Tuesday 25 December 2012

christmas medley

First off, many thanks to Simon & Tina who hosted us so generously on the 2nd Dec at Montpelier Row - the house was an absolute gem, skillfully restored to it's full '70s glory, and the post-match pub wasn't bad either.  Will add a selection of our best photos to the blog in the new year.

Became hooked into Professional Masterchef in the weeks leading up to Christmas and couldn't help but notice some parallels between Heston Blumental's 'Fat Duck' (to which the finalists were seconded as part of their battle-royale) and the post industrial architectural paradigm....insomuch as the kitchen was almost completely de-skilled in any traditional sense - squeezing,tweezing and freezing being it's core activities - with all the fun creative stuff happening behind Heston's big desk in the R&D department. 

Whilst I'm still prepared to swallow this as the charicature of an architectural modus operandi, I didn't really like to see it happening to my dinner plus there was the irony, in this presentation obsessed world, of a dining room that looked like it might have had a former life as the Bray Mandalay Oriental.


Leo's been to Margate to see Chipperfield...which she coined 'brutal in its way'.  I'm not so sure, but would like to hear more.
She also brought me this rather