavation partial restorashytion and publication of this site by Sir Arth~ Evans

It is significant that the year in which Arthur Evans was born 1851 saw also the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace and some of the first patents registered for a true reinforced concrete Through the succeeding half century we can trace developments which when brought together explain much of his work at Knosses

Evans himself was the key figure A fine scholar with a First in History at Oxford an inveterate traveller who enjoyed roughing it one time Balkan correspondent of the Manchester Guardian he became keeper of the Ashmolean in which position he was much given to archaeological forays both theoretical and practical

He was chronically shortsighted with an intense microscopic vision vision which enabled him to appreciate the true significance of tiny Minoan seal stories which he saw in Athens in 1893 in a oealers possession By 1900 he was excavating The Palace of Minos and discovering a brUliant civilisation hitherto unknown

His excavation and restoration on which he spent about a quarter of a million pounds have been widely publicised This work has attracted some criticism chiefly on account of the colourful rehuilding of key portions of the Palace It should be clearly understood however that Evans found himself excavating a multi-storey building of conshysiderable complexity much of which was intact in three dimensions supported in its original position by a matrix of debris Columns of cypress wood tapering to the base and set into stone sockets had been used to support a superstructure of stone tensioned by timber against earthquake movements All woodwork however had been carbonisad in the course of thirty five centuries Evans had to replace this missing system in order to proceed Only reinforced concrete the new cheap durable and ambiguous structural material could have solved such a problem Without it the spatial and functional qualities of the Palace would be lo~t to us or at best recorded only in the dimensions in the archives of Evans excavation reports and publications What of the Great Exhibition

New standards of design and new currents of thought sprang from the revulsion which many people felt on seeing the exhibition These new directions are characterised by the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris and later Art Nouveau By coincidence the first recorded example of Art Nouveau a title page for a book was designed by Ilackllurdo born in the same year as Evans and died in the same year (19112)

Clearly the forms and unilinear curves of Art Nouveau owe as much to Minoan art published in excavation reports from 1880 onwards as does Ionian philosophy based as it was on continuity and the fluid linear movement of nature

The restoration of a site such as Knosses was influenced of course as much by the accepted cultural and artistic standards of the day as they were by publication of excavation material

This two-way process serves to clarify a situation I find to be important Consider a complex multi shyuse entity primarily functional in derivation though exhibiting some notions of formal aesthetics such as partial symmetry constructed as a multi shystorey building on a modular basis flat roofed structurally cohesive though flexible equipped with systems of drainage adjustable ventilation and bilateral lighting an entity carefully related to external space form acco~ding tQ prevailing notions or amenuy natural harmony and metashyphysics Does this represent a late 20th century AD ideal buUt in the late 20th century BCbullbull albeit in Lt5 own terms Does this represent the timeless unchanging value system of European civilisation or does it perhaps refer to the dust to dustashes to ashes finale of contemporary architecture and culture

Time alone can answer with authority

central court 100

--= I

-bull

~

~ - I Il

bath from the Queens apa

the octopus jar from Goun

COVER DETAIL OF THE PALAIS IDEAL OF FERDINAND CHEVAL

The Three Giants - Caesar Vercingetorix and Archimedes - the guardians of the Palace are tall figures of lime and sand encrusted with red and blue-grey flints and are considered by Cheval to be somewhat in the Egyptian manner The Tower of Barbary rises behind

BIG A3 was designed and edited by Paul Larmour

AAH bullbullbull BELFA~Tl

LOOKING FOR A SILVIR LINING ()

Just if the troubles were to stop t the Phoenix from the ashes goodies include old-time delights some of which are already (not only by bombs) Lower Crescent ed) The Palmhouse Botanic Gardens ch~ing little memorial fountain oJ Theatre (if isolated from its Surrol Bridge(thankfully renewed) La Gra Mysterleuse (also threatened) Cast

get into it) Smithfield (threal architecture) and goodie

a brand new grand super-speed motol ular scale emblazoned across the ci

rid of all the people in it of car parks wherein to depc

wlth and whatnots carried upon motor tioned a delightful programme of rE we an judge by recent progress) s cub~cles for living for super-plann bullbullbull exciting new shopping centres w swe~ps shoppers off their feet play you re lucky enough to find workmen swings etc in spite of being pesll bullbullbullbull new housing deteriorating long economically designed-for life

Its like a sum if you do away wit the result is o ts not positive determine to make a s Even if it to do away with barbed wire barrier walls and bombed buildings in one fe would be left - conglomerated rows 0

housing lack of play areas and open back streets more desolate areas wh dozers have had their fun redevelop swap your former neighbours for a bal hidden anonymity in multi-cellular c and promises of a rosy future from tl Executive Trees plants flowers al frivolities are forgotten in the rac the redevelopment ladder A quite d gr~und ~n ~elfast (in an area where I qu4te dlfhcult to find) was killed ( for a car park for those noisy smel but unfortunately such convenient con Where have all the flowers gone Sh Or have people just forgotten WherE architecture gone -didnt it have som with design - art even To do with P Is not life made of beauty and song bricks and mortar) Life is bullbullbull

bullbullbullbull Happenings toys games stimula~ to fall over things to moan about t around laughing at things to be gaze We need 3d offs climbing up walls streets - mm colour - the painters 0

cant keep up with all the newly form~ flowers - anywhere or everywhere all scale people embassies empresarios of cramped streets to make roam for ID sky small scale sympathetic redevel housing and town centres and rehabil work chairs awnings yawnings exclw inexclusive be-ins trendies paraph~ gnomes in the garden and music in the environment that people might (if we prayers) respect decide to look aft~ (ama~ing thoughtl) contribute to them

A Marilyn Monroe statue by Andy Warho Hall John Gilbert type inflatable tor n the top of the Europa Hotel publi( lnstead of motorways (I don t t own a c white pneumatics to enclose the School ureOutrageous Yes exactly outr people out of environmental apathy 0

of that comes tH pretending to be fl them and burned-ou

or uninteresting unen areas where the only signs of life are kids who make up for it by being extra (ie troublesome)

In areas of new housing first on the priorities should be landscaping and s shops pubs and social centn cream everybody aswell as the h What an opportunity for a new city - ff

revo~ution - Utopia from the debris utopla - or everybodys utopia () - c chaos a planner t s nightmare Or pe and more control with res peoples

Perhaps one day (hopefully) the barrie will be museum pieces

bullI

~ ~

1IfI

LOOKING FOR A SILVIR LINING (7) Author nknown

Just if the troubles were to stop tomorrow vhat of the Phoenix rising from the ashes Existing goodies include delectable old-time architectural delights Some of which are already being done in (not only by bombs) Lower Crescent (to be demolishshyed) The Palmhouse Botanic Gardens (threatened) a ch~ing little memorial fountain opposite the Lyric Theatre (if isolated from its surroundings) Shaws Bridge (thankfully renewed) La Grande Palace Mysterieuse (also threatened) Castle Lane (if you can get into it) Smithfield (threatened) playbuses (instant architecture) and goodies yet to come bullbullbull a br~nd new grand super-speed motoI~ay of spectacshyular scale emblazoned aCroSS the city (once they can get rid of all the people in its way) and deserts of car parks wherein to deposit the whereshyvith and whatnots carried upon motorway aforemenshytioned a delightful programme of redevelopment (if we can judge by recent progress) super-planned cubicles for living for super-planned people bullbullbull exciting new shopping centres where the wind sweeps shoppers off their feet playgrounds bullbull if youre lucky enough to find workmen who will install swings etc in spite of being pestered by kids bullbullbull new housing deteriorating long before its economically designed-for life

Its like a sum - if you do away with the negative the result is o Its not positive unless you determine to make it s~ Even if it were possible to do away with barbed wire barriers turnstiles valls and bombed buildings in one fell swoop what would be left conglomerated rows of obsolete housing lack of play areas and open space in the back streets more desolate areas where the bull shydozers have had their fun redevelopment where you swap your former neighbours for a bathroom and hidden anonymity in multi-cellular complexities bullbullbull and promises of a rosy future from the Housing Executive Trees plants flowers and such like frivolities are forgotten in the race to the top of the redevelopment ladder A quite delightful playshyground in Belfast (in an area where playgrounds are quite difficult to find) vas killed off to make way for a car park for those noisy smelly pol-luting but unfortunately such convenient commodities Where have all the flowers gone Sinful novelties Or have people just forgotten Where has all the architecture gone -didnt it have something to do with design - art even To do with people and life Is not life made of beauty and song (not even bricks and mortar) Life is bullbullbullbull

bullbull bullbull Happenings toys games stimulation things to fall over things to moan about things to roll around laughing at things to be gazed at in wonder We need 3d offs Climbing up walls colour in the streets - mm colour - the painters of King William cant keep up with all the newly formed gables flowers - anywhere or everywhere all on a grande Scale people embassies empresarios Clearing of cramped streets to make room for more sun and sky small scale sympathetic redevelopment of housing and town centres and rehabilitation ironshywork chairs awnings yawnings exclusively inexclusive be-ins trendies paraphanalia kitsch gnomes in the garden and music in the air - an environment that people might (if we say a few prayers) respect decide to look after or even (arna~ing thought) contribute to themselves

A Marilyn Monroe statue by Andy Warhol next to City Hall John Gilbert type inflatable tomatoes growing on the top of the Europa Hotel public gardens instead of motorways (I dont own a car) black and white pneumatics to enclose the School of ArchitectshyureOutrageous Yes exactly - o~trage to shake people out of environmental apathy - a negative acceptance of everything that comes their way - be it barren barracks pretending to be flats or waste ground leftaround them and burned-out empty houses in sordid mean or uninteresting unentertaining areas where the only signs of life are grubby looking kids who make up for it by being extra lively (ie troublesome)

In areas of new housing first on the list of priorities should be landscaping and shops (corner shops please) pubs and social centres and iceshycream for- everybody - as well as tlc houses What an opportunity for a new city - environmental revolution - utopia from the debris Somebodys utopia - or everybodys utopia () - comprehensive chaos a planners nightmare Or perhaps modified and more co-operative control with respect to peoples freedom

P~aps one day (hopefully) the barriers and bombs will be museum pieces

----~~

-

EXCUSE ME HAVE YOU GOT THE REAL TIME

Keith Hilton

Reality in schools of Architecture programmes has almost become a pre-requisite for acceptashybility That is reality as far as location brief and client are concerned There are obvious arguments that support this attitude It is easier to relate to the demands of a real problem and it would follow that the motivation to solve the problem will be higher than in a more hypothetical situation

Jnfortur1itely few design programmes can bf 1poundlt11 in the sense that the tirre available woulo very rarely equate with the rEal f time allowar~ce in practice Very f building~ go through the Gesign process from brief preparation to the poundrd cf production information in less thar fifteeuro months (or the equivalent of twc consecJtive academic years) The most frequent ccmplaint then concerning design programmes is that the time allowed is urxealistic This must nearly always be the case unless the project is very small TheIe are also natural fears that th is lack of tirre may result in students developing a superficial attitude to design problems However it does not follow that a shallow atti shytude will automatically result from not being able to devote the full or real time to a project In fact many architects and designers would agree that time spent on a design appears to work on a law of diminishing returns when related to the amount learnt That is when a new project or area of study is encounteree the basic problems can be appreciated and to a large degree resolved in a relatively short period of time Therefore if programme times were for example doubled it certainly wouldnt follow that the educational value to the participants would be doubled - even when allowing a reasonable procrastination factor Unfortunately the feeling that there is a shortage of time can lead to students graspipg the first solution however half-formed and drawing it up in the fear that a better alternative-solution might ot be reached in time f

bull

The ability to reject and rethink is an extremely important aaset to an architectural student and is a characteristic of many of the Detter known architects The idea that complete buildings appear to ar-chitects as in a vision must be one of the biggest myths of our profession Emphasis then should be placed on the process rather- than the end

PORTRUSH RAILWAY STATION A CASE FOR INVESTIGATION JDC Charlton

Railway termini and hotels are to the nineteenth century what monasteries and cathedrals were to the thirteenth century They are the only real represhysentative buildings we possess bullbull Our metropolitan termini have been leaders of the art spirit of our time Building News 1875

Berkeley Deane Wise was civil engineer for the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway between IBBB and 1903 when the Midland Railway took it over remaining in charge until 1906 when he retired through ill-health During this period he produced a number of prOlific designs for stations from large termini to ~odest halts He did not design a rigid type of station which could be repeated over and over again but always changed the style and adapted his detailing for new buildings It has been suggested that the Midland were influenshycial in these stations but in fact only one was finished after the takeover this being BaUymena station 1903-4 having been started before the takeover The Midland in fact put the damper on station renewal

Wise used red bricks and timber as his medium in hoth mock Tudor and Scandinavian style designs the former typified by Carrickfergus and Glynn and the latter by Troopertane halt with ornamental wood carvings and high pitched roof and the conshycourse buildings at York Road Station comprising bookstalls which were removed to the Ulster Folk Museum in 1968 and excellently restored and booking office and station bar removed by the 1 R A in 1972

Wises finest work was undoubtably Portrush Station built in 1893 the mock Tudor style featuring a clock tower which dominates the square for-med by the station the town and a row of shops with an open vista to the harbour and sea on the other side The refreshment rooms which projected from the main facade wer-e demolished four years

result However a process without ~end result may well be of very questionable value The fact is that the edUcational objectives of a programme may differ from the real demands contained within the programme

Realism can even obstruct educational programshymes For example a housing vas incorporated into a recent 5th Year urban design programme and an objection frequently heard was that because a real area had been used as a base some students found it difficult to enter into the spirit of the game (The game inhabs in this case was a simulation of the planning processes involved in the development of a housing area)

This form of simulation then was seen as being clouded by the introduction of reality Yet ninety per cent of design programmes are in various degrees a simulation of reality One ~nswer to the problem could be the introduction of a live projects office Even this however as its own inherent problems How many offices could afford to employ the equivalent of a full year of students on one project Realism It is 31so difficult for students to have close contact with the project during the total design and conshystruction period Of course the live projects office can obviously be of educational value trealism apart

Another suggestion is th~t more realism could be introduced by the inClusion of competitions in place of design programmes However competitions are often set on an unrealistic time scale and frequently result in unrealistic solutions

It has also been suggested that a sandwich course could offer more contact with reality than the single year out in a conventional course Yet sandwich courses are not increasing in popshyularity

Perhaps more reality could be achieved by a combination of different methods Alternatively if the professional bodies didnt basically want generalist architects then there would be more time for specialist study

On reflection it would possibly have been better to start this article with a precise definition of the reality in the context of an architecshytural problem Perhaps if there was a little more real time available bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull

ago opening up the square to reveal the unsymshypathetic mass of Barrys Amusements and if the intention of demolition of the rest of the station is carried out the scale of the square will be destroyed if not the square itself it is such an important structure in a complex urban landscape

Northern Ireland Railways through its holding company wants to demolish the station replacing it with ~ commercial developement which would not reshytain the charm of the existing station This is all very well barring the architectural considshyeration but it is the sneaky manner in which NIR wants to demolish the station replacing it with a blank balance sheet building which gives rise for some concern

Towards these objectives NIRs architects a Belfast firm designed a new station slightly further down the line and this building was halfshycompleted before an unsuspecting Portrush Urban District Council realized that NIR were up to something ra~her nasty and had not yet applied for planning permission This was refused when NIR did belatedly seek approval Representatives of the holding company then showed the council their proposals for the station rite - a commercial developement with an excellent ~ateable value _ and tried to entice the council into giving the go ahead for the scheme thus ensuring demolition of the station But fortunately the council still smarting from lack of previous consultations have yet to make a decision

The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society list of the area gave the Station a grade A rating indicating their desire to have it retained as an important element of the town The question is should NIR with the assistance of their architects from Belfast be allowed to steamshyroller their intentions past the counoil and UAHS leaving Portrush a boring seaside town without its central element Portrush without its station would be like Euston minus the arch _ featureless

THE MINOS AFFAIR Robin Wylie

When I sat down to write this piece a recent re-reading of James Curls European Cities and Society was fresh in my mind At one point in that book James quotes John Donnes no man is an island associating with it his own not inacshycurate but certainly ungrateful remark that specialisation is the enemy of civilisation

Determinedly therefore I will avoid the specialists role by a bringing together of seemingly diverse topics to form my theme

The island of Crete the largest in the Aegean archipelago lies roughly equidistant from Europe Africa and Asia Minor Given extensive trading and thus cultural links it is scarcely surpri shysing that the first truly European civilisation was cradled here a fact mirrored by the story of Europa a Princess of Phoenicia who travelled to Crete on the back of a white bull The bull was of course Zeus in heavy disguise and by him Europa bore three sons Minos Phadamanthys and Sarpedon all identifiable with Cretan Royalty

In The Odyssey Book XIX Crete sits in the midst of the wine dark sea a fair land and a rich begirt with water and therein are many men innumerable and ninety cities

Today Crete is still beautiful but not as fertile as formerly the forests of Cypress bave vanished and the ninety cities have become a few towns Rugged mountains form an almost contiuuous backshybone leaving cultivable plains at the broader parts of the Island Near these plains stand the ruins of Minoan Palatial Architecture

The development of this culture accelerated from the beginning of the Bronze Age in 3000 BC to produce a system of writing and a developed palatial architecture around 2000 BC In 1500 BC the last and most brillant period late Minoan was virtually wiped out by a violent catastrophe A thousand years later the Egyptians related to the Greek sage Solon how Atlantis a large powerful and populous island in the course of a single dreadful day and night and after a series of calamitous earthquakes and inundations disappeared for ever beneath the sea It is known that Thera the modern volcanic island of santorin which is only thirty miles north of Crete did erupt at that time and comparing this event with the recorded eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies in 1890 similar titanic waves must have engulfed much of Crete In any event only Knossas the principal site was re-occupied

arlt trat oruy 01 a i_ Si011 1 ime Cind in GorfuGed cu-shy-tumslancs-Tlepeople of Crete would-se~m to h~ been a peaceful and religious people brilliant and gifted living in an attractive and stimulating environment Physically they were small broadshouldered slimshywaisted natural athletes who perhaps initiated the athletic festivals later beloved of the mainland Greeks They appear on contemporary Egyptian wall paintings as the Keftui or people of the islands

Minoan religion centred on the Great Godess the Earth Mother and continued the neOlithic deVelopments of cave sanctuary labyrinth and the horns as fundashymental tenets Legend places the birth of Zeus in a cave concealed from his father Cronos Because Cronos feared the future power of a son he had until then devoured all his male children It is significant that Minos the son of Zeus frequently descended into caves to consult his father and on one major occasion returned with a complete code of laws for his people

Other traditions related to Minos describe a great fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean the construction of the great labyrinth by Datdalus and of courSe the ultimate death of the Minotaur at the hands of Thesus aided by Ariadne the Kings daughter

The Bull-leaping Games were a central activity of Minoan life expressing one primitive belief that the earth was tossed upon the horns of an enormous bull as in the Iliad Bk xxIn bulls does the earth shaker delight n a coy explanation of earthquakes and inshycluding the sacrifice necessary to placate unfriendly primal forces Perhaps Minos at once king and Priest wearing a bulls-head mask led the ceremonial officiated at the sacrifice and became in folk memory the minotaur part man part beast demanding annual tribute from the Athenians

The palaces of Crete may be considered as representing in their siting orientation layout and construction a complete ritualisation of Neolitic and Bronze Age culture a polyfunctional entity of great subtlety

If we examine the siting we find that in every case a clearly defined pattern of landscape can be reshycognised with certain elements present in fixed reshylationships These are firstly an enclosing valley in which the palace is set secondly a gently mounded hill to north or south and lastly a higher distant double-peaked mountain on the same axis

While there must be many complexities of meaning associated with these forms the principal reference must be to the earths motherly form The forms through their controlling axis define and focus the constructed elements of the palace the labyrinthine

tshy --shy-=1-shy -

The Grand Staircase

paGSage ~ne open cour~ _ the _o~lum~~ J)~ilio-Iand

the pillared cave--ihusthe natUral ad the c~nlshytructed are fused in a harmonius combination It is the dominant feature therefore of Minoan life and thought to be in total and profound harmony witb ndture cUnoan palatial archuecture particularly as it survives only in an incomplete and ruinous state can be virtually incomprehensible to the observer AW Laurence in bis Greek Architecture refers to the insane jigsaw of the ground plan at Knossos

On closer scrutiny however a clear structure emerges planned to respond to a complex set of requirements ceremonial residential religious manufacturing and warehousing which in turn stem fromthe executive and economic functions of the palace The plan is arranged on mainly two levels around the central court To the West storage magazines and associated with the central court shrine and throne suites all supporting a large $uite of public rooms on the first floor To the North-east workshops and storerooms supporting dining rooms kitchens and a conjectural Great East Hall sanctuary for the Mother Goddess In the South-east corner the Domestic Quarter the Royal apartments consist of a four storey block containing the Grand Stairshycase Because of the ground levels this part of the Palace lies nine metres below the central court so that it gives access at the half way point of the staircase It is significant that the most important rooms within the domestic quarter namely the Hall of the Double Axes and the Queens Megaron are at the lowestlevel where they may relate directly to open porticoes terraced gardens and the landscape beyond

To understand more of Knossos and the Palace of Minos as it can be seen today it is necessary to know something about the excavation partial restorashytion and publication of this site by Sir Arth~ Evans

It is significant that the year in which Arthur Evans was born 1851 saw also the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace and some of the first patents registered for a true reinforced concrete Through the succeeding half century we can trace developments which when brought together explain much of his work at Knosses

Evans himself was the key figure A fine scholar with a First in History at Oxford an inveterate traveller who enjoyed roughing it one time Balkan correspondent of the Manchester Guardian he became keeper of the Ashmolean in which position he was much given to archaeological forays both theoretical and practical

He was chronically shortsighted with an intense microscopic vision vision which enabled him to appreciate the true significance of tiny Minoan seal stories which he saw in Athens in 1893 in a oealers possession By 1900 he was excavating The Palace of Minos and discovering a brUliant civilisation hitherto unknown

His excavation and restoration on which he spent about a quarter of a million pounds have been widely publicised This work has attracted some criticism chiefly on account of the colourful rehuilding of key portions of the Palace It should be clearly understood however that Evans found himself excavating a multi-storey building of conshysiderable complexity much of which was intact in three dimensions supported in its original position by a matrix of debris Columns of cypress wood tapering to the base and set into stone sockets had been used to support a superstructure of stone tensioned by timber against earthquake movements All woodwork however had been carbonisad in the course of thirty five centuries Evans had to replace this missing system in order to proceed Only reinforced concrete the new cheap durable and ambiguous structural material could have solved such a problem Without it the spatial and functional qualities of the Palace would be lo~t to us or at best recorded only in the dimensions in the archives of Evans excavation reports and publications What of the Great Exhibition

New standards of design and new currents of thought sprang from the revulsion which many people felt on seeing the exhibition These new directions are characterised by the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris and later Art Nouveau By coincidence the first recorded example of Art Nouveau a title page for a book was designed by Ilackllurdo born in the same year as Evans and died in the same year (19112)

Clearly the forms and unilinear curves of Art Nouveau owe as much to Minoan art published in excavation reports from 1880 onwards as does Ionian philosophy based as it was on continuity and the fluid linear movement of nature

The restoration of a site such as Knosses was influenced of course as much by the accepted cultural and artistic standards of the day as they were by publication of excavation material

This two-way process serves to clarify a situation I find to be important Consider a complex multi shyuse entity primarily functional in derivation though exhibiting some notions of formal aesthetics such as partial symmetry constructed as a multi shystorey building on a modular basis flat roofed structurally cohesive though flexible equipped with systems of drainage adjustable ventilation and bilateral lighting an entity carefully related to external space form acco~ding tQ prevailing notions or amenuy natural harmony and metashyphysics Does this represent a late 20th century AD ideal buUt in the late 20th century BCbullbull albeit in Lt5 own terms Does this represent the timeless unchanging value system of European civilisation or does it perhaps refer to the dust to dustashes to ashes finale of contemporary architecture and culture

Time alone can answer with authority

central court 100

--= I

-bull

~

~ - I Il

bath from the Queens apa

the octopus jar from Goun

bullI

~ ~

1IfI

LOOKING FOR A SILVIR LINING (7) Author nknown

Just if the troubles were to stop tomorrow vhat of the Phoenix rising from the ashes Existing goodies include delectable old-time architectural delights Some of which are already being done in (not only by bombs) Lower Crescent (to be demolishshyed) The Palmhouse Botanic Gardens (threatened) a ch~ing little memorial fountain opposite the Lyric Theatre (if isolated from its surroundings) Shaws Bridge (thankfully renewed) La Grande Palace Mysterieuse (also threatened) Castle Lane (if you can get into it) Smithfield (threatened) playbuses (instant architecture) and goodies yet to come bullbullbull a br~nd new grand super-speed motoI~ay of spectacshyular scale emblazoned aCroSS the city (once they can get rid of all the people in its way) and deserts of car parks wherein to deposit the whereshyvith and whatnots carried upon motorway aforemenshytioned a delightful programme of redevelopment (if we can judge by recent progress) super-planned cubicles for living for super-planned people bullbullbull exciting new shopping centres where the wind sweeps shoppers off their feet playgrounds bullbull if youre lucky enough to find workmen who will install swings etc in spite of being pestered by kids bullbullbull new housing deteriorating long before its economically designed-for life

Its like a sum - if you do away with the negative the result is o Its not positive unless you determine to make it s~ Even if it were possible to do away with barbed wire barriers turnstiles valls and bombed buildings in one fell swoop what would be left conglomerated rows of obsolete housing lack of play areas and open space in the back streets more desolate areas where the bull shydozers have had their fun redevelopment where you swap your former neighbours for a bathroom and hidden anonymity in multi-cellular complexities bullbullbull and promises of a rosy future from the Housing Executive Trees plants flowers and such like frivolities are forgotten in the race to the top of the redevelopment ladder A quite delightful playshyground in Belfast (in an area where playgrounds are quite difficult to find) vas killed off to make way for a car park for those noisy smelly pol-luting but unfortunately such convenient commodities Where have all the flowers gone Sinful novelties Or have people just forgotten Where has all the architecture gone -didnt it have something to do with design - art even To do with people and life Is not life made of beauty and song (not even bricks and mortar) Life is bullbullbullbull

bullbull bullbull Happenings toys games stimulation things to fall over things to moan about things to roll around laughing at things to be gazed at in wonder We need 3d offs Climbing up walls colour in the streets - mm colour - the painters of King William cant keep up with all the newly formed gables flowers - anywhere or everywhere all on a grande Scale people embassies empresarios Clearing of cramped streets to make room for more sun and sky small scale sympathetic redevelopment of housing and town centres and rehabilitation ironshywork chairs awnings yawnings exclusively inexclusive be-ins trendies paraphanalia kitsch gnomes in the garden and music in the air - an environment that people might (if we say a few prayers) respect decide to look after or even (arna~ing thought) contribute to themselves

A Marilyn Monroe statue by Andy Warhol next to City Hall John Gilbert type inflatable tomatoes growing on the top of the Europa Hotel public gardens instead of motorways (I dont own a car) black and white pneumatics to enclose the School of ArchitectshyureOutrageous Yes exactly - o~trage to shake people out of environmental apathy - a negative acceptance of everything that comes their way - be it barren barracks pretending to be flats or waste ground leftaround them and burned-out empty houses in sordid mean or uninteresting unentertaining areas where the only signs of life are grubby looking kids who make up for it by being extra lively (ie troublesome)

In areas of new housing first on the list of priorities should be landscaping and shops (corner shops please) pubs and social centres and iceshycream for- everybody - as well as tlc houses What an opportunity for a new city - environmental revolution - utopia from the debris Somebodys utopia - or everybodys utopia () - comprehensive chaos a planners nightmare Or perhaps modified and more co-operative control with respect to peoples freedom

P~aps one day (hopefully) the barriers and bombs will be museum pieces

----~~

-

EXCUSE ME HAVE YOU GOT THE REAL TIME

Keith Hilton

Reality in schools of Architecture programmes has almost become a pre-requisite for acceptashybility That is reality as far as location brief and client are concerned There are obvious arguments that support this attitude It is easier to relate to the demands of a real problem and it would follow that the motivation to solve the problem will be higher than in a more hypothetical situation

Jnfortur1itely few design programmes can bf 1poundlt11 in the sense that the tirre available woulo very rarely equate with the rEal f time allowar~ce in practice Very f building~ go through the Gesign process from brief preparation to the poundrd cf production information in less thar fifteeuro months (or the equivalent of twc consecJtive academic years) The most frequent ccmplaint then concerning design programmes is that the time allowed is urxealistic This must nearly always be the case unless the project is very small TheIe are also natural fears that th is lack of tirre may result in students developing a superficial attitude to design problems However it does not follow that a shallow atti shytude will automatically result from not being able to devote the full or real time to a project In fact many architects and designers would agree that time spent on a design appears to work on a law of diminishing returns when related to the amount learnt That is when a new project or area of study is encounteree the basic problems can be appreciated and to a large degree resolved in a relatively short period of time Therefore if programme times were for example doubled it certainly wouldnt follow that the educational value to the participants would be doubled - even when allowing a reasonable procrastination factor Unfortunately the feeling that there is a shortage of time can lead to students graspipg the first solution however half-formed and drawing it up in the fear that a better alternative-solution might ot be reached in time f

bull

The ability to reject and rethink is an extremely important aaset to an architectural student and is a characteristic of many of the Detter known architects The idea that complete buildings appear to ar-chitects as in a vision must be one of the biggest myths of our profession Emphasis then should be placed on the process rather- than the end

PORTRUSH RAILWAY STATION A CASE FOR INVESTIGATION JDC Charlton

Railway termini and hotels are to the nineteenth century what monasteries and cathedrals were to the thirteenth century They are the only real represhysentative buildings we possess bullbull Our metropolitan termini have been leaders of the art spirit of our time Building News 1875

Berkeley Deane Wise was civil engineer for the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway between IBBB and 1903 when the Midland Railway took it over remaining in charge until 1906 when he retired through ill-health During this period he produced a number of prOlific designs for stations from large termini to ~odest halts He did not design a rigid type of station which could be repeated over and over again but always changed the style and adapted his detailing for new buildings It has been suggested that the Midland were influenshycial in these stations but in fact only one was finished after the takeover this being BaUymena station 1903-4 having been started before the takeover The Midland in fact put the damper on station renewal

Wise used red bricks and timber as his medium in hoth mock Tudor and Scandinavian style designs the former typified by Carrickfergus and Glynn and the latter by Troopertane halt with ornamental wood carvings and high pitched roof and the conshycourse buildings at York Road Station comprising bookstalls which were removed to the Ulster Folk Museum in 1968 and excellently restored and booking office and station bar removed by the 1 R A in 1972

Wises finest work was undoubtably Portrush Station built in 1893 the mock Tudor style featuring a clock tower which dominates the square for-med by the station the town and a row of shops with an open vista to the harbour and sea on the other side The refreshment rooms which projected from the main facade wer-e demolished four years

result However a process without ~end result may well be of very questionable value The fact is that the edUcational objectives of a programme may differ from the real demands contained within the programme

Realism can even obstruct educational programshymes For example a housing vas incorporated into a recent 5th Year urban design programme and an objection frequently heard was that because a real area had been used as a base some students found it difficult to enter into the spirit of the game (The game inhabs in this case was a simulation of the planning processes involved in the development of a housing area)

This form of simulation then was seen as being clouded by the introduction of reality Yet ninety per cent of design programmes are in various degrees a simulation of reality One ~nswer to the problem could be the introduction of a live projects office Even this however as its own inherent problems How many offices could afford to employ the equivalent of a full year of students on one project Realism It is 31so difficult for students to have close contact with the project during the total design and conshystruction period Of course the live projects office can obviously be of educational value trealism apart

Another suggestion is th~t more realism could be introduced by the inClusion of competitions in place of design programmes However competitions are often set on an unrealistic time scale and frequently result in unrealistic solutions

It has also been suggested that a sandwich course could offer more contact with reality than the single year out in a conventional course Yet sandwich courses are not increasing in popshyularity

Perhaps more reality could be achieved by a combination of different methods Alternatively if the professional bodies didnt basically want generalist architects then there would be more time for specialist study

On reflection it would possibly have been better to start this article with a precise definition of the reality in the context of an architecshytural problem Perhaps if there was a little more real time available bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull

ago opening up the square to reveal the unsymshypathetic mass of Barrys Amusements and if the intention of demolition of the rest of the station is carried out the scale of the square will be destroyed if not the square itself it is such an important structure in a complex urban landscape

Northern Ireland Railways through its holding company wants to demolish the station replacing it with ~ commercial developement which would not reshytain the charm of the existing station This is all very well barring the architectural considshyeration but it is the sneaky manner in which NIR wants to demolish the station replacing it with a blank balance sheet building which gives rise for some concern

Towards these objectives NIRs architects a Belfast firm designed a new station slightly further down the line and this building was halfshycompleted before an unsuspecting Portrush Urban District Council realized that NIR were up to something ra~her nasty and had not yet applied for planning permission This was refused when NIR did belatedly seek approval Representatives of the holding company then showed the council their proposals for the station rite - a commercial developement with an excellent ~ateable value _ and tried to entice the council into giving the go ahead for the scheme thus ensuring demolition of the station But fortunately the council still smarting from lack of previous consultations have yet to make a decision

The Ulster Architectural Heritage Society list of the area gave the Station a grade A rating indicating their desire to have it retained as an important element of the town The question is should NIR with the assistance of their architects from Belfast be allowed to steamshyroller their intentions past the counoil and UAHS leaving Portrush a boring seaside town without its central element Portrush without its station would be like Euston minus the arch _ featureless

THE MINOS AFFAIR Robin Wylie

When I sat down to write this piece a recent re-reading of James Curls European Cities and Society was fresh in my mind At one point in that book James quotes John Donnes no man is an island associating with it his own not inacshycurate but certainly ungrateful remark that specialisation is the enemy of civilisation

Determinedly therefore I will avoid the specialists role by a bringing together of seemingly diverse topics to form my theme

The island of Crete the largest in the Aegean archipelago lies roughly equidistant from Europe Africa and Asia Minor Given extensive trading and thus cultural links it is scarcely surpri shysing that the first truly European civilisation was cradled here a fact mirrored by the story of Europa a Princess of Phoenicia who travelled to Crete on the back of a white bull The bull was of course Zeus in heavy disguise and by him Europa bore three sons Minos Phadamanthys and Sarpedon all identifiable with Cretan Royalty

In The Odyssey Book XIX Crete sits in the midst of the wine dark sea a fair land and a rich begirt with water and therein are many men innumerable and ninety cities

Today Crete is still beautiful but not as fertile as formerly the forests of Cypress bave vanished and the ninety cities have become a few towns Rugged mountains form an almost contiuuous backshybone leaving cultivable plains at the broader parts of the Island Near these plains stand the ruins of Minoan Palatial Architecture

The development of this culture accelerated from the beginning of the Bronze Age in 3000 BC to produce a system of writing and a developed palatial architecture around 2000 BC In 1500 BC the last and most brillant period late Minoan was virtually wiped out by a violent catastrophe A thousand years later the Egyptians related to the Greek sage Solon how Atlantis a large powerful and populous island in the course of a single dreadful day and night and after a series of calamitous earthquakes and inundations disappeared for ever beneath the sea It is known that Thera the modern volcanic island of santorin which is only thirty miles north of Crete did erupt at that time and comparing this event with the recorded eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies in 1890 similar titanic waves must have engulfed much of Crete In any event only Knossas the principal site was re-occupied

arlt trat oruy 01 a i_ Si011 1 ime Cind in GorfuGed cu-shy-tumslancs-Tlepeople of Crete would-se~m to h~ been a peaceful and religious people brilliant and gifted living in an attractive and stimulating environment Physically they were small broadshouldered slimshywaisted natural athletes who perhaps initiated the athletic festivals later beloved of the mainland Greeks They appear on contemporary Egyptian wall paintings as the Keftui or people of the islands

Minoan religion centred on the Great Godess the Earth Mother and continued the neOlithic deVelopments of cave sanctuary labyrinth and the horns as fundashymental tenets Legend places the birth of Zeus in a cave concealed from his father Cronos Because Cronos feared the future power of a son he had until then devoured all his male children It is significant that Minos the son of Zeus frequently descended into caves to consult his father and on one major occasion returned with a complete code of laws for his people

Other traditions related to Minos describe a great fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean the construction of the great labyrinth by Datdalus and of courSe the ultimate death of the Minotaur at the hands of Thesus aided by Ariadne the Kings daughter

The Bull-leaping Games were a central activity of Minoan life expressing one primitive belief that the earth was tossed upon the horns of an enormous bull as in the Iliad Bk xxIn bulls does the earth shaker delight n a coy explanation of earthquakes and inshycluding the sacrifice necessary to placate unfriendly primal forces Perhaps Minos at once king and Priest wearing a bulls-head mask led the ceremonial officiated at the sacrifice and became in folk memory the minotaur part man part beast demanding annual tribute from the Athenians

The palaces of Crete may be considered as representing in their siting orientation layout and construction a complete ritualisation of Neolitic and Bronze Age culture a polyfunctional entity of great subtlety

If we examine the siting we find that in every case a clearly defined pattern of landscape can be reshycognised with certain elements present in fixed reshylationships These are firstly an enclosing valley in which the palace is set secondly a gently mounded hill to north or south and lastly a higher distant double-peaked mountain on the same axis

While there must be many complexities of meaning associated with these forms the principal reference must be to the earths motherly form The forms through their controlling axis define and focus the constructed elements of the palace the labyrinthine

tshy --shy-=1-shy -

The Grand Staircase

paGSage ~ne open cour~ _ the _o~lum~~ J)~ilio-Iand

the pillared cave--ihusthe natUral ad the c~nlshytructed are fused in a harmonius combination It is the dominant feature therefore of Minoan life and thought to be in total and profound harmony witb ndture cUnoan palatial archuecture particularly as it survives only in an incomplete and ruinous state can be virtually incomprehensible to the observer AW Laurence in bis Greek Architecture refers to the insane jigsaw of the ground plan at Knossos

On closer scrutiny however a clear structure emerges planned to respond to a complex set of requirements ceremonial residential religious manufacturing and warehousing which in turn stem fromthe executive and economic functions of the palace The plan is arranged on mainly two levels around the central court To the West storage magazines and associated with the central court shrine and throne suites all supporting a large $uite of public rooms on the first floor To the North-east workshops and storerooms supporting dining rooms kitchens and a conjectural Great East Hall sanctuary for the Mother Goddess In the South-east corner the Domestic Quarter the Royal apartments consist of a four storey block containing the Grand Stairshycase Because of the ground levels this part of the Palace lies nine metres below the central court so that it gives access at the half way point of the staircase It is significant that the most important rooms within the domestic quarter namely the Hall of the Double Axes and the Queens Megaron are at the lowestlevel where they may relate directly to open porticoes terraced gardens and the landscape beyond

To understand more of Knossos and the Palace of Minos as it can be seen today it is necessary to know something about the excavation partial restorashytion and publication of this site by Sir Arth~ Evans

It is significant that the year in which Arthur Evans was born 1851 saw also the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace and some of the first patents registered for a true reinforced concrete Through the succeeding half century we can trace developments which when brought together explain much of his work at Knosses

Evans himself was the key figure A fine scholar with a First in History at Oxford an inveterate traveller who enjoyed roughing it one time Balkan correspondent of the Manchester Guardian he became keeper of the Ashmolean in which position he was much given to archaeological forays both theoretical and practical

He was chronically shortsighted with an intense microscopic vision vision which enabled him to appreciate the true significance of tiny Minoan seal stories which he saw in Athens in 1893 in a oealers possession By 1900 he was excavating The Palace of Minos and discovering a brUliant civilisation hitherto unknown

His excavation and restoration on which he spent about a quarter of a million pounds have been widely publicised This work has attracted some criticism chiefly on account of the colourful rehuilding of key portions of the Palace It should be clearly understood however that Evans found himself excavating a multi-storey building of conshysiderable complexity much of which was intact in three dimensions supported in its original position by a matrix of debris Columns of cypress wood tapering to the base and set into stone sockets had been used to support a superstructure of stone tensioned by timber against earthquake movements All woodwork however had been carbonisad in the course of thirty five centuries Evans had to replace this missing system in order to proceed Only reinforced concrete the new cheap durable and ambiguous structural material could have solved such a problem Without it the spatial and functional qualities of the Palace would be lo~t to us or at best recorded only in the dimensions in the archives of Evans excavation reports and publications What of the Great Exhibition

New standards of design and new currents of thought sprang from the revulsion which many people felt on seeing the exhibition These new directions are characterised by the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris and later Art Nouveau By coincidence the first recorded example of Art Nouveau a title page for a book was designed by Ilackllurdo born in the same year as Evans and died in the same year (19112)

Clearly the forms and unilinear curves of Art Nouveau owe as much to Minoan art published in excavation reports from 1880 onwards as does Ionian philosophy based as it was on continuity and the fluid linear movement of nature

The restoration of a site such as Knosses was influenced of course as much by the accepted cultural and artistic standards of the day as they were by publication of excavation material

This two-way process serves to clarify a situation I find to be important Consider a complex multi shyuse entity primarily functional in derivation though exhibiting some notions of formal aesthetics such as partial symmetry constructed as a multi shystorey building on a modular basis flat roofed structurally cohesive though flexible equipped with systems of drainage adjustable ventilation and bilateral lighting an entity carefully related to external space form acco~ding tQ prevailing notions or amenuy natural harmony and metashyphysics Does this represent a late 20th century AD ideal buUt in the late 20th century BCbullbull albeit in Lt5 own terms Does this represent the timeless unchanging value system of European civilisation or does it perhaps refer to the dust to dustashes to ashes finale of contemporary architecture and culture

Time alone can answer with authority

central court 100

--= I

-bull

~

~ - I Il

bath from the Queens apa

the octopus jar from Goun

THE MINOS AFFAIR Robin Wylie

When I sat down to write this piece a recent re-reading of James Curls European Cities and Society was fresh in my mind At one point in that book James quotes John Donnes no man is an island associating with it his own not inacshycurate but certainly ungrateful remark that specialisation is the enemy of civilisation

Determinedly therefore I will avoid the specialists role by a bringing together of seemingly diverse topics to form my theme

The island of Crete the largest in the Aegean archipelago lies roughly equidistant from Europe Africa and Asia Minor Given extensive trading and thus cultural links it is scarcely surpri shysing that the first truly European civilisation was cradled here a fact mirrored by the story of Europa a Princess of Phoenicia who travelled to Crete on the back of a white bull The bull was of course Zeus in heavy disguise and by him Europa bore three sons Minos Phadamanthys and Sarpedon all identifiable with Cretan Royalty

In The Odyssey Book XIX Crete sits in the midst of the wine dark sea a fair land and a rich begirt with water and therein are many men innumerable and ninety cities

Today Crete is still beautiful but not as fertile as formerly the forests of Cypress bave vanished and the ninety cities have become a few towns Rugged mountains form an almost contiuuous backshybone leaving cultivable plains at the broader parts of the Island Near these plains stand the ruins of Minoan Palatial Architecture

The development of this culture accelerated from the beginning of the Bronze Age in 3000 BC to produce a system of writing and a developed palatial architecture around 2000 BC In 1500 BC the last and most brillant period late Minoan was virtually wiped out by a violent catastrophe A thousand years later the Egyptians related to the Greek sage Solon how Atlantis a large powerful and populous island in the course of a single dreadful day and night and after a series of calamitous earthquakes and inundations disappeared for ever beneath the sea It is known that Thera the modern volcanic island of santorin which is only thirty miles north of Crete did erupt at that time and comparing this event with the recorded eruption of Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies in 1890 similar titanic waves must have engulfed much of Crete In any event only Knossas the principal site was re-occupied

arlt trat oruy 01 a i_ Si011 1 ime Cind in GorfuGed cu-shy-tumslancs-Tlepeople of Crete would-se~m to h~ been a peaceful and religious people brilliant and gifted living in an attractive and stimulating environment Physically they were small broadshouldered slimshywaisted natural athletes who perhaps initiated the athletic festivals later beloved of the mainland Greeks They appear on contemporary Egyptian wall paintings as the Keftui or people of the islands

Minoan religion centred on the Great Godess the Earth Mother and continued the neOlithic deVelopments of cave sanctuary labyrinth and the horns as fundashymental tenets Legend places the birth of Zeus in a cave concealed from his father Cronos Because Cronos feared the future power of a son he had until then devoured all his male children It is significant that Minos the son of Zeus frequently descended into caves to consult his father and on one major occasion returned with a complete code of laws for his people

Other traditions related to Minos describe a great fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean the construction of the great labyrinth by Datdalus and of courSe the ultimate death of the Minotaur at the hands of Thesus aided by Ariadne the Kings daughter

The Bull-leaping Games were a central activity of Minoan life expressing one primitive belief that the earth was tossed upon the horns of an enormous bull as in the Iliad Bk xxIn bulls does the earth shaker delight n a coy explanation of earthquakes and inshycluding the sacrifice necessary to placate unfriendly primal forces Perhaps Minos at once king and Priest wearing a bulls-head mask led the ceremonial officiated at the sacrifice and became in folk memory the minotaur part man part beast demanding annual tribute from the Athenians

The palaces of Crete may be considered as representing in their siting orientation layout and construction a complete ritualisation of Neolitic and Bronze Age culture a polyfunctional entity of great subtlety

If we examine the siting we find that in every case a clearly defined pattern of landscape can be reshycognised with certain elements present in fixed reshylationships These are firstly an enclosing valley in which the palace is set secondly a gently mounded hill to north or south and lastly a higher distant double-peaked mountain on the same axis

While there must be many complexities of meaning associated with these forms the principal reference must be to the earths motherly form The forms through their controlling axis define and focus the constructed elements of the palace the labyrinthine

tshy --shy-=1-shy -

The Grand Staircase

paGSage ~ne open cour~ _ the _o~lum~~ J)~ilio-Iand

the pillared cave--ihusthe natUral ad the c~nlshytructed are fused in a harmonius combination It is the dominant feature therefore of Minoan life and thought to be in total and profound harmony witb ndture cUnoan palatial archuecture particularly as it survives only in an incomplete and ruinous state can be virtually incomprehensible to the observer AW Laurence in bis Greek Architecture refers to the insane jigsaw of the ground plan at Knossos

On closer scrutiny however a clear structure emerges planned to respond to a complex set of requirements ceremonial residential religious manufacturing and warehousing which in turn stem fromthe executive and economic functions of the palace The plan is arranged on mainly two levels around the central court To the West storage magazines and associated with the central court shrine and throne suites all supporting a large $uite of public rooms on the first floor To the North-east workshops and storerooms supporting dining rooms kitchens and a conjectural Great East Hall sanctuary for the Mother Goddess In the South-east corner the Domestic Quarter the Royal apartments consist of a four storey block containing the Grand Stairshycase Because of the ground levels this part of the Palace lies nine metres below the central court so that it gives access at the half way point of the staircase It is significant that the most important rooms within the domestic quarter namely the Hall of the Double Axes and the Queens Megaron are at the lowestlevel where they may relate directly to open porticoes terraced gardens and the landscape beyond

To understand more of Knossos and the Palace of Minos as it can be seen today it is necessary to know something about the excavation partial restorashytion and publication of this site by Sir Arth~ Evans

It is significant that the year in which Arthur Evans was born 1851 saw also the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace and some of the first patents registered for a true reinforced concrete Through the succeeding half century we can trace developments which when brought together explain much of his work at Knosses

Evans himself was the key figure A fine scholar with a First in History at Oxford an inveterate traveller who enjoyed roughing it one time Balkan correspondent of the Manchester Guardian he became keeper of the Ashmolean in which position he was much given to archaeological forays both theoretical and practical

He was chronically shortsighted with an intense microscopic vision vision which enabled him to appreciate the true significance of tiny Minoan seal stories which he saw in Athens in 1893 in a oealers possession By 1900 he was excavating The Palace of Minos and discovering a brUliant civilisation hitherto unknown

His excavation and restoration on which he spent about a quarter of a million pounds have been widely publicised This work has attracted some criticism chiefly on account of the colourful rehuilding of key portions of the Palace It should be clearly understood however that Evans found himself excavating a multi-storey building of conshysiderable complexity much of which was intact in three dimensions supported in its original position by a matrix of debris Columns of cypress wood tapering to the base and set into stone sockets had been used to support a superstructure of stone tensioned by timber against earthquake movements All woodwork however had been carbonisad in the course of thirty five centuries Evans had to replace this missing system in order to proceed Only reinforced concrete the new cheap durable and ambiguous structural material could have solved such a problem Without it the spatial and functional qualities of the Palace would be lo~t to us or at best recorded only in the dimensions in the archives of Evans excavation reports and publications What of the Great Exhibition

New standards of design and new currents of thought sprang from the revulsion which many people felt on seeing the exhibition These new directions are characterised by the Arts and Crafts Movement William Morris and later Art Nouveau By coincidence the first recorded example of Art Nouveau a title page for a book was designed by Ilackllurdo born in the same year as Evans and died in the same year (19112)

Clearly the forms and unilinear curves of Art Nouveau owe as much to Minoan art published in excavation reports from 1880 onwards as does Ionian philosophy based as it was on continuity and the fluid linear movement of nature

The restoration of a site such as Knosses was influenced of course as much by the accepted cultural and artistic standards of the day as they were by publication of excavation material

This two-way process serves to clarify a situation I find to be important Consider a complex multi shyuse entity primarily functional in derivation though exhibiting some notions of formal aesthetics such as partial symmetry constructed as a multi shystorey building on a modular basis flat roofed structurally cohesive though flexible equipped with systems of drainage adjustable ventilation and bilateral lighting an entity carefully related to external space form acco~ding tQ prevailing notions or amenuy natural harmony and metashyphysics Does this represent a late 20th century AD ideal buUt in the late 20th century BCbullbull albeit in Lt5 own terms Does this represent the timeless unchanging value system of European civilisation or does it perhaps refer to the dust to dustashes to ashes finale of contemporary architecture and culture

Time alone can answer with authority

central court 100

--= I

-bull

~

~ - I Il

bath from the Queens apa

the octopus jar from Goun

bull

bull bull

=----

Isanctua~

b trbulle open cour~ ---tLw~ned ~viliontQ~

~~-~ _ --- Thus the natural and the cons-

in a harmonius combination feature therefore of Minoan life

in total and profound harmony with

chitecture particularly as it n incomplete and ruinous state ncomprehensible to the observer is Greek Architecture refers saw of the ground plan at KnosSOB

however a clear structure emerges I to a complex set of requirements mtial religious manufacturing rbich in turn stem from the OlDie functions of the palace led on mainly two levels around

To the West storage magazines h the central court shrine and L supporting a large suite of Ie first floor To the North-east ~rooms supporting dining rooms Ijectural Great East Hall sanctuary 1dess In the South-east corner ~ter the Royal apartments consist lock containing the Grand Stairshyf the ground levels this part of ine metres below the central court iCCess at the half way point of t is significant that the most lthin the domestic quarter ~f the Double Axes and the Queens be lowest level where they may gt open porticoes terXaced glllldens beyond

e of Knossos and the Palace of e seen today it is necessary to out the excavation partial restorashyion of this site by Sir Arth~

that the year in which Arthur i851 saw also the Great Exhibition ilace and some of the first patents true reinforced concrete Through uf century we can trace developments lit together explain much of his

I the key figure A fine scholar listory at Oxford an inveterate joyed roughing it one time Balkan the Manchester Guardian he became

nnolean in which position he was ohaeological forays both theoretical

1y shortsighted with an intense on vision which enabled him to rue significance or tiny Minoan ch he saw in Athens in 1893 in a ion Ixcavating The Palace or Hinos and Uliant civUisation hitharto

Ind restoration on which he spent lof a million pounds have been d This work has attracted some y on account of the colourful I portions of the Palace It should Stood however that Evans round Lng a multi-storey building or conshyeldty much or which was intact in supported in its original position ~ebris Columns of cypress wood base and set into stone sockets had ~port a superstructure of stone nber against earthquake movements Never had been carbonised in the f five centuries Evans had to llsing system in order to proceed concrete the new cheap durable

~ructural material could have solved Without it the spatial and

iities of the Palace would be lost to trecoroed only in the dimensio~ in

Evans excavation reports and Mbat of the Great Exhibition

CJJ

Obanquet inp hall

reception halls

~

central court looking south to sacred hill

first floor plan

~~~~~~~on ~ ebullbullbullbull - bull bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull e_____ north entrance

mn IIr The Palace of Minos south entrance

1- --~

If design and new currents of thought revulsion which many people felt on

Ibition These new directions are ~y the Arts and Crafts Movement

and later Art Nouveau By first recorded example of Art Nouveau I a book was designed by liIackmurdo e year as Evans and died in the same

_ and unilinear curves of Art lmucb to Minoan art published in )rts from 1880 onwards as does Ionian Id as it was on continuity and the f)Vement of nature

II of a site such as Knosses was lourse as much by the accepted 7tistic standards of the day as they stion of excavation material

~ess serves to clarify a situation IIportant consider a complex multishyimarily functional in derivation lng some notions of formal aesthetics 1 symmetry constructed as a multi-g on a modular hasis flat roored Dhesive though flexible equipped If drainage adjustable ventilation aighting an entity carefully related Bce form according tq prevailing mity natural hannony anoJ metashy

this represent a late 20th century Ut in the late 20th century BC 0 terms Does this represent mchangiug value system of European or does it perhaps refer to the ashes to ashes finale of

lrchitecture and culture

I answer with authority

bath from the Queens apartment

A Book Review - IINice one Georgie

Itchypods Belfast by George Itchypod NICE-ONE PRESS BELFAST

I have ~rten heard the opinion expressed that was in two minds As a friend it has often to me that at any given time he has been in at least three all of them interesting Dear old George How orten did we sit up well into the night discusshysing post-Pevsnerian politics oVer mugs of sweet muddy coffee What a scrap there was for that last chocolate biscuit However back to the task in hand I have been asked to review the book he always said was to be his magnum opus Itchypods Belfast published now posthumously by a new Belfast firm

Alas it seems that the hairline cracks and strange mental twists of his previous work A Tavernors Tale have widened into chasms and gentle bends The whole book is taken up with an almost surrealistic comparison between the large lamp which directs nightshytime traffic at Shaftesbury Square which he cr~istens the Shaftesbury Beacon and our dear old familiar City HalL Referring constantly to - The Opium Poets Belfast Sojourn by Victor Vasectomy and the Reverend Raymond Redbreast and especially the chapshyter Belfast is Xanadu he contends that Coleridge composed his famous poem while stumbling around Belshyfast in a whiskey-haze after an evening at Dubarrys (hence the pleasure dome is the City Hall and Alph the sacred river i~ the Blackstaff)

This is not all He records a pilgrimage to the stone clochan on Dun Aengus which is the home of the only living person who can remember Belfast as it was before the City Hall was built - Danny McAlmas-Daisy Danny he writes is very old but his brain is still active~ When asked the obvious he paused knocking his clay pipe out Well sir it was wierd there was an air of ex-pecshy

tency like everyone was waiting for something to happen He writes of how he first happened upon the Shaftesbury Beacon and his astonished and indignant cry - What an erection caused passers by to stare in open-mouthed amazement

But enough 1 urge you to read this book as I did with an open mind May I also recommend the two volumes brought out simultaneously with it Both cover interesting if limited rields They are shyThe Belfast Bog-at-the-Back Book by Robin Rudeness and The Truth and the Trust by Eric (Little by Little) Hummingbird All three are modestly priced at 5 guineas Cheerio Alexander Marsh-Gibbon

The Passionate Systems Man to His Analyst

Roofs and gables spire and steeple Rise and ramble gainst the sky Dh what sights to greet my people Apples of a draughtsmans eye

But must we gape at nine day wonders Wonders blunders of the past Brick-a-brack all red and yellow Betjernanic old Belfast

(Relics of Victorian Heritage Weve been sold a mess of potterage)

Rumble stumble groan and grumble Bark your shins on myths of yare Architects should all be humble Stuffed and crammed with building lore

ED Evansthe octopus jar from Gournia

e bull r-shy

west Court

bull

ceremonial suite

storape workshops

central II royal court aDartments I

bull----- bull bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull

ceremonial routes

Ground floor plan

THE TURN OF THE CENTURY IN ULSTER ART NOUVEAU AND INVENTIVENESS Paul Larmour

The turn of the century period was one of novelty and invention with whimsical use of past styles all part of a general revolt against the tired eclecti shycism of the Neo-classicists and the GothicshyRevivalists It was left to certain isolated figures like the Scotsman Rennie Mackintosh to pave the way to a new and more genuinely modern architecture but most minor figures replaced High Victorian grossness with a picturesque and often animated eclectic style much after the influence of Norman Shaw Shaw the most representative and influential British archishytect of the time was a bewildering eclectic capable of adapting any style in history brilliantly to his purpose drawing together particularly Tudor ha~fshytimber Dutch Renaissance Queen Anne and Engl~sh vernac~lar work of the 11th and IBth centuries

Turn of the century work in Ulster tends to be charshyacterised by Shaw-inspired features with intershynational influence occasionally appearing wide arches after the style of the American Henry Richardson continental art nouveaudetailing and some ~~kintosh and Charles Townsend inspired art nouveau features After the influence of Shaw a number of buildings appeared with tall gables of unfamiliar outline and interesting detailS Kinahan Mansions a terrace of six houses with shops on Stranmillis Road Belfast designed 189B by Thomas Lindsay has two towering gables with finials and Scottish-baronial inspired corbelling Still remaining over the ground floor premises of a hair stylist are wide semi-elliptical arches fashionable at the time Office premises at No8 Waring Street designed by WGilliland in l89B has an ~nteresting tall gable and a tudorish arch over the ground floor section This building has a distinctive fin de siecle atmosphere without having any details directly related to art nouveau Cathedral Buildings Donegall Street designed by Lepper and Fennell in 1900 has a similar atmosphere as have two buildings by Graeme Watt and Tulloch These are the Power Station of 1898 in East Bridge Street and Murray Sons and Co Ltd Whitehall Tobacco Works at the Boyne Bridge Sandy Rowcl900 Both are novel buildings the Tobacco Works being parshyticularly distinctive having pagoda-like roofs to the two towers and a bright freize of lettering There are huge bulging quoins to the towers with art nouveau curves and scrolls

One of the foremost architects in Ulster at this time was Vincent Craig (lB66-1925) an elder brother of Lord Craigavon Craig started ijS a pupil of WHLynn architect of the library at QUB in 1668 and of Belfast Castle in 1810 in Scottish Baronial style In 1900 at the age of 71 Lynn designed the department store known as Bank Buildings which surprisingly looked forward to the 20th century with its framed construction and large areas of plate glass

Two early works by Craig the Belfast Bank (now Northern Bank) on Marp Street Portrush of 189B and a bank at Rathmines in Dublin of IB99 show disshytinctive gable features and corner towers The Portrush bank though now shorn of its art noveau style iron gates and surrounding railings is an interesting mixture of oriels gables and dormers with the corner tower corbelled Craigs modest Town Hall in Cookstown designed in 1900 in assocshyiation with JW Leebody is interesting only for its squat Scottish baronial corner-corbelling at the square tower but this was fOllowed in 1902 by the much more distinctive design for Portstewart Presbyshyterian Church This is finished in roughcast cement with red sandstone trim and displays certain art noveau features The porch tower has long shallow arched pediments over the door and window broken by attached finials Above louvred top storey windows are wavy drip mOUldings and above them a scalloped parapet The large west window is slightly pointed with flowing art noveau coloured glass designs An interesting feature is the buttress which breaks up through this window The coping of the tower seems to bear some relation to the undulating coping topping the two towers which flank the impressive gable of No36 and 38 Donegall Place Belfast This building was built by Craig in 1903 for Sharman D Neil the leading clockmakers at the time It is a strange but charming facade with baroque elements featured in an original way

In 1906 at Coleraine Academical Institution Craig designed an arch of Dumfries red sandstone which displayed art nouveau curves in its cast iron gates The foilowing year work began on the Masonic Hall Downpatrick This curious assymetrical building has been altered considerably but still retains disshytinctive features - elliptical gables and an Italianshyate Composite entrance arch Art nouveau coloured glass designs are much in evidence and on the inside doors there are fine brass pushplates with embossed tulip flower and stem designs in art nouveau style Craigs Ballywatt Presbyterian Church Hall of 1910-11 near Portrush has inside door handles reminiscent of the metalwork of Victor Horta the Belgian exponent of art nouveaumiddot

The foremost firm working in art nouveaustyle at this time was Blackwood amp Jury of Belfast In 1902 they designed a pair of semi-detached houses in Deramore Drive off the Malone Road These together have a very buiky appearance three storeys tall with half-hips to the end and front gables and huge sloping-sided chimneys Distincti~e fea~ures on each are a wide arched wooden transome In a f~rst-floor window a wavy parapet to a projecting bay an~ an ingle-nOOk projecting fromeach end facade ~Ireshyplace~ are exceptionally flne those on the fIrst floor being metal with stems of Beardsleyesque deshylineation curving upwards and breaking out into a mass of leaves under the overmantle The downstairs fireplace is an elegant inglenook in English Arts and Crafts style Elsewhere inside there ar art

nouveaudesigns carved in wood and the style ~s obvious in many coloured-glass windows

Blackwood and ltJury designed Belfasts most bizarre building the larg~ department store of 1905 in Castle Place This presents a very Gaudiesque art nouveau roof line Formerly the building had curved art nouveau glazing bars in the first~floor windows but these were lost as a result of a nearby terrorist bomb explosion The lower storeys have been much altered in recent years so that only the upper half of the buildin~ remains as it was TLi ridS d very Cdly tlppedlallce with its facing of Carrara artificial stone There are bulging balshycony railings and flambouyant designs of swirling tulips and serpentine decoration

Just around the corner in Arthur Square is the huge bulk of Blackwood ampJurys Mayfair block of 1906 a building with something of the atmosphere of a Norshythern European medieval market hall with steeply pitched roof and high gables The building is exeshycuted in brick with stone dressing Notable features are the wide stilted arches at first floor level (a feature of the Castle Place store) the fanciful Mayfair lettering above the door the surprising tower at the corner entrance witR an Italianate dome at the top and a medieval-like sloping hood over the entrance The only surface decoration reminiscent of Castle Place is in the curvilinear mOUldings which appear along the frieze above the ground floor windows

Blackwood ampJurys Carnegie Public Library of 1908 in Downpatrick is a restrained and handsome building more modern than art noveau It has fine lettering and a delightful little entrance with hood There are certain curved details - stone coping to each side of the main gables scroll-like metal brackets under the projecting eaves - as well as wide-arched windOWS with stone transoms and mullions and the gentle upward sway of the coping to the projecting bay Unshyfortunately this building has been allowed to detershyiorate inside and is due to be demolished - a sad end

A happier fate for Ballynafeigh Methodist Church Ormeau Road Belfast this was restored and repainted in 1966 This interesting and eccentric church was designed by Forman and Aston a Londonderry firm and completed in 1699 CBrett describes its exterior treatment as being a very strange adaptation of renaissance ideals to art nouveau idioms Of sigshynificance are the wide arched openings near the top of the tower

A building with a sirrilar wide arch in Richardsonian fashion is Crymbles Music Shop in Wellington Place Belfasts most delightful example in the art nouveau style with fine carvings medallion and colourful spandrel decoration This frontage was designed in 1903 by WJW Roome a well-known and liked personshyality After thirty years of architectural practice he gave up his business in Kingscourt Wellington Place to participate in the work of carrying the gospel into the interior of Africa Secretary in East and Central Africa for the British and Foreign Bible Society he travelled mOre than 100000 miles 25 per cent of which was done on foot or by pedal cycle Travelling unarmed he was often the first white man ever seen by natives He was an advenshyturous man only the seventh Briton to climb Kilimanjaro and reach the crater A canpanion with him became the first American to achieve the featl Mr Roane died in Tangiers in 1931

A number of the charming Edwardian shop-fronts along Main Street in Portrush display art nouveauaetailing Notable examples are McIlroy + Sons and the Stairshyway Restaurant with delicate ironwork The resshytaurant shop-front by Albert Clarke in 1911 has a particularly fine curving brass doorhandle

A number of priyate dwellings in Belfast haYe certain art nouveau reatures Jhese range from the crude thistle mottf on the gable or a Sang Souci Park nouse designed in 1901 by Thomas Houston to the delicate little balcony railings which sway out gently from the facade of the last house or a terrace row in University Avenue Dated 1903 this house is different from the rest - the builder a Mr Cairns reserved it for himself and oBviously had an affection for art nOUVeau and irregularity rooms to the rear of the house being octagonal in plan while the staircase is triangular

The pair of semi-detached houses in Sans Souci together present an irregular facade Originally the gables of the two central bays were the same the thistle motif being on each one but the two flanking projecting bays have different treatments to the parapets one having raised coping where the other features depressions A further touch of assymmetricality is provided by one house having a projecting porch This too has a distinctshyive parapet coping

In 1905 FH Tulloch designed ahouse for himself in Myrtlefield Park also off the Malone Road This is an impressive house which seems to have something of thepresencdof a Mackintosh design The recess on the front facade is notable in that there is just a garden seat where one would expect to find a main entrance The entrance is through a side porch which has small interlacing art nouveau patterning in the lead glazing bars The window catches also display exhuberant curves The door knocker too has art nouveau curves and an embossed tulip motif

The same model of knocker is on a front door in University Avenue This mid 19th century terrace row had a few pieces of ironmongery added at the turn of the century there being one particularly fine art nouveaU letterbox with a handle which swerves outwards

The period ends with two very interesting buildings both by James A Hanna of Belfast These are tall commercial blocks on the whole straightforward essays in early modern framed construction but there are certain art nouveau features and idiosyncratic detailing of the utmost inventiveness

The large block of 1910 which spreads between Grosshyvenor Road and Murray Street now for the most part bombed-out inside is only slightly damaged extershynally On the Murray Street side of the block there are three similar entrances The doorway at No5 has a wide arch over a very large fanlight The impost moulding is carried across from each side to form side windows but then is interrupted by the door breaking up through it The undulation of the archishytrave is comparable with the wavy contour of the tower drip-moulds of Vincent Craigs church in Portshystewart This wave is echoed at the nearby entrance to the premises of Glendinning McLeish + Co Ltd in the same block here the string course rises above a tympanum with the date 1910 carved on a hackground of shamrock-like sculpted leaves

The date 1910 appears in a larger tympanum on the fourth floor of the Grosvenor Road facade here the cornice rises over it Oval oculi appear in the attic storey of both facades The entrance on Grosvenor Road - to the premises of Wm Strain Ltd - has large brackets with carved Celtic-art inspired entrelac deshycorations on the sides (The Irish-based CelticshyRevival had to a limited extent made a direct contri shybution to art nouvea~form the medieval entrelac motifs fusing with the rhythmic line of the 1890s to produce a characteristic curvilinear design)There are strange animal carvings On the fronts of the brackets

Animal carvings are the most interesting feature of Hannas other building a warehcJse for linen-mershychants at 19-21 Alfred Street designed in 1911 The entrance is a Venetian door with art nouveau inspired coloured glass in the fanlight There are little entrelac carvings on the different capitals on the clumns flanking the door opening These slim columns are startlingly contrasted by the squat columns supporting the wide shallow segmental arches of the ground floor windows Each of these columns has a different capital one has intertwined cockshyrels while the others have different winged-dragon designs Above each capital there is a curving stone plaque with Pure FlaK carved and further abovepairs of winged animals are carved High up on the facade the year 19l1a is displayed along with two tremendous intertwined dragons which fill the typanum below the curved pediment

Hannas detailing of such unexpected and original form is a fitting close to a period of Ulsters archshyitectural history that had begun with mere 1) intresshyting use of period styles The sp~rIt of lnVentIon had reached its climax with this Irish nationalshyromanticism that breathed of the Nordic Dragon Style

Wm Strain Ltd Grosvenor Rd

Fireplace at Deramore Drive

House in Myrtlefield Park

Carnegie Library

Mayfair Arthur Sq

Portstew

-

~

f 1910 which spreads between Grosshyrray Street now for the most part is only slightly damaged extershyrray Street side of the block there entrances The doorway at No5

ver a very large fanlight The s carried across from each side to but then is interrupted by the door

gh it The undulation of the archishyable with the wavy contour of the of Vincent Craigs church in Portshy

ve is echoed at the nearby entrance f Glendinning McLeish + Co Ltd in ere the string course rises above he date 1910 carved on a background sculpted leaves

ears in a larger tympanum on the he Grosvenor Road facade here the r it Oval oculi appear in the attic cades The entrance on Grosvenor mises of Wm Strain Ltd - has large Ved Celtic-art inspired entrelac deshysides (The Irish-based Celtic-limited extent made a direct contrishy

uveau~ form the medieval entrelac h the rhythmic line of the 1890s acteristic curvilinear design)There 1 carvings on the fronts of the

Ire the most interesting feature of lding a warehclse for linen-mershylfred Street designed in 19l1 I Venetian door with art nouveau I glass in the fanlight There are arvings on the different capitalS lanking the door opening These startlingly contrasted by the squat

Ig the wide shallOW segmental arches lor windOWS Each of these columns lapital one has intertwined cockshythers have different winged-dragon ach cap i tal there is a curving ~ Pure Flax carved and further inged animals are carved High up e year 19lil is displayed along with ntertwined dragons which fill the

curved pediment

~ of such unexpected and original ~ close to a period of Ulsters archshy that had begun with mereI interesshyod styles The spirit of 1nvention climax with this Irish national-breathed of the Nordic Dragon Style

Btrain Ltd Grosvenor Rd

lt1efield Park

Fireplace at Deramore Drive

Carnegie Library

Letterbox University Square

Kinahan Mansions

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WJW Roome

Muyfair Arthur qUJIC

Vincent Crair

Carne Librav ~wnCatrick ~arehouse Al~re~ ~+

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36

Warehouse Alfred Street

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Door in Murray St

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Houses at Sans Souci Pk

House in University Avenue

Husic Shop

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Flats at Merville

Spinal pathway at Merville A Courtyard at Merville

Shops at Abbots Cross Abbot IS frnss Villae

ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD

In 1943 there lItas a housing prohlem) Ireland A co~ittee reporting on two thirds of the dlellings in the stock needed repair It was Iurthe the destruction of 3000 houses andl 50000 more suring the war years Ireland Housing lrust was set up inc public authority nouses throughout I

with the large Duilding progr=ne seemed to De lacking in experience There was strong competition among fair share of the 2000 prefaDricate houses (not to be confused with ordl allocated to the province Further provided a unique system of subsidi( local authority approval for priva

It vas against this background that builder Hr Thomas McGrath set up Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His all a series of garden villages embodyi expressed by groups like the BourneshyTrust In early 1947 the intention first villages at Herville was anno here these ideas came closest to re company was to retain ownership of 1

taining the communal front lawns ant the Merville mansion was converted i

community centre child clinic and childrens playg~d was provided a sum of about pound100 tenants could I in the company Later Mr McGrath another first with the establishmem of a 2oo-seat theatre in a convert~

In October the village was official Minister of Health but the followin_ the first tenants could move in tr shape of the Belfast Rural District This body refused to issue subsidy ( pound500 per house) until they were sat the tenants were workers Ulster replied that if the subsidies were ~ they would be free to sell the hous market This matter was quickly cl~ tenants moved in The village conto

In sunny old Disneyland there is en set aside from the Davy Crocket Fro] the Julie Andrews type heavens thi items of a technological nature wi on how good progress is and how teel progress = heaven this zone is cal_ land luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things to excuse that they are being designed With our eyes set on the unreachabl trip over our feet Politically an we are sorely bruised Philosophy nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an arcl great change in his city and wants 1

in re-shaping it mainly because he just how it should be done Natura he knows better than anyone else I joins the city planning office or tt Executive and gets involved in desi and planning communities OR becon being termed a community architect community architect has invented hi~ because he feels that the community is after all an outsider But I beJ is in this direction that we must we Participation is not really the namE the community architect is used by 1 order to express their feelings and coherent jargon that authorities li~

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erville

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ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD Peter Waring

In 19+3 there as a housing problem in Northern Ireland A committee reporting on it showed that two thirds of the dlllllings in the total housing stock needed repair It was further aggravated by the destruction of 3000 houses and the damaging of 50000 more luring lohe Will years The Northern Ireland Housing 7rust was set up in 19+5 to build public authority houses throughout Ulster Faced with the large building progr~e local authorities seemed to be lacking in experience and confidence There was strong competition among them to secure a fair share of the 2000 prefabricated aluminium houses (not to be confused with ordinary prefabs) allocated to the province Further legislation provided a unique system of subsidies dependent on local authority approval for private building

It was against this background that a private builder Mr Thomas McGrath set up a new company Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His aim was to build a series of garden villages embodying the ideas expressed by groups like the Bourneville Village Trust In early 19+7 the intention to build the first villages at Merville was announced It was here these ideas came closest to realization The company was to retain ownership of the estate mainshyt-aining the communal front lawns and shrubberies the Merville mansion was converted to act as a community centre child clinic and library and a childrens playgrQUCd was provided On payment of a sum of about flOO tenants could gain an interest in the company Later Mr McGrath was to achieve another first with the establishment for a period of a 200-seat theatre in a converted nissen hut

In October the village was officially opened by the Minister of Health but the following month before the first tenants could move in trouble in the shape of the Belfast Rural District Council loomed This body refused to issue subsidy certificates (for f500 per house) until they were satisfied that ali the tenants were workers Ulster Garden Villages replied that if the subsidies were not forthcoming they would be free to sell the houses on the open market This matter was quickly cleared up and the tenants moved in The village contained +30

In sunny old Disneyland there is one adventure zone set aside from the Davy Crocket Frontierland and the Julie Andrews type heavens this zone contains items of a technological nature with the emphasis on how good progress is and how technology = progress = heaven this zone is called tomorrowshyland luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things today with the excuse that they are being designed for the future With our eyes set on the unreachable horizon we trip over our feet Politically and architecturally we are sorely ~ruised Philosophy class oVer lads nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an architect who sees great change in his city and wants to be involved in re-shaping it mainly because he thinks he knows just how it should be done Naturally he thinks he knows better than anyone else Answer he joins the city planning office or the Housing Executive and gets involved in designing estates and planning communities OR becomes what is now being termed a community architect Perhaps the community architect has invented his position because he feels that the community needs him he is after all an outsider But I believe that it is in this direction that we must work Participation is not really the name of the game the community architect is used by the people in order to express their feelings and needs into coherent jargon that authorities listen to

dwelling units of various types (semi-detached and terraced housing cottage flats and flats in blocks) as well as 73 garages and 1+ shops The rent for a house was to be about 25 shillings per week Further garden villages were planned and built at Abbots Cross Fernagh Princpounds Park Kings Park Muckamore and Whitehead By no means all of Ulster Garden Villages projects were approved a scheme to provide 5000 dwellings in 18 months was turned down by tbe government as it would have given UGV virtual monopoly in the private building section Nevertheless construction was rapid houses at Abbots Cross being completed in 60 days floors and foundations laid in two days T~e houses were architect-designed finished to high standards within the limitations of post war material shortages and fitted with refrigerators and immersion heaters

Merville Garden Village is distinguished by the skilful layout of buildings and their integration with existing natural features mature trees have been preserved and roads adjusted to the contours of the site It is situated just outside the boundary on a long narrow self-contained site stretching back from the Shore Road and bounded by a timbered glen on one side and what was originally another belt of timber on the other The main entrance is flanked by a red brick block containing ground floor shops and flats above Access roads leop around both sides to tbe higher ground and the main development which is laid out on each side of the central double roadway The houses are arranged around courtyards the external angles nearest the roadway are infilled with the cottage flats giving a degree of privacy to the back gardens Each courtyard is treated as an entity with uniform roofing materials colours and texture and is given continuity by pergolas at the interi~ angles The designer was E Prentice Mawson FRIBA bull MTPI a past-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects

The later Garden Villages wepe less ambitious although Abbots Cross has a large shopping centre and some very attractive flat-roofed housing This is probably due to the differing quality of the sites and the diminishing resources of Ulster

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The city planning officer rejects peoples opinions in favour of his own high standard of planning his future image his solution to the problem His reply to critics is but the people dont know what they want bullbull and the result is a continual increase in paternalistic attitudes giving the people new hQusing but allowing them a minimal say in the process

In many cases its quite true to say that people dont know just what they want usually the prefershyence is for a replica of whats there already with some improvements People who do know what they want have a way of getting it People who dont know what they want end up taking what is given them thinking the process is as natural as being given the dole and as inevitable as dying

Sandy Row is typical of the communities in Belfast which are suffering - and in many cases dying _ from an outdated and bureaucratic system of reshydevelopment Shopkeepers and residents see the outcome as inevitable but what can you do bullbullbull if ~he government says that this is the plan how can you change it this is the attitude and Im not saying it isnt realistic but it has a built-in attitude to failure a failure complex If we dont believe that we have the power to change something nothing we will do will change it Thankfully there are those in Sandy Row who do believe that they can and need to do something constructive in

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Garden Villages In fact operations were halted around 1950 with the companys bankruptcy most of the villages being taken over by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Mr McGrath Is reported to be going strong now in Canada

Today the residents are as proud as ever to liVe in Merville and efforts are being made to re-establish the community centre which fell into disuse about twelve years ago The extreme simplicity of the houses is still appealing although some have taken on a hangdog look as the once-white stucco has weathered badly in some places There is a happy atmosphere at Merville typified by a sign which saysshyCAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING as against one at Abbots Cross which states - TRESPASSERS ON --ASS PREAS WILL BE PROS------ Perhaps it is the natural greenery of the place which gives Merville its softness

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ARClJIPORN - DIRECT FROM DRAPERSTOWN

Dear Friend I am sure you are jaded with the ordinary thrills and pleasures that alcohol rallying squash golf or even chess can provide I aim to make available the type of VERY ADULT books photos etc that will add a new dimension to your life all from the architects point of view If this assumption is wrong please do not read on

8mm Archisizzlers

This Months Offer - On the Drawingboard

Young Bob is feeling listless during an all-nighter at the Department The appearance of Mitzi his pals Swedish mistress breathless and in black leather is like an answer to his prayers They go for each other in a big way Bob unzipped his instrushyment case bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull Continued Page

Walr Disney is dead bur I belieye in Mickey MOllse

signed Pluto

John Gilbert ~~

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saving the Row from planners blight and planners 1ight The community architect should encourage this spirit as if it were the last flower on the planet On this scale a major breakthrough will seem a small thing to many outsiders for example the way the community built its own community centre runs its own newspaper and most recently has started its own contracting firm on a small scale admittedly for the sole purpose of maintaining property which would otherwise be left neglect by the estate agents simply because the area is to be redeveloped Of course this small scale action doesnt stop people leaving the area daily because they believe theres no future for it but it does suggest hope it is a start Further steps may include a form of direct action in rehousing families within the area - the ultimate goal of the community architect would of course be to see the people themselves forming a housing co-operative with a government subsidy in order to build their own houses But governments and authorities wouldnt be governments and authorities if they let the people look after themselves would they

On Saturday 17th of March Sandy Row took to the streets for the first time to protest against the way the government is handling the situation By delaying the motorway decision redevelopment is delayed and so blight takes a stronger hold By doing nothing a government is destroying a community Progress and Gods work in mysterious ways

SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

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II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

l

Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

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lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

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SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

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involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

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Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

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nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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THE TURN OF THE CENTURY IN ULSTER ART NOUVEAU AND INVENTIVENESS Paul Larmour

The turn of the century period was one of novelty and invention with whimsical use of past styles all part of a general revolt against the tired eclecti shycism of the Neo-classicists and the GothicshyRevivalists It was left to certain isolated figures like the Scotsman Rennie Mackintosh to pave the way to a new and more genuinely modern architecture but most minor figures replaced High Victorian grossness with a picturesque and often animated eclectic style much after the influence of Norman Shaw Shaw the most representative and influential British archishytect of the time was a bewildering eclectic capable of adapting any style in history brilliantly to his purpose drawing together particularly Tudor ha~fshytimber Dutch Renaissance Queen Anne and Engl~sh vernac~lar work of the 11th and IBth centuries

Turn of the century work in Ulster tends to be charshyacterised by Shaw-inspired features with intershynational influence occasionally appearing wide arches after the style of the American Henry Richardson continental art nouveaudetailing and some ~~kintosh and Charles Townsend inspired art nouveau features After the influence of Shaw a number of buildings appeared with tall gables of unfamiliar outline and interesting detailS Kinahan Mansions a terrace of six houses with shops on Stranmillis Road Belfast designed 189B by Thomas Lindsay has two towering gables with finials and Scottish-baronial inspired corbelling Still remaining over the ground floor premises of a hair stylist are wide semi-elliptical arches fashionable at the time Office premises at No8 Waring Street designed by WGilliland in l89B has an ~nteresting tall gable and a tudorish arch over the ground floor section This building has a distinctive fin de siecle atmosphere without having any details directly related to art nouveau Cathedral Buildings Donegall Street designed by Lepper and Fennell in 1900 has a similar atmosphere as have two buildings by Graeme Watt and Tulloch These are the Power Station of 1898 in East Bridge Street and Murray Sons and Co Ltd Whitehall Tobacco Works at the Boyne Bridge Sandy Rowcl900 Both are novel buildings the Tobacco Works being parshyticularly distinctive having pagoda-like roofs to the two towers and a bright freize of lettering There are huge bulging quoins to the towers with art nouveau curves and scrolls

One of the foremost architects in Ulster at this time was Vincent Craig (lB66-1925) an elder brother of Lord Craigavon Craig started ijS a pupil of WHLynn architect of the library at QUB in 1668 and of Belfast Castle in 1810 in Scottish Baronial style In 1900 at the age of 71 Lynn designed the department store known as Bank Buildings which surprisingly looked forward to the 20th century with its framed construction and large areas of plate glass

Two early works by Craig the Belfast Bank (now Northern Bank) on Marp Street Portrush of 189B and a bank at Rathmines in Dublin of IB99 show disshytinctive gable features and corner towers The Portrush bank though now shorn of its art noveau style iron gates and surrounding railings is an interesting mixture of oriels gables and dormers with the corner tower corbelled Craigs modest Town Hall in Cookstown designed in 1900 in assocshyiation with JW Leebody is interesting only for its squat Scottish baronial corner-corbelling at the square tower but this was fOllowed in 1902 by the much more distinctive design for Portstewart Presbyshyterian Church This is finished in roughcast cement with red sandstone trim and displays certain art noveau features The porch tower has long shallow arched pediments over the door and window broken by attached finials Above louvred top storey windows are wavy drip mOUldings and above them a scalloped parapet The large west window is slightly pointed with flowing art noveau coloured glass designs An interesting feature is the buttress which breaks up through this window The coping of the tower seems to bear some relation to the undulating coping topping the two towers which flank the impressive gable of No36 and 38 Donegall Place Belfast This building was built by Craig in 1903 for Sharman D Neil the leading clockmakers at the time It is a strange but charming facade with baroque elements featured in an original way

In 1906 at Coleraine Academical Institution Craig designed an arch of Dumfries red sandstone which displayed art nouveau curves in its cast iron gates The foilowing year work began on the Masonic Hall Downpatrick This curious assymetrical building has been altered considerably but still retains disshytinctive features - elliptical gables and an Italianshyate Composite entrance arch Art nouveau coloured glass designs are much in evidence and on the inside doors there are fine brass pushplates with embossed tulip flower and stem designs in art nouveau style Craigs Ballywatt Presbyterian Church Hall of 1910-11 near Portrush has inside door handles reminiscent of the metalwork of Victor Horta the Belgian exponent of art nouveaumiddot

The foremost firm working in art nouveaustyle at this time was Blackwood amp Jury of Belfast In 1902 they designed a pair of semi-detached houses in Deramore Drive off the Malone Road These together have a very buiky appearance three storeys tall with half-hips to the end and front gables and huge sloping-sided chimneys Distincti~e fea~ures on each are a wide arched wooden transome In a f~rst-floor window a wavy parapet to a projecting bay an~ an ingle-nOOk projecting fromeach end facade ~Ireshyplace~ are exceptionally flne those on the fIrst floor being metal with stems of Beardsleyesque deshylineation curving upwards and breaking out into a mass of leaves under the overmantle The downstairs fireplace is an elegant inglenook in English Arts and Crafts style Elsewhere inside there ar art

nouveaudesigns carved in wood and the style ~s obvious in many coloured-glass windows

Blackwood and ltJury designed Belfasts most bizarre building the larg~ department store of 1905 in Castle Place This presents a very Gaudiesque art nouveau roof line Formerly the building had curved art nouveau glazing bars in the first~floor windows but these were lost as a result of a nearby terrorist bomb explosion The lower storeys have been much altered in recent years so that only the upper half of the buildin~ remains as it was TLi ridS d very Cdly tlppedlallce with its facing of Carrara artificial stone There are bulging balshycony railings and flambouyant designs of swirling tulips and serpentine decoration

Just around the corner in Arthur Square is the huge bulk of Blackwood ampJurys Mayfair block of 1906 a building with something of the atmosphere of a Norshythern European medieval market hall with steeply pitched roof and high gables The building is exeshycuted in brick with stone dressing Notable features are the wide stilted arches at first floor level (a feature of the Castle Place store) the fanciful Mayfair lettering above the door the surprising tower at the corner entrance witR an Italianate dome at the top and a medieval-like sloping hood over the entrance The only surface decoration reminiscent of Castle Place is in the curvilinear mOUldings which appear along the frieze above the ground floor windows

Blackwood ampJurys Carnegie Public Library of 1908 in Downpatrick is a restrained and handsome building more modern than art noveau It has fine lettering and a delightful little entrance with hood There are certain curved details - stone coping to each side of the main gables scroll-like metal brackets under the projecting eaves - as well as wide-arched windOWS with stone transoms and mullions and the gentle upward sway of the coping to the projecting bay Unshyfortunately this building has been allowed to detershyiorate inside and is due to be demolished - a sad end

A happier fate for Ballynafeigh Methodist Church Ormeau Road Belfast this was restored and repainted in 1966 This interesting and eccentric church was designed by Forman and Aston a Londonderry firm and completed in 1699 CBrett describes its exterior treatment as being a very strange adaptation of renaissance ideals to art nouveau idioms Of sigshynificance are the wide arched openings near the top of the tower

A building with a sirrilar wide arch in Richardsonian fashion is Crymbles Music Shop in Wellington Place Belfasts most delightful example in the art nouveau style with fine carvings medallion and colourful spandrel decoration This frontage was designed in 1903 by WJW Roome a well-known and liked personshyality After thirty years of architectural practice he gave up his business in Kingscourt Wellington Place to participate in the work of carrying the gospel into the interior of Africa Secretary in East and Central Africa for the British and Foreign Bible Society he travelled mOre than 100000 miles 25 per cent of which was done on foot or by pedal cycle Travelling unarmed he was often the first white man ever seen by natives He was an advenshyturous man only the seventh Briton to climb Kilimanjaro and reach the crater A canpanion with him became the first American to achieve the featl Mr Roane died in Tangiers in 1931

A number of the charming Edwardian shop-fronts along Main Street in Portrush display art nouveauaetailing Notable examples are McIlroy + Sons and the Stairshyway Restaurant with delicate ironwork The resshytaurant shop-front by Albert Clarke in 1911 has a particularly fine curving brass doorhandle

A number of priyate dwellings in Belfast haYe certain art nouveau reatures Jhese range from the crude thistle mottf on the gable or a Sang Souci Park nouse designed in 1901 by Thomas Houston to the delicate little balcony railings which sway out gently from the facade of the last house or a terrace row in University Avenue Dated 1903 this house is different from the rest - the builder a Mr Cairns reserved it for himself and oBviously had an affection for art nOUVeau and irregularity rooms to the rear of the house being octagonal in plan while the staircase is triangular

The pair of semi-detached houses in Sans Souci together present an irregular facade Originally the gables of the two central bays were the same the thistle motif being on each one but the two flanking projecting bays have different treatments to the parapets one having raised coping where the other features depressions A further touch of assymmetricality is provided by one house having a projecting porch This too has a distinctshyive parapet coping

In 1905 FH Tulloch designed ahouse for himself in Myrtlefield Park also off the Malone Road This is an impressive house which seems to have something of thepresencdof a Mackintosh design The recess on the front facade is notable in that there is just a garden seat where one would expect to find a main entrance The entrance is through a side porch which has small interlacing art nouveau patterning in the lead glazing bars The window catches also display exhuberant curves The door knocker too has art nouveau curves and an embossed tulip motif

The same model of knocker is on a front door in University Avenue This mid 19th century terrace row had a few pieces of ironmongery added at the turn of the century there being one particularly fine art nouveaU letterbox with a handle which swerves outwards

The period ends with two very interesting buildings both by James A Hanna of Belfast These are tall commercial blocks on the whole straightforward essays in early modern framed construction but there are certain art nouveau features and idiosyncratic detailing of the utmost inventiveness

The large block of 1910 which spreads between Grosshyvenor Road and Murray Street now for the most part bombed-out inside is only slightly damaged extershynally On the Murray Street side of the block there are three similar entrances The doorway at No5 has a wide arch over a very large fanlight The impost moulding is carried across from each side to form side windows but then is interrupted by the door breaking up through it The undulation of the archishytrave is comparable with the wavy contour of the tower drip-moulds of Vincent Craigs church in Portshystewart This wave is echoed at the nearby entrance to the premises of Glendinning McLeish + Co Ltd in the same block here the string course rises above a tympanum with the date 1910 carved on a hackground of shamrock-like sculpted leaves

The date 1910 appears in a larger tympanum on the fourth floor of the Grosvenor Road facade here the cornice rises over it Oval oculi appear in the attic storey of both facades The entrance on Grosvenor Road - to the premises of Wm Strain Ltd - has large brackets with carved Celtic-art inspired entrelac deshycorations on the sides (The Irish-based CelticshyRevival had to a limited extent made a direct contri shybution to art nouvea~form the medieval entrelac motifs fusing with the rhythmic line of the 1890s to produce a characteristic curvilinear design)There are strange animal carvings On the fronts of the brackets

Animal carvings are the most interesting feature of Hannas other building a warehcJse for linen-mershychants at 19-21 Alfred Street designed in 1911 The entrance is a Venetian door with art nouveau inspired coloured glass in the fanlight There are little entrelac carvings on the different capitals on the clumns flanking the door opening These slim columns are startlingly contrasted by the squat columns supporting the wide shallow segmental arches of the ground floor windows Each of these columns has a different capital one has intertwined cockshyrels while the others have different winged-dragon designs Above each capital there is a curving stone plaque with Pure FlaK carved and further abovepairs of winged animals are carved High up on the facade the year 19l1a is displayed along with two tremendous intertwined dragons which fill the typanum below the curved pediment

Hannas detailing of such unexpected and original form is a fitting close to a period of Ulsters archshyitectural history that had begun with mere 1) intresshyting use of period styles The sp~rIt of lnVentIon had reached its climax with this Irish nationalshyromanticism that breathed of the Nordic Dragon Style

Wm Strain Ltd Grosvenor Rd

Fireplace at Deramore Drive

House in Myrtlefield Park

Carnegie Library

Mayfair Arthur Sq

Portstew

-

~

f 1910 which spreads between Grosshyrray Street now for the most part is only slightly damaged extershyrray Street side of the block there entrances The doorway at No5

ver a very large fanlight The s carried across from each side to but then is interrupted by the door

gh it The undulation of the archishyable with the wavy contour of the of Vincent Craigs church in Portshy

ve is echoed at the nearby entrance f Glendinning McLeish + Co Ltd in ere the string course rises above he date 1910 carved on a background sculpted leaves

ears in a larger tympanum on the he Grosvenor Road facade here the r it Oval oculi appear in the attic cades The entrance on Grosvenor mises of Wm Strain Ltd - has large Ved Celtic-art inspired entrelac deshysides (The Irish-based Celtic-limited extent made a direct contrishy

uveau~ form the medieval entrelac h the rhythmic line of the 1890s acteristic curvilinear design)There 1 carvings on the fronts of the

Ire the most interesting feature of lding a warehclse for linen-mershylfred Street designed in 19l1 I Venetian door with art nouveau I glass in the fanlight There are arvings on the different capitalS lanking the door opening These startlingly contrasted by the squat

Ig the wide shallOW segmental arches lor windOWS Each of these columns lapital one has intertwined cockshythers have different winged-dragon ach cap i tal there is a curving ~ Pure Flax carved and further inged animals are carved High up e year 19lil is displayed along with ntertwined dragons which fill the

curved pediment

~ of such unexpected and original ~ close to a period of Ulsters archshy that had begun with mereI interesshyod styles The spirit of 1nvention climax with this Irish national-breathed of the Nordic Dragon Style

Btrain Ltd Grosvenor Rd

lt1efield Park

Fireplace at Deramore Drive

Carnegie Library

Letterbox University Square

Kinahan Mansions

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WJW Roome

Muyfair Arthur qUJIC

Vincent Crair

Carne Librav ~wnCatrick ~arehouse Al~re~ ~+

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Warehouse Alfred Street

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Door in Murray St

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Houses at Sans Souci Pk

House in University Avenue

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Flats at Merville

Spinal pathway at Merville A Courtyard at Merville

Shops at Abbots Cross Abbot IS frnss Villae

ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD

In 1943 there lItas a housing prohlem) Ireland A co~ittee reporting on two thirds of the dlellings in the stock needed repair It was Iurthe the destruction of 3000 houses andl 50000 more suring the war years Ireland Housing lrust was set up inc public authority nouses throughout I

with the large Duilding progr=ne seemed to De lacking in experience There was strong competition among fair share of the 2000 prefaDricate houses (not to be confused with ordl allocated to the province Further provided a unique system of subsidi( local authority approval for priva

It vas against this background that builder Hr Thomas McGrath set up Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His all a series of garden villages embodyi expressed by groups like the BourneshyTrust In early 1947 the intention first villages at Herville was anno here these ideas came closest to re company was to retain ownership of 1

taining the communal front lawns ant the Merville mansion was converted i

community centre child clinic and childrens playg~d was provided a sum of about pound100 tenants could I in the company Later Mr McGrath another first with the establishmem of a 2oo-seat theatre in a convert~

In October the village was official Minister of Health but the followin_ the first tenants could move in tr shape of the Belfast Rural District This body refused to issue subsidy ( pound500 per house) until they were sat the tenants were workers Ulster replied that if the subsidies were ~ they would be free to sell the hous market This matter was quickly cl~ tenants moved in The village conto

In sunny old Disneyland there is en set aside from the Davy Crocket Fro] the Julie Andrews type heavens thi items of a technological nature wi on how good progress is and how teel progress = heaven this zone is cal_ land luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things to excuse that they are being designed With our eyes set on the unreachabl trip over our feet Politically an we are sorely bruised Philosophy nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an arcl great change in his city and wants 1

in re-shaping it mainly because he just how it should be done Natura he knows better than anyone else I joins the city planning office or tt Executive and gets involved in desi and planning communities OR becon being termed a community architect community architect has invented hi~ because he feels that the community is after all an outsider But I beJ is in this direction that we must we Participation is not really the namE the community architect is used by 1 order to express their feelings and coherent jargon that authorities li~

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ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD Peter Waring

In 19+3 there as a housing problem in Northern Ireland A committee reporting on it showed that two thirds of the dlllllings in the total housing stock needed repair It was further aggravated by the destruction of 3000 houses and the damaging of 50000 more luring lohe Will years The Northern Ireland Housing 7rust was set up in 19+5 to build public authority houses throughout Ulster Faced with the large building progr~e local authorities seemed to be lacking in experience and confidence There was strong competition among them to secure a fair share of the 2000 prefabricated aluminium houses (not to be confused with ordinary prefabs) allocated to the province Further legislation provided a unique system of subsidies dependent on local authority approval for private building

It was against this background that a private builder Mr Thomas McGrath set up a new company Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His aim was to build a series of garden villages embodying the ideas expressed by groups like the Bourneville Village Trust In early 19+7 the intention to build the first villages at Merville was announced It was here these ideas came closest to realization The company was to retain ownership of the estate mainshyt-aining the communal front lawns and shrubberies the Merville mansion was converted to act as a community centre child clinic and library and a childrens playgrQUCd was provided On payment of a sum of about flOO tenants could gain an interest in the company Later Mr McGrath was to achieve another first with the establishment for a period of a 200-seat theatre in a converted nissen hut

In October the village was officially opened by the Minister of Health but the following month before the first tenants could move in trouble in the shape of the Belfast Rural District Council loomed This body refused to issue subsidy certificates (for f500 per house) until they were satisfied that ali the tenants were workers Ulster Garden Villages replied that if the subsidies were not forthcoming they would be free to sell the houses on the open market This matter was quickly cleared up and the tenants moved in The village contained +30

In sunny old Disneyland there is one adventure zone set aside from the Davy Crocket Frontierland and the Julie Andrews type heavens this zone contains items of a technological nature with the emphasis on how good progress is and how technology = progress = heaven this zone is called tomorrowshyland luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things today with the excuse that they are being designed for the future With our eyes set on the unreachable horizon we trip over our feet Politically and architecturally we are sorely ~ruised Philosophy class oVer lads nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an architect who sees great change in his city and wants to be involved in re-shaping it mainly because he thinks he knows just how it should be done Naturally he thinks he knows better than anyone else Answer he joins the city planning office or the Housing Executive and gets involved in designing estates and planning communities OR becomes what is now being termed a community architect Perhaps the community architect has invented his position because he feels that the community needs him he is after all an outsider But I believe that it is in this direction that we must work Participation is not really the name of the game the community architect is used by the people in order to express their feelings and needs into coherent jargon that authorities listen to

dwelling units of various types (semi-detached and terraced housing cottage flats and flats in blocks) as well as 73 garages and 1+ shops The rent for a house was to be about 25 shillings per week Further garden villages were planned and built at Abbots Cross Fernagh Princpounds Park Kings Park Muckamore and Whitehead By no means all of Ulster Garden Villages projects were approved a scheme to provide 5000 dwellings in 18 months was turned down by tbe government as it would have given UGV virtual monopoly in the private building section Nevertheless construction was rapid houses at Abbots Cross being completed in 60 days floors and foundations laid in two days T~e houses were architect-designed finished to high standards within the limitations of post war material shortages and fitted with refrigerators and immersion heaters

Merville Garden Village is distinguished by the skilful layout of buildings and their integration with existing natural features mature trees have been preserved and roads adjusted to the contours of the site It is situated just outside the boundary on a long narrow self-contained site stretching back from the Shore Road and bounded by a timbered glen on one side and what was originally another belt of timber on the other The main entrance is flanked by a red brick block containing ground floor shops and flats above Access roads leop around both sides to tbe higher ground and the main development which is laid out on each side of the central double roadway The houses are arranged around courtyards the external angles nearest the roadway are infilled with the cottage flats giving a degree of privacy to the back gardens Each courtyard is treated as an entity with uniform roofing materials colours and texture and is given continuity by pergolas at the interi~ angles The designer was E Prentice Mawson FRIBA bull MTPI a past-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects

The later Garden Villages wepe less ambitious although Abbots Cross has a large shopping centre and some very attractive flat-roofed housing This is probably due to the differing quality of the sites and the diminishing resources of Ulster

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The city planning officer rejects peoples opinions in favour of his own high standard of planning his future image his solution to the problem His reply to critics is but the people dont know what they want bullbull and the result is a continual increase in paternalistic attitudes giving the people new hQusing but allowing them a minimal say in the process

In many cases its quite true to say that people dont know just what they want usually the prefershyence is for a replica of whats there already with some improvements People who do know what they want have a way of getting it People who dont know what they want end up taking what is given them thinking the process is as natural as being given the dole and as inevitable as dying

Sandy Row is typical of the communities in Belfast which are suffering - and in many cases dying _ from an outdated and bureaucratic system of reshydevelopment Shopkeepers and residents see the outcome as inevitable but what can you do bullbullbull if ~he government says that this is the plan how can you change it this is the attitude and Im not saying it isnt realistic but it has a built-in attitude to failure a failure complex If we dont believe that we have the power to change something nothing we will do will change it Thankfully there are those in Sandy Row who do believe that they can and need to do something constructive in

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Garden Villages In fact operations were halted around 1950 with the companys bankruptcy most of the villages being taken over by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Mr McGrath Is reported to be going strong now in Canada

Today the residents are as proud as ever to liVe in Merville and efforts are being made to re-establish the community centre which fell into disuse about twelve years ago The extreme simplicity of the houses is still appealing although some have taken on a hangdog look as the once-white stucco has weathered badly in some places There is a happy atmosphere at Merville typified by a sign which saysshyCAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING as against one at Abbots Cross which states - TRESPASSERS ON --ASS PREAS WILL BE PROS------ Perhaps it is the natural greenery of the place which gives Merville its softness

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Dear Friend I am sure you are jaded with the ordinary thrills and pleasures that alcohol rallying squash golf or even chess can provide I aim to make available the type of VERY ADULT books photos etc that will add a new dimension to your life all from the architects point of view If this assumption is wrong please do not read on

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Young Bob is feeling listless during an all-nighter at the Department The appearance of Mitzi his pals Swedish mistress breathless and in black leather is like an answer to his prayers They go for each other in a big way Bob unzipped his instrushyment case bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull Continued Page

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John Gilbert ~~

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saving the Row from planners blight and planners 1ight The community architect should encourage this spirit as if it were the last flower on the planet On this scale a major breakthrough will seem a small thing to many outsiders for example the way the community built its own community centre runs its own newspaper and most recently has started its own contracting firm on a small scale admittedly for the sole purpose of maintaining property which would otherwise be left neglect by the estate agents simply because the area is to be redeveloped Of course this small scale action doesnt stop people leaving the area daily because they believe theres no future for it but it does suggest hope it is a start Further steps may include a form of direct action in rehousing families within the area - the ultimate goal of the community architect would of course be to see the people themselves forming a housing co-operative with a government subsidy in order to build their own houses But governments and authorities wouldnt be governments and authorities if they let the people look after themselves would they

On Saturday 17th of March Sandy Row took to the streets for the first time to protest against the way the government is handling the situation By delaying the motorway decision redevelopment is delayed and so blight takes a stronger hold By doing nothing a government is destroying a community Progress and Gods work in mysterious ways

SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

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II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

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Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

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lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

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SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

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involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

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Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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f 1910 which spreads between Grosshyrray Street now for the most part is only slightly damaged extershyrray Street side of the block there entrances The doorway at No5

ver a very large fanlight The s carried across from each side to but then is interrupted by the door

gh it The undulation of the archishyable with the wavy contour of the of Vincent Craigs church in Portshy

ve is echoed at the nearby entrance f Glendinning McLeish + Co Ltd in ere the string course rises above he date 1910 carved on a background sculpted leaves

ears in a larger tympanum on the he Grosvenor Road facade here the r it Oval oculi appear in the attic cades The entrance on Grosvenor mises of Wm Strain Ltd - has large Ved Celtic-art inspired entrelac deshysides (The Irish-based Celtic-limited extent made a direct contrishy

uveau~ form the medieval entrelac h the rhythmic line of the 1890s acteristic curvilinear design)There 1 carvings on the fronts of the

Ire the most interesting feature of lding a warehclse for linen-mershylfred Street designed in 19l1 I Venetian door with art nouveau I glass in the fanlight There are arvings on the different capitalS lanking the door opening These startlingly contrasted by the squat

Ig the wide shallOW segmental arches lor windOWS Each of these columns lapital one has intertwined cockshythers have different winged-dragon ach cap i tal there is a curving ~ Pure Flax carved and further inged animals are carved High up e year 19lil is displayed along with ntertwined dragons which fill the

curved pediment

~ of such unexpected and original ~ close to a period of Ulsters archshy that had begun with mereI interesshyod styles The spirit of 1nvention climax with this Irish national-breathed of the Nordic Dragon Style

Btrain Ltd Grosvenor Rd

lt1efield Park

Fireplace at Deramore Drive

Carnegie Library

Letterbox University Square

Kinahan Mansions

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Muyfair Arthur qUJIC

Vincent Crair

Carne Librav ~wnCatrick ~arehouse Al~re~ ~+

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36

Warehouse Alfred Street

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Door in Murray St

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House in University Avenue

Husic Shop

bull-J---------shy l___ -J___________________________~______ ____________________

Flats at Merville

Spinal pathway at Merville A Courtyard at Merville

Shops at Abbots Cross Abbot IS frnss Villae

ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD

In 1943 there lItas a housing prohlem) Ireland A co~ittee reporting on two thirds of the dlellings in the stock needed repair It was Iurthe the destruction of 3000 houses andl 50000 more suring the war years Ireland Housing lrust was set up inc public authority nouses throughout I

with the large Duilding progr=ne seemed to De lacking in experience There was strong competition among fair share of the 2000 prefaDricate houses (not to be confused with ordl allocated to the province Further provided a unique system of subsidi( local authority approval for priva

It vas against this background that builder Hr Thomas McGrath set up Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His all a series of garden villages embodyi expressed by groups like the BourneshyTrust In early 1947 the intention first villages at Herville was anno here these ideas came closest to re company was to retain ownership of 1

taining the communal front lawns ant the Merville mansion was converted i

community centre child clinic and childrens playg~d was provided a sum of about pound100 tenants could I in the company Later Mr McGrath another first with the establishmem of a 2oo-seat theatre in a convert~

In October the village was official Minister of Health but the followin_ the first tenants could move in tr shape of the Belfast Rural District This body refused to issue subsidy ( pound500 per house) until they were sat the tenants were workers Ulster replied that if the subsidies were ~ they would be free to sell the hous market This matter was quickly cl~ tenants moved in The village conto

In sunny old Disneyland there is en set aside from the Davy Crocket Fro] the Julie Andrews type heavens thi items of a technological nature wi on how good progress is and how teel progress = heaven this zone is cal_ land luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things to excuse that they are being designed With our eyes set on the unreachabl trip over our feet Politically an we are sorely bruised Philosophy nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an arcl great change in his city and wants 1

in re-shaping it mainly because he just how it should be done Natura he knows better than anyone else I joins the city planning office or tt Executive and gets involved in desi and planning communities OR becon being termed a community architect community architect has invented hi~ because he feels that the community is after all an outsider But I beJ is in this direction that we must we Participation is not really the namE the community architect is used by 1 order to express their feelings and coherent jargon that authorities li~

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erville

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ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD Peter Waring

In 19+3 there as a housing problem in Northern Ireland A committee reporting on it showed that two thirds of the dlllllings in the total housing stock needed repair It was further aggravated by the destruction of 3000 houses and the damaging of 50000 more luring lohe Will years The Northern Ireland Housing 7rust was set up in 19+5 to build public authority houses throughout Ulster Faced with the large building progr~e local authorities seemed to be lacking in experience and confidence There was strong competition among them to secure a fair share of the 2000 prefabricated aluminium houses (not to be confused with ordinary prefabs) allocated to the province Further legislation provided a unique system of subsidies dependent on local authority approval for private building

It was against this background that a private builder Mr Thomas McGrath set up a new company Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His aim was to build a series of garden villages embodying the ideas expressed by groups like the Bourneville Village Trust In early 19+7 the intention to build the first villages at Merville was announced It was here these ideas came closest to realization The company was to retain ownership of the estate mainshyt-aining the communal front lawns and shrubberies the Merville mansion was converted to act as a community centre child clinic and library and a childrens playgrQUCd was provided On payment of a sum of about flOO tenants could gain an interest in the company Later Mr McGrath was to achieve another first with the establishment for a period of a 200-seat theatre in a converted nissen hut

In October the village was officially opened by the Minister of Health but the following month before the first tenants could move in trouble in the shape of the Belfast Rural District Council loomed This body refused to issue subsidy certificates (for f500 per house) until they were satisfied that ali the tenants were workers Ulster Garden Villages replied that if the subsidies were not forthcoming they would be free to sell the houses on the open market This matter was quickly cleared up and the tenants moved in The village contained +30

In sunny old Disneyland there is one adventure zone set aside from the Davy Crocket Frontierland and the Julie Andrews type heavens this zone contains items of a technological nature with the emphasis on how good progress is and how technology = progress = heaven this zone is called tomorrowshyland luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things today with the excuse that they are being designed for the future With our eyes set on the unreachable horizon we trip over our feet Politically and architecturally we are sorely ~ruised Philosophy class oVer lads nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an architect who sees great change in his city and wants to be involved in re-shaping it mainly because he thinks he knows just how it should be done Naturally he thinks he knows better than anyone else Answer he joins the city planning office or the Housing Executive and gets involved in designing estates and planning communities OR becomes what is now being termed a community architect Perhaps the community architect has invented his position because he feels that the community needs him he is after all an outsider But I believe that it is in this direction that we must work Participation is not really the name of the game the community architect is used by the people in order to express their feelings and needs into coherent jargon that authorities listen to

dwelling units of various types (semi-detached and terraced housing cottage flats and flats in blocks) as well as 73 garages and 1+ shops The rent for a house was to be about 25 shillings per week Further garden villages were planned and built at Abbots Cross Fernagh Princpounds Park Kings Park Muckamore and Whitehead By no means all of Ulster Garden Villages projects were approved a scheme to provide 5000 dwellings in 18 months was turned down by tbe government as it would have given UGV virtual monopoly in the private building section Nevertheless construction was rapid houses at Abbots Cross being completed in 60 days floors and foundations laid in two days T~e houses were architect-designed finished to high standards within the limitations of post war material shortages and fitted with refrigerators and immersion heaters

Merville Garden Village is distinguished by the skilful layout of buildings and their integration with existing natural features mature trees have been preserved and roads adjusted to the contours of the site It is situated just outside the boundary on a long narrow self-contained site stretching back from the Shore Road and bounded by a timbered glen on one side and what was originally another belt of timber on the other The main entrance is flanked by a red brick block containing ground floor shops and flats above Access roads leop around both sides to tbe higher ground and the main development which is laid out on each side of the central double roadway The houses are arranged around courtyards the external angles nearest the roadway are infilled with the cottage flats giving a degree of privacy to the back gardens Each courtyard is treated as an entity with uniform roofing materials colours and texture and is given continuity by pergolas at the interi~ angles The designer was E Prentice Mawson FRIBA bull MTPI a past-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects

The later Garden Villages wepe less ambitious although Abbots Cross has a large shopping centre and some very attractive flat-roofed housing This is probably due to the differing quality of the sites and the diminishing resources of Ulster

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The city planning officer rejects peoples opinions in favour of his own high standard of planning his future image his solution to the problem His reply to critics is but the people dont know what they want bullbull and the result is a continual increase in paternalistic attitudes giving the people new hQusing but allowing them a minimal say in the process

In many cases its quite true to say that people dont know just what they want usually the prefershyence is for a replica of whats there already with some improvements People who do know what they want have a way of getting it People who dont know what they want end up taking what is given them thinking the process is as natural as being given the dole and as inevitable as dying

Sandy Row is typical of the communities in Belfast which are suffering - and in many cases dying _ from an outdated and bureaucratic system of reshydevelopment Shopkeepers and residents see the outcome as inevitable but what can you do bullbullbull if ~he government says that this is the plan how can you change it this is the attitude and Im not saying it isnt realistic but it has a built-in attitude to failure a failure complex If we dont believe that we have the power to change something nothing we will do will change it Thankfully there are those in Sandy Row who do believe that they can and need to do something constructive in

-

Garden Villages In fact operations were halted around 1950 with the companys bankruptcy most of the villages being taken over by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Mr McGrath Is reported to be going strong now in Canada

Today the residents are as proud as ever to liVe in Merville and efforts are being made to re-establish the community centre which fell into disuse about twelve years ago The extreme simplicity of the houses is still appealing although some have taken on a hangdog look as the once-white stucco has weathered badly in some places There is a happy atmosphere at Merville typified by a sign which saysshyCAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING as against one at Abbots Cross which states - TRESPASSERS ON --ASS PREAS WILL BE PROS------ Perhaps it is the natural greenery of the place which gives Merville its softness

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Dear Friend I am sure you are jaded with the ordinary thrills and pleasures that alcohol rallying squash golf or even chess can provide I aim to make available the type of VERY ADULT books photos etc that will add a new dimension to your life all from the architects point of view If this assumption is wrong please do not read on

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Young Bob is feeling listless during an all-nighter at the Department The appearance of Mitzi his pals Swedish mistress breathless and in black leather is like an answer to his prayers They go for each other in a big way Bob unzipped his instrushyment case bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull Continued Page

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saving the Row from planners blight and planners 1ight The community architect should encourage this spirit as if it were the last flower on the planet On this scale a major breakthrough will seem a small thing to many outsiders for example the way the community built its own community centre runs its own newspaper and most recently has started its own contracting firm on a small scale admittedly for the sole purpose of maintaining property which would otherwise be left neglect by the estate agents simply because the area is to be redeveloped Of course this small scale action doesnt stop people leaving the area daily because they believe theres no future for it but it does suggest hope it is a start Further steps may include a form of direct action in rehousing families within the area - the ultimate goal of the community architect would of course be to see the people themselves forming a housing co-operative with a government subsidy in order to build their own houses But governments and authorities wouldnt be governments and authorities if they let the people look after themselves would they

On Saturday 17th of March Sandy Row took to the streets for the first time to protest against the way the government is handling the situation By delaying the motorway decision redevelopment is delayed and so blight takes a stronger hold By doing nothing a government is destroying a community Progress and Gods work in mysterious ways

SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

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II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

l

Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

l

i

i

~~_~ ___ ___u_

lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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bull-J---------shy l___ -J___________________________~______ ____________________

Flats at Merville

Spinal pathway at Merville A Courtyard at Merville

Shops at Abbots Cross Abbot IS frnss Villae

ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD

In 1943 there lItas a housing prohlem) Ireland A co~ittee reporting on two thirds of the dlellings in the stock needed repair It was Iurthe the destruction of 3000 houses andl 50000 more suring the war years Ireland Housing lrust was set up inc public authority nouses throughout I

with the large Duilding progr=ne seemed to De lacking in experience There was strong competition among fair share of the 2000 prefaDricate houses (not to be confused with ordl allocated to the province Further provided a unique system of subsidi( local authority approval for priva

It vas against this background that builder Hr Thomas McGrath set up Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His all a series of garden villages embodyi expressed by groups like the BourneshyTrust In early 1947 the intention first villages at Herville was anno here these ideas came closest to re company was to retain ownership of 1

taining the communal front lawns ant the Merville mansion was converted i

community centre child clinic and childrens playg~d was provided a sum of about pound100 tenants could I in the company Later Mr McGrath another first with the establishmem of a 2oo-seat theatre in a convert~

In October the village was official Minister of Health but the followin_ the first tenants could move in tr shape of the Belfast Rural District This body refused to issue subsidy ( pound500 per house) until they were sat the tenants were workers Ulster replied that if the subsidies were ~ they would be free to sell the hous market This matter was quickly cl~ tenants moved in The village conto

In sunny old Disneyland there is en set aside from the Davy Crocket Fro] the Julie Andrews type heavens thi items of a technological nature wi on how good progress is and how teel progress = heaven this zone is cal_ land luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things to excuse that they are being designed With our eyes set on the unreachabl trip over our feet Politically an we are sorely bruised Philosophy nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an arcl great change in his city and wants 1

in re-shaping it mainly because he just how it should be done Natura he knows better than anyone else I joins the city planning office or tt Executive and gets involved in desi and planning communities OR becon being termed a community architect community architect has invented hi~ because he feels that the community is after all an outsider But I beJ is in this direction that we must we Participation is not really the namE the community architect is used by 1 order to express their feelings and coherent jargon that authorities li~

--

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7lt~ (1

It Merville

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erville

lLlage

ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD Peter Waring

In 19+3 there as a housing problem in Northern Ireland A committee reporting on it showed that two thirds of the dlllllings in the total housing stock needed repair It was further aggravated by the destruction of 3000 houses and the damaging of 50000 more luring lohe Will years The Northern Ireland Housing 7rust was set up in 19+5 to build public authority houses throughout Ulster Faced with the large building progr~e local authorities seemed to be lacking in experience and confidence There was strong competition among them to secure a fair share of the 2000 prefabricated aluminium houses (not to be confused with ordinary prefabs) allocated to the province Further legislation provided a unique system of subsidies dependent on local authority approval for private building

It was against this background that a private builder Mr Thomas McGrath set up a new company Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His aim was to build a series of garden villages embodying the ideas expressed by groups like the Bourneville Village Trust In early 19+7 the intention to build the first villages at Merville was announced It was here these ideas came closest to realization The company was to retain ownership of the estate mainshyt-aining the communal front lawns and shrubberies the Merville mansion was converted to act as a community centre child clinic and library and a childrens playgrQUCd was provided On payment of a sum of about flOO tenants could gain an interest in the company Later Mr McGrath was to achieve another first with the establishment for a period of a 200-seat theatre in a converted nissen hut

In October the village was officially opened by the Minister of Health but the following month before the first tenants could move in trouble in the shape of the Belfast Rural District Council loomed This body refused to issue subsidy certificates (for f500 per house) until they were satisfied that ali the tenants were workers Ulster Garden Villages replied that if the subsidies were not forthcoming they would be free to sell the houses on the open market This matter was quickly cleared up and the tenants moved in The village contained +30

In sunny old Disneyland there is one adventure zone set aside from the Davy Crocket Frontierland and the Julie Andrews type heavens this zone contains items of a technological nature with the emphasis on how good progress is and how technology = progress = heaven this zone is called tomorrowshyland luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things today with the excuse that they are being designed for the future With our eyes set on the unreachable horizon we trip over our feet Politically and architecturally we are sorely ~ruised Philosophy class oVer lads nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an architect who sees great change in his city and wants to be involved in re-shaping it mainly because he thinks he knows just how it should be done Naturally he thinks he knows better than anyone else Answer he joins the city planning office or the Housing Executive and gets involved in designing estates and planning communities OR becomes what is now being termed a community architect Perhaps the community architect has invented his position because he feels that the community needs him he is after all an outsider But I believe that it is in this direction that we must work Participation is not really the name of the game the community architect is used by the people in order to express their feelings and needs into coherent jargon that authorities listen to

dwelling units of various types (semi-detached and terraced housing cottage flats and flats in blocks) as well as 73 garages and 1+ shops The rent for a house was to be about 25 shillings per week Further garden villages were planned and built at Abbots Cross Fernagh Princpounds Park Kings Park Muckamore and Whitehead By no means all of Ulster Garden Villages projects were approved a scheme to provide 5000 dwellings in 18 months was turned down by tbe government as it would have given UGV virtual monopoly in the private building section Nevertheless construction was rapid houses at Abbots Cross being completed in 60 days floors and foundations laid in two days T~e houses were architect-designed finished to high standards within the limitations of post war material shortages and fitted with refrigerators and immersion heaters

Merville Garden Village is distinguished by the skilful layout of buildings and their integration with existing natural features mature trees have been preserved and roads adjusted to the contours of the site It is situated just outside the boundary on a long narrow self-contained site stretching back from the Shore Road and bounded by a timbered glen on one side and what was originally another belt of timber on the other The main entrance is flanked by a red brick block containing ground floor shops and flats above Access roads leop around both sides to tbe higher ground and the main development which is laid out on each side of the central double roadway The houses are arranged around courtyards the external angles nearest the roadway are infilled with the cottage flats giving a degree of privacy to the back gardens Each courtyard is treated as an entity with uniform roofing materials colours and texture and is given continuity by pergolas at the interi~ angles The designer was E Prentice Mawson FRIBA bull MTPI a past-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects

The later Garden Villages wepe less ambitious although Abbots Cross has a large shopping centre and some very attractive flat-roofed housing This is probably due to the differing quality of the sites and the diminishing resources of Ulster

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The city planning officer rejects peoples opinions in favour of his own high standard of planning his future image his solution to the problem His reply to critics is but the people dont know what they want bullbull and the result is a continual increase in paternalistic attitudes giving the people new hQusing but allowing them a minimal say in the process

In many cases its quite true to say that people dont know just what they want usually the prefershyence is for a replica of whats there already with some improvements People who do know what they want have a way of getting it People who dont know what they want end up taking what is given them thinking the process is as natural as being given the dole and as inevitable as dying

Sandy Row is typical of the communities in Belfast which are suffering - and in many cases dying _ from an outdated and bureaucratic system of reshydevelopment Shopkeepers and residents see the outcome as inevitable but what can you do bullbullbull if ~he government says that this is the plan how can you change it this is the attitude and Im not saying it isnt realistic but it has a built-in attitude to failure a failure complex If we dont believe that we have the power to change something nothing we will do will change it Thankfully there are those in Sandy Row who do believe that they can and need to do something constructive in

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Garden Villages In fact operations were halted around 1950 with the companys bankruptcy most of the villages being taken over by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Mr McGrath Is reported to be going strong now in Canada

Today the residents are as proud as ever to liVe in Merville and efforts are being made to re-establish the community centre which fell into disuse about twelve years ago The extreme simplicity of the houses is still appealing although some have taken on a hangdog look as the once-white stucco has weathered badly in some places There is a happy atmosphere at Merville typified by a sign which saysshyCAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING as against one at Abbots Cross which states - TRESPASSERS ON --ASS PREAS WILL BE PROS------ Perhaps it is the natural greenery of the place which gives Merville its softness

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ARClJIPORN - DIRECT FROM DRAPERSTOWN

Dear Friend I am sure you are jaded with the ordinary thrills and pleasures that alcohol rallying squash golf or even chess can provide I aim to make available the type of VERY ADULT books photos etc that will add a new dimension to your life all from the architects point of view If this assumption is wrong please do not read on

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This Months Offer - On the Drawingboard

Young Bob is feeling listless during an all-nighter at the Department The appearance of Mitzi his pals Swedish mistress breathless and in black leather is like an answer to his prayers They go for each other in a big way Bob unzipped his instrushyment case bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull Continued Page

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John Gilbert ~~

-i I

saving the Row from planners blight and planners 1ight The community architect should encourage this spirit as if it were the last flower on the planet On this scale a major breakthrough will seem a small thing to many outsiders for example the way the community built its own community centre runs its own newspaper and most recently has started its own contracting firm on a small scale admittedly for the sole purpose of maintaining property which would otherwise be left neglect by the estate agents simply because the area is to be redeveloped Of course this small scale action doesnt stop people leaving the area daily because they believe theres no future for it but it does suggest hope it is a start Further steps may include a form of direct action in rehousing families within the area - the ultimate goal of the community architect would of course be to see the people themselves forming a housing co-operative with a government subsidy in order to build their own houses But governments and authorities wouldnt be governments and authorities if they let the people look after themselves would they

On Saturday 17th of March Sandy Row took to the streets for the first time to protest against the way the government is handling the situation By delaying the motorway decision redevelopment is delayed and so blight takes a stronger hold By doing nothing a government is destroying a community Progress and Gods work in mysterious ways

SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

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II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

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Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

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lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

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SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

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involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

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Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

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Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

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ULSTER GARDEN VILLAGES LTD Peter Waring

In 19+3 there as a housing problem in Northern Ireland A committee reporting on it showed that two thirds of the dlllllings in the total housing stock needed repair It was further aggravated by the destruction of 3000 houses and the damaging of 50000 more luring lohe Will years The Northern Ireland Housing 7rust was set up in 19+5 to build public authority houses throughout Ulster Faced with the large building progr~e local authorities seemed to be lacking in experience and confidence There was strong competition among them to secure a fair share of the 2000 prefabricated aluminium houses (not to be confused with ordinary prefabs) allocated to the province Further legislation provided a unique system of subsidies dependent on local authority approval for private building

It was against this background that a private builder Mr Thomas McGrath set up a new company Ulster Garden Villages Ltd His aim was to build a series of garden villages embodying the ideas expressed by groups like the Bourneville Village Trust In early 19+7 the intention to build the first villages at Merville was announced It was here these ideas came closest to realization The company was to retain ownership of the estate mainshyt-aining the communal front lawns and shrubberies the Merville mansion was converted to act as a community centre child clinic and library and a childrens playgrQUCd was provided On payment of a sum of about flOO tenants could gain an interest in the company Later Mr McGrath was to achieve another first with the establishment for a period of a 200-seat theatre in a converted nissen hut

In October the village was officially opened by the Minister of Health but the following month before the first tenants could move in trouble in the shape of the Belfast Rural District Council loomed This body refused to issue subsidy certificates (for f500 per house) until they were satisfied that ali the tenants were workers Ulster Garden Villages replied that if the subsidies were not forthcoming they would be free to sell the houses on the open market This matter was quickly cleared up and the tenants moved in The village contained +30

In sunny old Disneyland there is one adventure zone set aside from the Davy Crocket Frontierland and the Julie Andrews type heavens this zone contains items of a technological nature with the emphasis on how good progress is and how technology = progress = heaven this zone is called tomorrowshyland luto goes there often

We are continuously doing things today with the excuse that they are being designed for the future With our eyes set on the unreachable horizon we trip over our feet Politically and architecturally we are sorely ~ruised Philosophy class oVer lads nov for the serious stuff

What are the choices open to an architect who sees great change in his city and wants to be involved in re-shaping it mainly because he thinks he knows just how it should be done Naturally he thinks he knows better than anyone else Answer he joins the city planning office or the Housing Executive and gets involved in designing estates and planning communities OR becomes what is now being termed a community architect Perhaps the community architect has invented his position because he feels that the community needs him he is after all an outsider But I believe that it is in this direction that we must work Participation is not really the name of the game the community architect is used by the people in order to express their feelings and needs into coherent jargon that authorities listen to

dwelling units of various types (semi-detached and terraced housing cottage flats and flats in blocks) as well as 73 garages and 1+ shops The rent for a house was to be about 25 shillings per week Further garden villages were planned and built at Abbots Cross Fernagh Princpounds Park Kings Park Muckamore and Whitehead By no means all of Ulster Garden Villages projects were approved a scheme to provide 5000 dwellings in 18 months was turned down by tbe government as it would have given UGV virtual monopoly in the private building section Nevertheless construction was rapid houses at Abbots Cross being completed in 60 days floors and foundations laid in two days T~e houses were architect-designed finished to high standards within the limitations of post war material shortages and fitted with refrigerators and immersion heaters

Merville Garden Village is distinguished by the skilful layout of buildings and their integration with existing natural features mature trees have been preserved and roads adjusted to the contours of the site It is situated just outside the boundary on a long narrow self-contained site stretching back from the Shore Road and bounded by a timbered glen on one side and what was originally another belt of timber on the other The main entrance is flanked by a red brick block containing ground floor shops and flats above Access roads leop around both sides to tbe higher ground and the main development which is laid out on each side of the central double roadway The houses are arranged around courtyards the external angles nearest the roadway are infilled with the cottage flats giving a degree of privacy to the back gardens Each courtyard is treated as an entity with uniform roofing materials colours and texture and is given continuity by pergolas at the interi~ angles The designer was E Prentice Mawson FRIBA bull MTPI a past-president of the Institute of Landscape Architects

The later Garden Villages wepe less ambitious although Abbots Cross has a large shopping centre and some very attractive flat-roofed housing This is probably due to the differing quality of the sites and the diminishing resources of Ulster

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The city planning officer rejects peoples opinions in favour of his own high standard of planning his future image his solution to the problem His reply to critics is but the people dont know what they want bullbull and the result is a continual increase in paternalistic attitudes giving the people new hQusing but allowing them a minimal say in the process

In many cases its quite true to say that people dont know just what they want usually the prefershyence is for a replica of whats there already with some improvements People who do know what they want have a way of getting it People who dont know what they want end up taking what is given them thinking the process is as natural as being given the dole and as inevitable as dying

Sandy Row is typical of the communities in Belfast which are suffering - and in many cases dying _ from an outdated and bureaucratic system of reshydevelopment Shopkeepers and residents see the outcome as inevitable but what can you do bullbullbull if ~he government says that this is the plan how can you change it this is the attitude and Im not saying it isnt realistic but it has a built-in attitude to failure a failure complex If we dont believe that we have the power to change something nothing we will do will change it Thankfully there are those in Sandy Row who do believe that they can and need to do something constructive in

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Garden Villages In fact operations were halted around 1950 with the companys bankruptcy most of the villages being taken over by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Mr McGrath Is reported to be going strong now in Canada

Today the residents are as proud as ever to liVe in Merville and efforts are being made to re-establish the community centre which fell into disuse about twelve years ago The extreme simplicity of the houses is still appealing although some have taken on a hangdog look as the once-white stucco has weathered badly in some places There is a happy atmosphere at Merville typified by a sign which saysshyCAUTION CHILDREN PLAYING as against one at Abbots Cross which states - TRESPASSERS ON --ASS PREAS WILL BE PROS------ Perhaps it is the natural greenery of the place which gives Merville its softness

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ARClJIPORN - DIRECT FROM DRAPERSTOWN

Dear Friend I am sure you are jaded with the ordinary thrills and pleasures that alcohol rallying squash golf or even chess can provide I aim to make available the type of VERY ADULT books photos etc that will add a new dimension to your life all from the architects point of view If this assumption is wrong please do not read on

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This Months Offer - On the Drawingboard

Young Bob is feeling listless during an all-nighter at the Department The appearance of Mitzi his pals Swedish mistress breathless and in black leather is like an answer to his prayers They go for each other in a big way Bob unzipped his instrushyment case bullbullbullbullbullbullbullbull Continued Page

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saving the Row from planners blight and planners 1ight The community architect should encourage this spirit as if it were the last flower on the planet On this scale a major breakthrough will seem a small thing to many outsiders for example the way the community built its own community centre runs its own newspaper and most recently has started its own contracting firm on a small scale admittedly for the sole purpose of maintaining property which would otherwise be left neglect by the estate agents simply because the area is to be redeveloped Of course this small scale action doesnt stop people leaving the area daily because they believe theres no future for it but it does suggest hope it is a start Further steps may include a form of direct action in rehousing families within the area - the ultimate goal of the community architect would of course be to see the people themselves forming a housing co-operative with a government subsidy in order to build their own houses But governments and authorities wouldnt be governments and authorities if they let the people look after themselves would they

On Saturday 17th of March Sandy Row took to the streets for the first time to protest against the way the government is handling the situation By delaying the motorway decision redevelopment is delayed and so blight takes a stronger hold By doing nothing a government is destroying a community Progress and Gods work in mysterious ways

SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

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II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

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Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

l

i

i

~~_~ ___ ___u_

lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

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nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

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11 5300 lVH1

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SELF-EXPRESSION I

The Postman As Architect Paul LarnOllr

This marvel whose author may be proud Shall be gtnique in the universe

- inscription On the Palais Ideal by the postman Ferdinand Cheval

The strangest sight I have ever seen lies off the main street of the little village of Hauterives Department Drome France Built over a period of 33 years from 1879 to 1912 it is a monument to the imagination and determination of one man - Ferdinand Cheval Cheval was born in 1836 to peasant parents at Charmes (Drome) and received a very sparse education He worked as a baker after his marriage It was at this time in about 1864 that he had the dream that was to affect his whole life In the dream he saw himself constructing a palace or castle that he remembered as being wonderfully picturesque but for the meantime he did nothing about it At this time though its not known whether before or after the dreamCheval went for a short while to Algeria probably on military sershy

vice Shortly after his return his wife died He reshymarried and became a postman covering about 20 miles a day on his rounds between the villages of the Drome

Whilst walking eternally against the same background each day Cheval amused himself by imagining the fairy palace of his dream and elaborating on it The vision of it stayed vividly in his mind for many years but was just beginning to fade when an incident suddenly revived it one day in 1879 when he was 43 years old he tripped on a stone and picking it up was enthralled by its bizarre beauty The area around Hauterives being once an ocean bed is rich in calcareous tufa a sponge limestone which takes on all kinds of shapes as well as actual fossils Cheval brought the stone home to admire it at leisure and returned the next day to find yet finer specimens He brought these home in his pockets until his wife complained of the tears after which he used baskets later with a ~heelbarrow he went round in the evenings after work to pick up the piles of stones he had left in various places often covering long distances He transshyported the stones from dry riverbeds Or from the roadside every day piling them up in his garden in preparation for work Since nature wants to be the sculptor he thought I shall be the mason and the architect

Cheval Who had never used a trowel before and had

not the slightest notion of architectural principles embarked on the building of his fantasy palace a dream that kept him toiling for 33 years His family went short so that he could buy lime and cement and metal wire the villagers ridiculed and criticised him deriding the waste of time money and effort yet Cheval worked on alone convinced that his work could not fail to aSSure him a lasting place in peoples memories Upheld by stubborness and pride he was determined to show that even a poor peasant can be a man of genius He had immense powers of enshydurance frequently working at night with a candle on his hat often until three in the morning regardless of weather and never failing to complete his delivery round by day

He invented a kind of reinforced concrete modelling the wet mix of lime and cement over a metal skeleton and into this he pressed small pebbles fossils or shells or else applied tree-bark to impart a texture There is a notable resemblance between the working method employed by Cheval and the vernacular method of building exemplified by his nearby house which has pebbles embedded in a cement wall

Cheval was 76 when he completed his palace a buildshying 8S long by about 26 deep and 33 high in places It is a curious mixture of styles its coherence deshyfined mOre by the overall feel of the place Corshy

responding to the creators personali by organic unity As an architectura ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical premely beautiful in its linking of ~ sculpture and poetry

The building~ complexity is augmented number of inscriptions in the form oft poems Some are evidence of Chevals )lothing is impossibleTo the valiant All that you see passer-bylls the Wi

Others are in a sombre metaphysical VI

Life is an ocean full of storms Between the child just bOrn And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked but is not habitable The walls are scenes in semi-relief with birds Shl other figures described by Cheval as that one might think one were in a dr terrace above reached by four differ cases one can view the whOle work an higher up the Tower of Barbary withl cement palm trees

It is ohvious that Cheval derived man) sources other than his individual imaj mature years he tried to make up for I

r I

II Fro III dreams to reality Ferdinand Cheval is a long way 1836-1924

Interior of the Palace

e

~

on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

l

Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

~ -gt lbull shy

lt01lt N I It h ~~~l~-gt

bull

clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

l

i

i

~~_~ ___ ___u_

lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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on of architectural principles ng of his fantasy palace a iling for 33 years His family could buy lime and cement and ers ridiculed and criticised

of time money and effort lone convinced that his work re him a lasting place in held by stubborness and pride he

that Heven a poor pectsant can He had immense powers of enshyrking at night with a candle on hree in the morning regardless failing to complete his delivery

reinforced concrete modelling d cement over a metal skeleton ed small pebbles fossils or d tree-bark to impart a texture emblance between the working val and the vernacular method d by his nearby house which n a cement wall~

completed his palace a buildshy26 deep and 33 high in places e of styles its coherence deshyall feel of the place corshy

dreams to reality is a long way

responding to the creators personality rather than by organic unity As an architectural design it is ill-balanced and wildly assymetrical but it is sushypremely beautiful in its linking of architecture sculpture and poetry

The buildings complexity is augmented by the large number of inscriptions in the form of mottoes or poems Some are evidence of Chevals self-awareness Nothing is impossibleTo the valiant heart and All that you see passer-byIs the work of a peasant~

Others are in a sombre metaphysical vein

Life is an OCean full of storms Between the child just born And the old man soon to vanish

The palace has inner chambers linked by a corridor but is not habitable The walls are covered with scenes in semi-relief with birds shepherds and other figures described by Cheval as so bizarre that one might think one were in a dream On the terrace above reached by four different stair shycases one can view the whole work and also climb higher up the Tower of Barbary with its wire and cement palm trees

It is obvious that Cheval derived many ideas fromi sources other than his individual imagination in his llature years he tried to make up far his lack of ednshy

l

Ferdinand Cheval

1836-1924

cation by reading occasional books and illustrated magazines and the appearance of some portions of the palace are due to knowledge he gained about f~eign parts The west facade contains rather self-conscious versions of certain architectural styles that Cheval had learnt about The Hindu temple Swiss chalet White House Algerian house and thampMedieval Castle are painstaking set-pieces which un favourably compare with the naive novelty of the earlier facades Chevals incredible imagination has left hardly any spot without sculptural decoration Apart from archshyitectural details the decoration includes sculptures of men animals and plants The incongruity of style seen in some details set into the larger mass can be explained by the fact of Chevals habit of rising and executing small portions of the work in the middle of the night inspired by dreams or visions

On the east facade below a heavily ornamented temple Cheval dug out a vault in which he hoped to be buried in the manner of the Pharaohs (If it was his literal intention to be buried here then permission must have been refused by the authorities) At the other end of this facade is a crypt where Chevals wheelbarrow mixing bucket and trowel rest behind locked bars Outsidethe long-legged Three Giant~ group towers about 20 tall and is dedicated A la Fraternite des Peuples Of all the various porshytions of the palace this probably constitutes the

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bull

clearest expression of Chevals impulse towards grandeur Though smaller the north facade is sculpshyturally the most fascinating part of the Palace It consists of a number of little grottoes over which hang layers of little animals assembled from tufa and stones found in the river (It is significant that many natural grottoes abound in the neighbouring mountain of Vercers)

Cheval spent 20 years or so on these first two facades which are his finest work- the oth~r two took him about twelve years He completed his Palais Ideal in 1912 and spent a couple of years pottering around clearing up the site planting a garden and proudly showing visitors around before beginning work in 1914 on the family tomb This occupies the c~ner right at the entrance to the village cemetry and is a masterpiece of contorted and interwoven wire-andshycement shapes When he died in 1924 at the age of 88 Cheval was buried beneath this writhing mass which he had called the tomb of silence and endless rest

Fifty years after completion the Palais Ideal still stands its full and astonishing richness undiminished by time er weather the magnificent and enigmatic realisation of one mans dream

From a dream I have brought forth The Queen of the World

Chevals Family Tomb

THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

l

i

i

~~_~ ___ ___u_

lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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THE ISLAND Alan Cook

fhere is an island which lies eight miles west of Belfast between the shores of County Antrim and County Down Or rather there waS an island until they filled in the canal The island is on the River Lagan below the ridge on which the main part of the town of Lisburn is situated It was formed in the eighteenth century when the Lagan Canal severed it from County Down In 1764 to supply the linen bleaching industry with chemicals a Vitroil works was established on the island by Thomas Gregg ana Waddell Cunningham at a cost of over pound3500 These works were quite extensive as their description in 1837 shows The island contains between two and three acres and is enclosed from both waters by a stone and lime wall rather on the castellated style The dwelling house is commodious and stands two storeys high and slated The buildings occupied by the above manufactory are tolerably extensive and stand one storey slated There are nine men at 92d weekly wage each constantly employed in the establishment The entire ground is occupied by the dwelling house office houses gardens vitroil works and yards On the works stands a very lofty chimney (An early example of environmental concern as it transmitted noxious gases high above the town) The site and buildings though situated in the County of Down part of Lisburn form a great ornament to the town

By the Lisburn was the market town for a rich region a nodal point and the centre the Linen Industry on the RiVer The town developed strong associations with Industry the River and the Navigational Canal

In 1840 shortly after the above description of the Island was written Samuel Richardson bought it and built a spinning mill containing 2000 spindles His brother Jonathan Joseph inherited the mill on Samuels death in 1847 and added 9500 spindles Such early investment of capital in spinning mills by bleachers was rare Later in the century a weaving factory was constructed and workers houses the County Down side of the Canal were built the Lock-keepers house To the present day this area retains its historic significance represenshytative of the linen industry at its peak The mass of two storey buildings dominated by the four storey spinning mill and the chimney can be viewed from some distance along the riVer valley and link the observer with the trees of nearby Castle Gardens the spire of Christ Church Cathedral and the dome of the Market House These four features form the basic historical industrial and locational landshymarks in Lisburn

Today however viewed at close range the Island presents a much different aspect from what it was eVen a mere decade ago The canal has been filled

in outlying buildings lie derelict only weaving continues on a small scale and the bulk of the land is covered with the cast off debris of the twentieth century The Island and land opposite amongst the trees on the Antrim shore is a dumping ground the scrap merchants yard Oh yes and the Island this erstwhile thriving indusshytrial centre and integral part of Lisburns heritage this rusting eyesore is firmly entrenched in the middle of the Lagan Valley Country Park If the pianning permission which permits such visible pollution in an area of intrinsic watershyfront significance is not revoked and the main masses of the buildings retained either as a revitalised industrial base (even for use as wareshyhousing) or as an imaginative cultural and social centre for the town and Province then the people of Lisburn by sheer neglect will lose an irreplaceable part of their heritage

Here sits industry laurel-crowned With capital and labour meeting In union on one common ground Within the worlds great marts competing Where Coulsons damask Barbours thread With Stewarts and the Island spinning In workmanship the world have led High honours from the nations winning

Someon~ must realise the social recreational and even economic potential of the Island

The story does not end there For the island though visually at a distance the dominant feature of the Lisburn waterfront is only part of the physical SCene Just lies the Quay conshystructed in 1759 where and lighters from the mid 18th century to changed and delivshyered cargoes going to and from Belfast and points west along the Lagan Navigation Canal With this activity came warehousing public houses dwelling houses and a dry dock the sale surviving example in Ireland Connected with the linen industry and the commerce of Lisburn via the Union Bridge and the steeply rising Bridge Street this waterfront area remains remarkably untouched by the 20th century The tall trees of Castle Gardens still rise from the waters edge at the dry dock to the top of the Lisburn The familar sights of the stepped houses of Street the Cathedral and Market House dome form the skyline to the north On the County Down side the streets of terraced housing such as Hancock Street Gregg Street and Stannus Place and the intimate lanes give the area a character of its own with many and varied enclosed views of the river The Union Bridge upstream and the Island downstream complete the visual enclosure of Lisburns waterfront

However all is not well on the waterfront

The view across the river to the quay and beyond up Quay Street used to be enclosed at Bridge

Street by terraced housing The view now extends aimlessly across a demolition car park to the towns Gasworks

The houses on the left of Bridge Street origshyinally the towns main thoroughfare to Dublin have been razed to the ground across to Laganbank Road Gone is Coulsons Damask Weaving factory where in 1764 one hundred years before weavers nationally achieved full time employment of 500 workmen residing in or contiguous to are daily employed

The reaSOn for dernclition is not for redevelopment but to clear the way for the coming Lisburn Urban Throughpass The Ml motorway failed to relieVe traffic congestion in the streets of the town so now a shorter by pass is envisaged to circle the south of the town and make it easier and faster for vehicles to mOYe into and around Lisburn In the process Castle Gardens will be decimated and cut off from the river the Quay and Quay Street will disappear under the main road as will warehouses pubs and shops the dry dock built by Henry Mulholland in lB37 to enable barge repairs and maintenance and now surrounded by trees in a quiet backwater off the river will be buried by a slip road the Union Bridge dating from 1884 will survive but with a new cantilevered top section for four lane traffic- and the Down side where bUildings are listed or mentioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society will be redeveloped

The effect of a dual carriageway partly elevated with a traffic-lightsslip-road junction at the bottom of Bridge Street is ominous in the extreme The wooded Antrim riverside and the Lisburn Quay ar e inexorably head ing f or ext inct ion a s yet a nother decision of subservience to the internal conbustion engine is taken

But happily in the midst of this riot of change which is to befall the Lisburn waterfront and its conmunity people and their hedonistic tendencies have not been forgotten I am assured that between the slip-road off the new throughpass and the river there will be a paved promenade with lights This human scale concrete edging will open up the area for walks (presumably to see the traffic inhale nice fumes or look for the ghosts of bargees) Anyway people love a walk by a river

The throughpass is corning but its proposed treatshyment is reminiscent of the fate suffered by Carrickfergus in the sixties where the inhabitants are forced through tunnels to reach their own conshycretized and wind-swept sea front I suggest that the people of Lisburn if suffer this disruption of an area of interest deserve a better deal than their friends in Carrickfergus

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul La

As one descends the road from the t the harbour of Ballintoy CoAntrim an an building comes into view until one is confIlt Bendhu House now almost complete after 3 building work It started nearly 40 years ago with the bui intention to have a small seaside horne but veloped over the years into a complex build builder now in his 86th first came t Ireland in 1911 He had architectun not practice deciding that the tedium of oj was not for him He enjoyed his years teacll the College of Art and retired at the age oj his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatbull fused offers of Principalship preferring e

Dereliction today

l

i

i

~~_~ ___ ___u_

lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

IIIIIIIIII~=-~middotInlitihie~c~o~u~nt~r~~y~S~ide~b~y~S~O~m~e~g~o~v~e~r~n~n

~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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lCed housing The view now extends lS a demolition car park to the towns

he left of Bridge Street origshys main thoroughfare to Dublin 1 to the ground across to Laganbank Coulsons Damask Weaving factory one hundred years before weavers

leved full time employment upwards residing in or contiguous to Lisburn gtyed

demolition is not for redevelopment le way for the coming Lisburn Urban rhe Ml motorway failed to relieve cion in the streets of the town so y pass is envisaged to circle the )wn and make it easier and faster for e into and around Lisburn Inthe Gardens will be decimated and cut lver the Quay and Quay Street will

the main road as will warehouses the dry dock built by Henry

837 to enable barge repairs and now surrounded by trees in a off the river will be buried by a

Union Bridge dating from 1884 will h a new cantilevered top section for ic- and the Down side where Listed or mentioned by the Ulster ieritage Society will be redeveloped

dual carriageway partly elevated -lightsslip-road junction at the se Street is aninous in the extrane~ eim riverside and the Lisburn Quay heading for extinction as yet another

)servience to the internal conbustion l

in the midst of this riot of fall the Lisburn waterfront and ole and their hedonistic tendencies forgotten I am assured that between off the new throughpass and the river

paved promenade with lights This ~crete edging will open the area sumably to see the inhale look for the ghosts of bargees)

love a walk by a river

s is coming but its proposed treatshyscent of the fate suffered in the sixties where the ough tunnels to reach their own conshyind-swept sea front I suggest that ~isburn if they must suffer this in area of such intrinsic interest er deal than their friends in

~~----- ___-shy

SELF-EXPRESSION - 2

Bendhu House Paul Larmour

As one descends the winding road from the town to the harbour of Ballintoy in Co Antrim an amazing building comes into view until one is confronted by I~endhut House now almost complete after 35 years build irig work It started nearly 40 years ago with the builders intention to have a small seaside home but has deshyveloped over the into a complex building The builder now in 86th year first came to Northern Ireland in 1911 He had studied architecture but did not practice deciding that the tedium of office work was not for him He enjoyed his years teaching at the College of Art and retired at the age of 55 from his post as Senior Lecturer He had repeatedly reshyfused offers of Principalship preferring every-day

----~

involvement with his students to purely administrashytive work

The building is named Bendhu in deference to the imposing black cliff face of Bendhu Rock which glowers across the small cove to the green outcrop on which the house stands It is superbly sited and responds to the sites natural ruggedness In dull weather its dark bulk sits heavily on the site but with a burst of sunshine playing over it it comes to life its surface animated and light The sculptural effect is produced by the architecture itself the multishyfaceted appearance determined by the additive building process

The full effect of the terraced recesses and balcony posts and is most noticeable in bright sunshylight a prismatic appearance as dazzling as the stepped hexagonal prisms of the Giants Causeway a few miles along the coast In dull light the

sculptures tave a mysterious atmosphere modelled and evocative shapes in a dark mass

There are two main sculptured features on the building - a Neptune group above the front door and a Phoenix bird burning above a first floor window Of the Neptune group only three figures have been comshypleted - a bull symbolising rough seas a horse symshybolising windy seas and a dolphin suggesting calm seas

Formerly a dragons head in bronze was attached to one of the taller but this was removed by thieves The also suffered losses of building materials taken by pilferers and also vanshydalistic damage by children Recently a stainedshyglass window was smashed in by a fist-sized rock As well as these outrageous intrusions the builder has always faced strong local resistance to his work There are those who resent the work because it is not a- normal house because it hasnt slates on the roof or proper windows - and claim that the character of the harbour area is ruined When looking at the area this house in fact is seen to respond most fittingly to the site The nearby houses are testimony only to settlement of man in the area while Bendhu House is at once evidence of mans intellect and his regard tor the natural qualshyities of the landscape The house is part of the land part of the coast In the way that Frank Lloyd Wrights house at Fallingwater created the event there this house makes the site here

The building is a labyrinth of roams with numerous changes of level and shows ingenuity in much of its layout There is a lot of use made of built in wardshyrobe space with hot water pipes brought through inside each storage unit Small windows enable good air regUlation and cooking smells are ducted through barely noticeable yet effective vents At various

inside and outside there are taps which will the building in water in the event of a fire

outbreak

Of most interest in the ground floor rooms are painted decorations and decorative wall panelling In one room there is a circular and star patterned wooden ceiling with signs of the Zodiac depicted in the panel sections In two other rooms there are single dominshyant ceiling paintings notably one which strikingly nOYh~lTS Prometheus stealing flame fran Heavent ~ The

s favourite living area is a single room at first-floor level This is a prime example of minishymal dwelling with ingenious and optimum usage of space

The attitude of many observers has been a kind of accusing one What a life bullbullbull idling around all day adding little bits to the house now and then It is not realised that this is a demanding task involshyving long hours of heavy labour and painstaking attenshytion to detail The builder has carried out all work by himself without any making formwork for conshycrete beams casting laying bricks and inshystalling the extremely complex plUmbing system The panelled decoration of the ground floor rooms and the outside sculptures are evidence of artistic skill and craftsmanship and this element together with the imshypressive siting makes this building a testimony to its creators endurance skill and imagination

SELF-EXPRESSION - 3

This engaging assembly is on display on a house in Lord Street off the Albertbridge Road Belfast When the occupier Mr Cecil Bingham retired from farmshywork in Rathfriland and came here nearly four years ago he immediately set about straightening lintels and rendering the facade just to be different The array of objects soon followed Mr Bingham has an collection of delf and chinaware and very furniture inside his house Most of this was handed down through his family but frequently friends and visitors present him with additions shyHe occasionally rearranges the Objects outside but happily they are never tampered with by others A very pleasant man Mr Bingham seems to be popular with neighbours

HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

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~~~~--~----------~~----~~~~~--~~--~~======~~

md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

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HOi ABOUT A CITY-JOLK MUSEUM7 John Gilbert

Its all very well constructing exact replicas of Ulsters cottages farms chicken coops and hermitages but what about us city dwellers The Ulster Yolk Museum exists to show every Ulster man and woman as well as the occasional foreigner just what kind of humble down on the farm good old heritage we have But I never learnt how to milk a cow Neither did my father grandfather great grandfather nor even my great great grandfather 1I0w if any of my ancestors were around today they wouldnt want to go to the stuffy old folk museum first theyd go to all the poole halls bright lights of the city sin palaces and probably a look over the latest weaponry showing three times daily allover Belfast Its these everyday artefacts that we forget about thinking theyre too common to take note of Buildings and their relating ornament and decoration are discarded with as much conscience as one would discard a bus ticket

~~~__~______________________

Ot the many buildings of the glorious Victorian era (our heritage etc) I have singled out one Its rather obscure and not particularly well known and quite impossible to even enter To be precise the Meter house in the gas works off the Ormeau road A ~quare plan red bricked building which at one time contained the mechanisms which were the very heart of the gas industry in the city Internally decorated with rich tilework mirrors and deep cornices with life size statues of Mercury and the Queen positioned amongst the machinery Onfortunately I couldnt get into the main room of this glorified pump house as the gas works have since lost the key - which can do them no good as theyve stored thousands of clay tiles and bricks i~side But there is one crack in a window just b~g enough to push a camera through and glance at the masterpiece in the roof A glass dome of some considerable size constructed in a pattern of fish scales and glazed with hand painted glass (hand painted by the wife of the one time director oi the Gas works) There are smaller rooms which flank

this central core and again each or them have smaller glazed domes with hand painted glass

Bulldozers dont distinguish between pill boxes and statues of mercury So my argument is if it has to go (someone will find a reason for this) then as much of it as possible should be dismantled I do not ask that the building be taken down stone by stone rather that the tilework and the unique fish scale roof be dismantled and ~aken to a place far off An architectural museum I dont fancy it would be dead To see pieces of glasswork and griffins in glass cases would kill the items altogelher But why not keep these items and rnaments the like of whlch Belfast is throwing ~nto the Lagan everyday alive by using them in a new building Integrating them piecemeal into something like a crafts centre which would be in continuous use and would be that much more of an attraction if it were made from the craftwork of the past I might even take my great great grandfather along

SELF-EXPRESSION - 4

In 193~ when a building in Botanic Avenue Belfast was be~ng replastered the plasterer a Mr Breen took it upon himself to embellish the building with his Wll designs in the manner of old English parshygett~ng of the 16th and 17th centuries These traces of his frivolous spirit still remain - flowers leaves ship dragon geese with top hat and umbrella ~nd coats-of-arms that he made up Shortly after this he emigrated to America

SELF-EXPRESSION shy

Along the road to Castlerock outside Coleraine there are ten semi-detached houses grouped together Each has its front gate-posts and doorway painted in difshyferent patterns and colours once one person had started to decorate everyone followed bringing a touch of brightness to pre-war semis on an open windy road

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI

The foremanwho told us he was do in sociology threw his arms in the ai bull bullbull I tell each new batch that com not to do anything too strenuous fo couple of days Look at the load t trying to lift and in this heat

He rushed off leaving us to explor Paolo Soleris new city in the dese north of Pheonix Our first view 0

had been a bit of a surprise Ther giant mega-structures no fantastic or Arcoindians Just a small clust cast structures still tinted by th used as formwork The bright co lou strange patterns and motifs gave th very primitive atmosphere Student porting rocks in wooden wheelbarrow as if they would fall apart at any only forms of mechanisation visible were a small crane and a cement mix certainly hadnt the appearance of an architectural concept requiring most advanced technology in the WOr

As one walks around the site and ta working there one cant help but be their determination and enthusiasm believe that our civilisation is sl integrating and that an alternative found if we are to survive Soleri provide one possible solution and prepared to work in conditions of e to try and prove them right Tor S ltf o~ c~vilisation is the city r ~nst~tut~ons of the city and their the natural world which give Man hi his life meaning The traditional longer do this It has undergone a explosion which has scattered its ~ a wide area The physical structur support the complexity and interact it Transportation communication have all become extremely ineffich mechanical failure of the city has I responsible for the breakdown of it structure Soleri believes that th system on which we base our society at fa~lt We worship technology ~ mater~al~sm at the expense of a hu~ The result is that city life has b~ and has degenerated into a mere bat survival

Soleris solution is to provide a n ~ a philosophy The two are cClllb total urban form which will embrace architecture and planning but also and cultural aspects which contribu life Soleri calls this form an lin

word coined to describe the fusion tecture and ecology Physically an is quite frightening It is a thre city stretching up to a mile high densities of 1000 or more persons~ Activities take place on many layer been arranged in a hierarchy At t w~ih is open to the air are the p C~v~c spaces This is the cultural the city Arranged around this are rcial spaces and then the working the outer wall or membrane of the are the living units Thes~ have b ned so that each inhabitant has dir contact with Nature The units are neighbourhoods which are arranged ii ~acing into the centre of the citybull ~nhabitant has easy and direct acce cou~tryside on the outside and the inSide There are no cars Transg on foot or by lifts or moving pave Under each arcology is a fully auta duction area - fully automated beCa believes that Man should live in tIl and not underground All waste pr( cycled and pollution is minimal present at all The countryside al arcology is left free for farming ~ tion

A picture emerges of a highly orgal very rigid structure How did Sol at this form He believes that th ment of the city can be compared t( evolution of a biological organism from a few cells it has become incl more complex as more and more fun place within it at the same time efficiently a process of miniatui taken place and the organism has at components so that they are as clo) as possible Cities should be pIal same way They shOUld contract an1 enabling their various elements tOl function more efficiently Once t suture has been miniaturised thl w~th~n it can integrate into a mar ful whole Arcology will foster c and interdependence among its im They will become less agressive ownership will be abolished and w wbole concept of the consumer soc ii status symbols A spiritual cultUl a moral code will evolve This is main concern Arcologies are onlYI means by which a complete social r be brought about People who crit arcologies have usually failed to point They latch unto their trem and high densities and talk of tIl of overcrowding Soleri is not tn ~orce anyone to live tightly pack ~n a concrete frame Neither is J suddenly leaving your horne in a tn city and moving out to an arcologr

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md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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md again each Or them have with hand painted glass

tinguish between pill boxes rry So my argument is if it ill find a reason for this) liS possible should be dismantled [le building be taken down stone at the tilework and the tlismantled and taken to a 2ctural museum I dont fancy To see pieces of glasswork and 8ses would kill the items not keep these items and of which Belfast is throwing

rday alive by using them in a rrating them piecemeal into fts centre which would be in would be that much more of an

e made from the craftwork of the take my great great grandfather

Botanic Avenue Belfast a Hr Breen building with

he manner of old English parshynd 17th centuries These traces it still remain - flowers leaves lith top hat and umbrella and

made up Shortly after this he

stlerock oultside Coleraine there d houses grouped together Each osts and doorway painted in difshycolours once one person had everyone followed bringing a to pre-war semis on an open windy

THE VISION OF PAOLO SOLERI Brian Grahame

The foremanwho told us he was doing a PhD in sociology threw his arms in the air and cursed bull I tell each new batch that comes out here net to do anything too strenuous for the first couple of days Look at the load that guy is trying to lift - and in this heat Excuse me

He rushed off leaving us to explore Arcosanti Paolo Soleris new city in the desert 70 miles north of Pheonix Our first view of the site had been a bit of a surprise There were no giant mega-structures no fantastic Hexahedrons or Arcoindians Just a small cluster of silt shycast structures still tinted by the desert soil used as formwork The colours and strange patterns and place a very primitive atmosphere Students were transshyporting rocks in wooden wheelbarrows that looked as if they would fall apart at any moment The only forms of mechanisation visible on the site were a small crane and a cement mixer It certainly hadnt the appearance of the site of an architectural concept requiring some of the most advanced technology in the world

A~ One walks around the site and talks to those working there one cant help but be fired by their determination and enthusiasm They believe that our civilisation is slowly disshyintegrating and that an alternative must be found if we are to survive Soleris theories provide one possible solution and they are prepared to work in conditions of extreme hardship to try and prove them right Tor Soleri the core of our civilisation is the city It is the institutions of the city and their relationship to the natural world which give Man his dignity and his life meaning The traditional city can no longer do this It has undergone a drastic explosion which has scattered its many parts over a wide area The physical structure can no longer support the complexity and interactions demanded of it Transportation communication servicing etc have all become inefficient The mechanical failure of city bas been partially responsible for the breakdown of its social structure Soleri believes that the value system on which we base our society is equally at fault We worship technology economics and materialism at the expense of a human philosophy The result is that city life has become sterile and has degenerated into a mere battle for survival

Soleris solution is to provide a new structure and a philosophy The two are combined into a total urban form which will embrace not only~ architecture and planning but also the social and cultural which contribute to a full life Soleri this form an Arcology a word coined to describe the fusion of archishytecture and ecology Physically an arcology is quite frightening It is a three-dimensional city stretching up to a mile high and with densities of 1000 or more personsacre Activities take place on many layers and have been arranged in a hierarchy At the centre which is open to the air are the public and civic spaces This is the cultural heart of the city Arranged around this are the comeshyrcial spaces and then the working areas In the outer wall or membrane of the arcology are the living units These have been ned so that each inhabitant has direct contact with Nature The units are grouped in neighbourhoods which are arranged in terraces facing into the centre of the city Thus each inhabitant has easy and direct access with the countryside on the outside and the city on the inside There are no cars Transportation is on foot Or by lifts or moving pavements Under each arcology is a fully automated proshyduction area - fully automated because Soleri believes that Man shOUld live in the open air and not underground All waste products are reshycycled and pollution is minimal if even present at all The countryside around an arcology is left free for farming and recreashytion

A picture emerges of a highly and very rigid structure How did arrive at this form He believes that the developshyment of the city can be compared to the evolution of a biological organism Starting from a few cells it has become increasin more complex as more and more funct ions place within it at the same time To work effiCiently a process of miniaturisation has taken place and the organism has arranged its components so that they are as close together as possible Cities shOUld be planned the same way They should contract and intensify enabling their various elements to interact and function more efficiently Once the city structure has been miniaturised the society within it can integrate into a more meaningshyful whole Arcology will foster co-operation and interdependence among its inhabitants They will become less agressive Private ownership will be abolished and with it the whole concept of the consumer society and status symbols A spiritual culture based on

L

a moral code will evolve This is Soleris main concern Arcologies are only the physical means by which a complete social revolution can be brought about People who criticise arcologies have usually failed to grasp this point They latch unto their tremendos size and high densities and talk of the dangers of overcrowding Soleri is not trying to force anyone to live tightly packed together in a concrete frame Neither is it a case of suddenly leaving your home in a traditional city and moving out to an arcology already built in the countryside by some government or spec

builder Arcologies will be built by the people who live in them They will determine their size shape and density and work out their own social structure Thus the city will be an expression of their own particular lifestyle

Its a picture of a utopian society Soleri appears to have created his own model of reality and then worked out a solution within which it will work His vision of the future is radically different from most predictions in that he sees it as being relatively stable Most observers would agree that we are in a very transient society Our lifestyle being continually modified by television and mass communications Fashions change at an alarming rate We are becoming more and more mobile Even in architecture the trend is towards adaptability and non-buildings which will meet any requirement In the face of all this how is it going to be possible to bring about the permanence on which an arCOLOgV

It is a very rigid system the it supports begins to modify and change

as it must surely do then life in an arcology would probably become even more chaotic and sterile than it is in a traditional city at the moment Once the social structure and the physical structure had become incompatible the inhabitants would have to move out and build a new arcology This is the weakest link in Solaris thesis If the city can be compared to a biological organism then surely it will continually modify and change its structUre to accomodate new ideas We do not have to acquire a new body every time we acquire new knowledge

I would suggest that arcology is of the transience which typifies our From

and other experiments with urban come a better understanding of what our

future cities will be like Perhaps Soleri appreciates this more than anyone else when he says that his designs are not to be intershypreted literally It is the ideas behind arcology which are important and the way Soleri has approached the problem He is saying that we cannot change our environment by simply changing the shape of our buildings A solution will require the integration of many disciplines into a single body If we can do this we will have taken the first 6ter towards the type of society which Soleri envisages - one based on and mutual respect rather than and antagonism

SUPPORTS CONCEPT IN HOUSING Harry Porter

The work of N Habraken and Stichting Architectron Research (SAR) has been going on for some years now at Eindhoven in Holland SAR with Habraken as Principal is an independent foundation set up with the backing of some 30 leading architectural offices to research into new possibilities for housing

What SAR proposes is a new housing process in which the dweller is involved and in which he can accept responsibility for his dwelling In the current mass-housing process all decisions about the dwelling are made by the so called specialistsshyplanners architects housing managers etc - and do not relate to individual requirements but to the mythical Mr Average Tenant To overcome this problem SAR introduces the concept of Support Structures and Detachable Units

The Support is a structure which provides the tenant with the possibility of making a dwelling It is concerned with all the community aspects of the dwelling ie it provides the necessary services access and structural elements - floors support walls etc and offers many possibilities to the tenant to make a dwelling to suit his particular requirements The Detachable Units are the space-dividing elements which allow the tenant to divide the Support to suit his particular needs at any stage of his t~nancy The division of the tenants ar~a in the Support is his own responsibility and it is envisaged that detachable units will become a mass produced factory element which the tenant can exchange for a more modern unit in the same way as he might acquire furniture The choice and position Q~ detachable units rests entirely with the tQAant

A design methodology to design Suppo~ and Detachable Units has been evolved ~y SAR and includes two main features

(1) It provides a means of evaluating the possibilities of use of a Support Structure w~thout specifying detailed floor plans using a system of zones and margins

(2) It allows the production of Detachable Units by the manufacturing industry that can fit

into any Support Structure design by proposing a modular co-ordination system with a 100 mm 200 mm grid This incorporates the basic module of 100 mm and the preferred international module of 300 mm

The introdu~tion of the Support Structures concept will involve a complete reorganisation of housing design and management and it is here that the problems arise with the unwillingness of the authorities to change their ways However the advantages of the concept to the authorities as well as to the dweller are enormous The individual can have a dwelling that suits his particular needs and adapts to his changing life style eg larger family new hobbies etc He can also keep his dwelling up to date by his detachable units for more modern ones advantages should also appeal to the Housing Authorities since the Support Structure being a long term investment can overcome the Dr~poundiEm5 of redevelopment and renovation As housing standards change then can be re-equipped without major changes or disruption of community life Allocation of houses would also be fairer since any size of family could be catered for in a support the economics of Support Structures must also be considered Since most time spent on houseshybuilding is during the finishing trades any saving here by factory production techniques must represent a reduction in costs Problems at the design stageshyas to what type of accommodation to provide would be overcome and the dilemma of the architect designing for a client (dweller) he does not know would not have to be faced The architects role would be that of designing for possibilities of use

The most disappointing aspect of SARs work is that after some seven or eight years developing the principles design methodolOgy pilot projects etc there is still no Support Structure Project that is in fact under construction or in use although developments in the near future are promised SAR being a foundation for research is not in a po~ition to develop Supports by itself but is trying to housing authorities and developshyers There has some interest shown by these groups but as stated above any change of role or management teChnique is always greeted with considershyable suspicion I feel that if the whole thing had been given a more political basis - by enlisting the help of housing associations and tenant groupsshymore progress could have been made

SAR sees its role as one of adviser and consult shyant to arChitects interested and certainly Habraken and his team are very keen to promote the concept and a considerable amount of time has been devoted to preparing an audio-visual course on Support Structure philosophy and design methodology

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect ot the work is the support that the concept has received from the manUfacturing industry The most important advances have been made by Bruyinzeel one of Hollands largest companies who have set up an imDressive research and development department at headquarters north of Amsterdam It seems signifi shycant that such a company based largely on commercial interests is prepared to invest so considerably in such a new venture Other companies too have become involved - in England Dupont Ltd and British Gypsum are also working on the production of detachable units in co-operation with PSSHAK in their work for the GLC

The real benefit of the Supports cannot be judged until structures have been and

actually liVe in them Judgment must be on more than just one or two and

observation made over a period of some to 10 years so that a true picture of how the dwellers use

Supports and Detachable Units can be built up Unless several different Support Structure

are developed then their is to become stereotyped and as

such What must be realised is that what SAR propose is not a building system and that in the design of the structure the architect is entirely free to decide on layout materials spans etc in the same way as he does t yo

In London the Support Structures concept has been developed by PSSHAK in a p ot project for the GLC at Stamford Hill f_ 1 approval for this scheme has been obtained and work will be starting shortly PSSHAK have been working within the confines of Parker Morris and the housing cost yardstick and although these limitations restrict the choice a little meaningful variations are still possible

Hany criticisms have been levelled at the concept mainly I feel because of a lack of understanding What must be realised is that a great deal of work still needs to be done with ment of the detachable units the conc~p~s potential benefits to the people who really tlatter - the dwellers Can it really be argv~u that a housing process which takes into aorvunt the tenant at a personal level and which rdn meet changing requirements and standards over a long period of time might not be a better process than that which exists tOday

Brett of Belfast Scott of Dublin Men of Buildings Arts and Parts Feelings feelings Georgian ceilings Landscape streetscape Cattlemarts

EO Evans

HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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HEARTrELT LETTER mOM A LUCKY () GRADUATE

I thougflt I vas a cynic but even I IlltlS disillusioned

When I look lor a job as an architect I expect to be told that I muat have experience that I cant have experience until I get some and that I cant get some until I have some that if I havent got the knack at leasi I must have the knack of lying about it I expect to be rejected because I dont intershyject with enough words like bargeboard prime cost sum and contractors negligence What I do not expect but which grieves me most is to be told what I was told yesterday

Tell us about yourself they said show us some of your schemes whereupon I opened myself up and was that which one shouldnt bebullbullbullbull honest Various things came out bullbullbullbull architects didnt always seem to put the right priorities first the schemes I had designed could well be improved upon nay I would do them quite differently now the values aimed for in them - what Jameson calls the Minerva Syndrome the striving after a strong visual idea coherence high originality etc above everything else - are things I would now question I see they said Would you like to leave the room for a few minutes

Come in have a seat Well Mr Thompson Its obvious to US that you are an intelligent young man and would quickly pick up what you lack in the way of experience However what we look for most in young prospective employees is keenness - which you seem to lack You dont seem to argue the case for your designs convincingly enough I dont think you have that flair - the ability to inject that indefinable something into a scheme which makes it architecture I think you lack the right kind of sensitivity However fill in this application form and well bear you in mind if something else turns up

rill in a form That ordeal which is difficult to apply oneself to at the best of times I could scarcely ~ let alone move But in the end you know Marje they were right And why Because onee they said that bullbullbullbull and they were no cheapskate oddjob men but a highly respected public sector groupbullbullbullbull once they said that I wasnt at all keen In fact if thats all there is to Architecture I want no part of it

Gerry Thanpson

BIG A GOES INTERNATIONAL

Dear friends I red in AD September some information about Big A Please can you send me a copyImvery intershyested because I study Architecture in the old way and 1m bored of it

Thank you

Hector A Patrucco Lima 120 Cordobe Argentina

THE INTER-liAR YEARS IN BELrAST Paul Larmour

British architecture between the wars does not get much mention in standard text books AVante-garde developments occurred on the continent while Britain for the most part pursued the classic tradition which became modified as the steel frame emerged Modern architecture was accepted only gradually

However some interesting designs and features appeared and are worthy of note This essay is not offered as a critical evaluation or as a history of the period Rather it is an attempt to briefly thrOw some light on what has usually been regarded as a dark age in British architecture

In the period just before the 1st World War most architecture was a continued development of

Renaissance-revival style largely in the direction of turther simplicity a result of ~odifications consequent upon new methods of construction

Many large buildings that were conceived before the war were carried out after the war according to the original designs with little mofification To traditional architects the war was just a break it effected no change in their architectural thought

Most large buildings erected in the early post-1st World War period and designed in Classical or Renaissance style were constructed with a steel frame and faced with stone or brick This essential difference from the Renaissance buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries is not apparent in their appearance Often there is the massive often somewhat heavy effect associated with the use of stone in Renaissance architecture with a particular affection for rusticated masonry An example in Belfast is the original Ulster MuseUll Stranmillis Road designed in 1911 by JC Wynne of Edin)urgh and built in the mid 20s

It was clearly the aim of traditional architects to perpetuate impressive and dignified Renaissance and Classic architecture and with such an airr it was impossible that they would create a vital and living art The steel frame construction was employed presumably not from architectural conviction but becaU5e it allowed some reduction of bulk and becaU5e of the commercial consideration that the steel frame is a much more rapid method of construcshytion Of course it is impossible to deny certain valuable architectural qualities in such work designing ability is displayed on the adaptation of the classic style to the building problem The types of building that were designed in the classic style were town-halls office blocks particularly banks and insurance offices muselDDs and department stores In such buildings of a partially ceremonial character~which were being designed in the traditional classical Renaissance style the steel frame on~y very graaually affected the appearance of the building in ])lany facades it determined the essential

There are iden~ifiable certain stages of the steel frames emergence - where it is faintly apparent where it becomes more and where the decorative character of the emanates mainly from the steel frame The transition is accompanied by elimination of ornament and a greater simplicity in the general effect

The first stage is demonstrated by Woolworths High Street designed in 1929 by Woolworths Construction Department of Liverpool The pilasters that form the prominent decorative feature of the facade have tgteeome simpler and horizontal bands appear between the windows in the recesses formed by the pilasters

Imperial Buildings Donegall Square East designed in 1935 by Kendrick Edwards shows only a faint suggestion of pilasters The facing of the horizontal stanchions has come forward and the gridiron pattern forms a decorative basis for the facade The overall design is still determined by classical symmetry and proportion Office premises at Opper Donegall Street designed in 1937 by Gamble Hayward and Maxwell has a facade that is partially an expression of the method of frame construction Renaissance and classical features )ave disappeared completely from the upright

Parallel with traditional work and with the avante-garde work of certain architects on the continent a certain brand of modernism had also grown up deriving from the Paris Exposition of Arts held in 1925 Nowadays this parallel style is referred to under the terms Art-Deco or Modeme or Jazz Age Modern It lacked a consistent programme as a design style and so has been virtually ignored by architectural historians although it gained a world-wide currency and a measure of popular success It incorporated many decorative features that would have been anathema to the Functionalists including zigzag surface patterns curved corner details elaborate ship-prow embellishments and the employment of materials with mirror surfaces quite often black finished The cumulative effect of this kind of modernism was negligible and for most serioU5 architects and critics of the 30s-it was considered not quite architecture

A moderne styling trend popular in America in the years 1925-35 was the step formor a type of pyramidal build-up of elements of the facade Popular sources were found in the stepped shape of Aztec temples often with a neo-Egyptian detailing The style was very fashionable lnd a popular one for buildings on promUtent corner sites In Belfast some huUdingfgt display SOU1ething of these characteristics

Sinclairs department store designed in 1935 by J Scott is a notable example of step-form with a jazzy pattern of the ceramic~ flanking the clock on the built-up parapet In the same year T Dalton Purdy designed additions to the Metropole Hotel (now furniture showrooms) occupying the corner where Upper Donegall Street and York Street meet This too has a raised parapet at the corner though less elaborate

The Bank of Ireland Buildings Royal Avenue designed in 1928 by McDonnell and Dixon of Dublin has its top storey recessed from the main facade but with a step-form corner clock tower as a climax The gilted ornamentation in the door and window panels is in Art Deco style The Donegall Chambers block (containing Cooks Travel Agency) Donegall Place is similarly stepped back at the uppermost level with a prominent central tower feature Being more bulky and being faced with grey stone it is less striking in appearance than Bank of Ireland Buildings The negative process of eliminating traditionl ctllf lt1n~ 0nnmcnt was often

the more positive process of searching expression The most obvious

subjects were revealed in the growing tendency to express structure and to give character by emphasisshy

the general form of the building Probably the reasons for the vertical emphasis of buildings

such as the Bank of Ireland were the influence of the steel structure the desire to give character by emphasising form and the formal influence of the American skyscraper

Although often ignored by critics and historians who have USUally attempted to assess their contribushytion in terms of the tenets of modern architecture and dismissed by hard-line functionalists as catchshypenny designers who produced buildings that were far from architecture cinema architects of the 30s gave characteristic style to their buildings and often achieved a happy marriage of interior and exterior By the 30s the old-time eclecticism in cinema-building (seen in the Clonard Picture House ralls Road of 1914) - was out and the moderne wasmiddotin~ The ABC cinema (formerly Ritz) designed in 1935 by Kemp and Tasker of London occupies an important corner site in Gt Victoria Street and has some of the typical elements of the famous Harry Weedons Odeolls designed during the 1934-39 Super Cinema Era There is the vertical tower feature with projecting vertical fin faience panel facing and long horizontals of banded tiles and of the entrance canopies sweeping along both street facades There is also Art Deco detailing in the plasters between the windoWamp on the Grosyenor Road facade At the GreYe Theatre jornlerlyIroxy Cineugta Shore Road there is a glass tower feature~and at the Astoria Upper Netownards Road the tiled lacade has a step-form build-up of the parapet Their architects succeeded in making the super cinema the temple of the 30s

Certain buildings display details characteristic of the period the Mountpottinger Cinema has a zigzag pattern on its coloured glass window above the entrance An interlacing zigzag pattern is seen on the frieze decoration on the facade of Burtons Store in Ann Street designed in 1932 by Burtons Architects Department of Leeds The coloured glazing of the Stranmillis Road shop Louise seems to relate to curved Art Deco motifs while the small upper panels of crystalline glazing of the ground-floor windows of the pavilion section of Bradbury Buildings seem to relate to the more spiky motifs This delightful building in Bradbury Place was designed as shops offices and living quarters by JD Gordon in 1932 In the same year Sam Stevenson and Sons designed the distinctive chromium decoration of State Buildings Arthur Street The source would appear to be the pavilions at Expo 25 in Paris after which all sorts of decorative fancies appeared The pretty decoration above the ground-floor shop doorways is very similar to gilded wrought iron grill work by the rrenchman Edgar Brandt In the foyer wood panelling has a mild zigzag pattern

Occasionally modernistic elements appeared on private houses - on the Malone Road one house has an expressionistic projecting triangular staircase window this is reminiscent of the staircase window of New Ways designed by Behrens in Northampton in 1926 Modernistic detailing appears on the buttressshye~ and on the apex of the facade of the Kings Hall L1sburn Road but these are the only concessions to styling in this powerful of engineers architecture designed in by Leitch and Partners of Glasgow Reinforced concrete was used for the wide span whilst maximum daylight was afforded by stepped clerestory glazing

In the general movement towards simplicity the plain wall WaS more and more apparent as an effective part of design and this was particularly so with the brick wall Botanic Primary School 1936 designed by RS Wilshere architect to Belfast Education Committee is interesting successfully combining plain surfaces of red brick with a long strip of high level glazing and tall corner glazin~ a carefully composed blend of Dudok and Bauhaus

Two works by John MacGeagh show very decisive USe of brick These are the llasonic Hall Crumlin Road of 1938 and the Sir William Whitla Hall Queens University Belfast University Road of 1939 quiet and refined buildings expressing scholarly taste Both consist of well disposed elements on areas of plain brick The straightforwardly simple lines of the columns of Botanic Primary School appear in the doorway of the Masonic Hall with only the slightest of embellishment This hall and the Whitla display sculpted stone panels and occasional decoration adornments becoming of the ceremonious nature of the buildings

A short distance from the Whitla is the David Keir Building on the Stranmillis Road This huge science block for Queens University Belfast was designed bV Lanchester and Lodge of London just before the ~d World War and so was not built until the 1950s It is a steel framed building essentially modern and utilitarian in purpose but clothed in neoshyGeorgian suavity The tall twin stair-towers are reminiscent of those of Herbert Rowses Liverpool Philharmonic Hall also finished in brick The deliberate and formal composition gives the Keir an imposing monumentality aided by bold expression of elements such as the stair-towers rather than by application of Classical paraphernalia

The years of peace closed with the as-yet unheeded plea in 1938by the Belfast architect Mr Denis ODHannafor a great national architectural movement He presented the idea that all the aims and findings of architects in the country ought to be pooled and directed to the designing of something that would correspond with the native spirit claiming that a modern architect was one who could see romance in his own age and in the future and whose spiritual experience is continually growing

House Malone Rd Doneg~

Botanic Primary Schoc

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

~------------------------------------~----------------------------------

• covers 2pdf
• scan1 1pdf
• First half 1pdf
• First half 2pdf
• First half 3pdf
• First half 4pdf
• First half 5pdf
• First half 6pdf
• First half 7pdf
• First half 8pdf
• Second Half 1pdf
• Second Half 2pdf
• Second Half 3pdf
• Second Half 4pdf
• Second Half 5pdf
• Second Half 6pdf
• Second Half 7pdf
• Second Half 8pdf
• Second Half 9pdf
• covers 1pdf

bull more positive process of searching

laquopression The most obvious aled in the growing tendency to and to give character by emphasisshyIll of the building Probably the le vertical emphasis of buildings 7 Ireland Were the influence of ~ the desire to give character by and the formal influence of the ~

red by critics and historians tempted to assess their contribushyIe tenets of modern architecture xrd-line functionalists as catchshy produced buildings that were far cinema architects of the 30s style to their buildings and IPPY marriage of interior and 10s the old-time eclecticism in seen in the Clonard Picture House J - was out and the moderne lnema (formerly Ritz) designed

Tasker of London occupies an Ite in Gt Victoria Street and ical elements of the famous Harry igned during the 1934-39 Super is the vertical tower feature with

fin faience panel facing and banded tiles and of the entrance

llong both street facades There Itailing in the plasters between Groayenor Road Iacade At rhe Ilerly lroxy Cinema Shore Road ~r ~eatureand ax the Astoria ~ad the tUed facade has a of the parapet Their archLtects

t the super cinema the temple of

Usplay details characteristic of mtpottinger Cinema has a zigzag ured glass window above the lacing zigzag pattern is seen on on on the facade of Burtons designed in 1932 by Burtons lent of Leeds The coloured lIlI1Iillis Road shop Louise seems d Art Deco motifs while the of crystalline glazing of the IS of the pavilion section of seem to relate to the more is delightful building in designed as shops offices and JD Gordon in 1932 In the mson and Sons designed the ~ decoration of State Buildings source would appear to be the 25 in Paris after which all fancies appeared The pretty le ground-floor shop doorways is ded wrought iron grill work by ~ Brandt In the foyer wood d zigzag pattern

istic elements appeared on I the Malone Road one house has projecting triangular staircase iniscent of the staircase window ~ed by Behrens in Northampton in detailing appears on the buttressshyof the facade of the Kings Hall hese are the only concessions to erful piece of engineers ned in 1933 by Leitch and

Reinforced concrete was used ~hilst maximum daylight was clerestory glazing

nent towards simplicity the plain ~re apparent as an effective part was particularly so with the

Primary School 1936 designed echitect to Belfast Education ~sting successfully combining ~d brick with a long strip of md tall corner glazing a lend of Dudok and Bauhaus

IcGeagh show very decisive use the Masonic Hall Crumlin Road

William iihitla lIall Queens University Road of 1939 rlldings expressing scholarly of well disposed elements on t The straightforwardly simple J of Botanic Primary School Iy of the Masonic Hall with only ellishment This hall and the ted stone panels and occasional ltG becoming of the ceremonious ngs

om the Whitla is the David Keir anmillis Road This huge science niversity Belfast was designed ~dge of London just before the 90 was not built until the 1950s 1 building essentially modern UrpOse but clothed in neoshyfhe tall twin stair-towers are ~ of Herbert Rowses Liverpool lso finished in brick The il composition gives the Keir tality sided by bold expression the stair-towers rather than

lassical paraphernalia

losed with the as-yet unheeded Belfast architect Mr Denis

it national architectural lted the idea that all the aims litects in the country ought to edto the designing of something ld with the native spirit rn architect was one who could ~ age and in the future and rience is continually growing

Sinclairs Store

Ulster Museum

House Malone Rd Donegall St Woolworths Grove Theatre ABC Cinema

Metropole Hotel Imperial House Donegall Chambers B of Ireland Buildinas

6 i l r

~

t

Botanic Primary School Sir W h11itla Eall Crumlin Rd t1asonic Hall

Burtons Store

Keir Building

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

the hypothesis of the

computer analysed model fl ts the critlcol path standardised

archetype perfec tty ~

nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

~------------------------------------~----------------------------------

• covers 2pdf
• scan1 1pdf
• First half 1pdf
• First half 2pdf
• First half 3pdf
• First half 4pdf
• First half 5pdf
• First half 6pdf
• First half 7pdf
• First half 8pdf
• Second Half 1pdf
• Second Half 2pdf
• Second Half 3pdf
• Second Half 4pdf
• Second Half 5pdf
• Second Half 6pdf
• Second Half 7pdf
• Second Half 8pdf
• Second Half 9pdf
• covers 1pdf

TURKISH TRAVELS Sam McBride

The end of Trinity Term 1971 found me with a Landshyrover of my own and vague notion of going to the Atlas Mountains the Sahara or some other suitably sun-drenched paradise

In conversation Robin Wylie mentioned archaeology in Turkey and the fact that two guys Allwyn Riddell and Gerry Hall intended going to an excavation in Eastern Turkey Over a few jars in Laverys we deshycided to join forces Allwyr had already worked on the site the prious year and had formed some ideas of how our skills could be readily applied I was lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Academic Council so with what seemed a minimum of fuss we found ourselves on the Le Havre ferry

ICEBAN

The dig was part of the Keban rescue operations instituted by the Turkish Government to survey and rescue as much as possible of the material which will be covered by the construction of a huge dam designed to supply the industries of Western Turkey with power The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara was allocated eight sites grouped in and around the village of Asvan Which lies on the banks of the Euphrates 40 kilometres NW of Elazia

Of these sites the largest is a kale or mound on the fringe of the modern village - a feature common to many of the villages of Anatolia Four of the sites have been excavated showing that settlement dates from the 14th century AD back to fifth or sixth millennia Periods of habitation overlap but do not run concurrently

THE ASVAN PROJECT

The project was initiated using these sites as guinea pigs in an attempt to meet the changing theories and methodology of modern archaeology We hoped to relate the work and results of interested disciplines using a stated theme as a cohesive eleshylent adopting the view that information is largely collected with pre-existing pre-conceived frameworks and only as such may it be pertinently and econaoishycally co-ordinated Our central theme was the study of mans occupationexploitation and manipUlation of the environment within the region We were concerned less with general laws of behaviour than with specishyfic instances - less with the why and more with the what and how

The collection of data came from two sources shyexcavation and from studies of the modern region In the latter we initiated most of the studies in Our first season by preparing maps of the region and plans of the village ( - all good Empire stuff with pink gin and pith hats) which we recorded basic data on geology communications irrigation landuses artefacts etc In the village we located houses gardens threshing floors and other items of specific interest

During the second season we cOlllllenced the task of identifying and recording the various systems operating within the various areas on a basic spatial hierarchy - house complex village region In one such study we attempted to relate the wealth and occupation of the family to the houses they own - a basic gauge of activities related to house form

THE VILLAGE

The village and its houses are typical of Anatolia and Hear Eastern peasant communities consisting of mud-brick adobe type houses blending into the landsshycape from which they are made The pattern of the village and its life seems almost biblical if not timeless

These simple houses built of stone mud and peeled logs only~ provide shelter against the heat of summer often 120 F and the snows of winter which may exceed 2 metres Planning is left entirely to the owners but though all are of the same materials and basic design features are the same these very points serve only to heighten their individuality There must be a moral somewhere

fURTHER TRAVELS

Apart from the usual drive across Turkey via Ankara (ayseri and Malatya I also took the opportunity to travel a little to the North and Eastern borders In company with three mad ornithologists and a freelance historian I journeyed over the Munzur Mountains to the Greek city of Trabzon established by Hellenistic traders on the Black Sea coast From there we trashyvelled north along the coast exploring the beautiful valleys filled with tea gardens hazel groves and trout streams and finally at the Russian border back into the mountains through the land of the Kurds to storied (ars From (ars we visited Ani an ancient city long deserted which straddles the Turko-Russian border Standiijg amongst the walls with their round cornered rectangular towers looking distinctly trendy one is left to gaze at the glories of the past reduced to rubble and to ponder on the very irreleshyvance of the present border From here our route lay to Mt Ararvat around Salty Lake Van through the Anti Taurus the Taurus and finally the SW coast I unfortunately was not able to get to Van but I can thoroughly recaomend the SW coast especially around Antalya and smaller towns like Cas This area must surely be amongst the next to fall to commercialisashytion so my advice is get there quick FINALLY

All these places and things require a much mare pictorial treatment and I hope to get together some slides for next term Meanwhile anyone intershyested in such escapades may like to know that there are some vacancies this summer in Israel

SURVIVAL - REVIVAL - DERIVAL j)wid Evans

In the early days of the bombing campaign the structure of the buildings was not substantially damaged all that happened was that the architecshyture got blown off and students could study exploded sections of canopy details and infil panels However with a growing expertise on the part of the bombers the buildings themselves began to suffer and many of our streets today have the gap-toothed look of someone who has been in a fight Surviving buildings have transposeat latticing over their windows as a precaution against flying glass which gives them a fuzzy look and the use of mirrored glass is a very disconshycerting Msgritte-like effect However the socialshyly responsible architect has to develop a differshyent approach and aesthetic in the design of new buildings Ideally windows should get narrower preferably slit-type and parapets raised and crenellated I can forsee the expedient of macshyhiciolated battlements and battered bases being employed to make the buildings further defensible together with a possible revival of moat drawshybridge and portcullis The best line of defence however lies in the siting of the building It should not be overlooked and it should have open space surrounding it landscaping should be reduced to a minimum any planting should be rest~_ rioted to ground cover as anything over 6 (Im sorry 150 rom) could be potentially dangerous Im told that a Georgian mansion in the West of Ireland in times gone by became hazardous to the occupants as snipers could easily pick them off through the large areas of window and the owners consequently modified the style of the house to Gothic with lancet windows which made them much safer The style of a building truly reflects the social climate our latest blocks of flats appear increasingly defensive and it looks as if We will develop a heavy long life aesthetic with a return to seige-mentality architecture and the revival of the Gothic revival

An early work by the master with no exterior plaster an odd aberration suggesting frustration or even the teething of Nash

Letter from The Chainnan CIf Toytown Estates (Regina Ent erprises )

Dear Big A I think the moment has arrived to revue Toytowns proud achievement in the battlefield of architectural progress We have not let the grass grow under our feet or anywhere else for that matter Sane of you may have been wondering what wetve been up to bearshying in mind our policy of absolute secrecy We have been relentlessly pursuing the removal of useshyless and even old buildings constituting architecshytural eyesores that litter our campus I would refer you to our proud record in this lield or rather desert by naming for example the Deaf and Dumb Institute a building which had nothing to say for itself anyway Our future plans include the elimination of other eyesores including the Old Library most nice buildings up the Malone Road the shanty town of Lennoxvale and the Chlorine ghetto In all honesty we must sadly confess to a few fai shylures in the region of Mount Charles and of course the church that got away However on a happier note we have managed to endow the city with such notable gems as the New Staff Club and the Computer in College Green By sensitive carscaping and autoshyplanting of areas around buildings (such as the base of the Old Library) we have helped to improve the visual character of our campus after all we must think rather of indeterminate building complexes which can expand and coalesce organically We have found it economically advantageous to follow a policy of moulder and demolish in that we buy up habitable property empty it board it up and sit back But to finish on an optimistic note I think we may congratulate ourselves upon our proud record of upshyholding the Universitys traditional role of champions of civilised values against mere materiashylism You~ and Yours UGC Fitzperfectly

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nowmiddotmiddot

THljYK5 iGOR ILL HAVE THE ASH) RIPPLE

LlO ~I

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LlO ~I

11 5300 lVH1

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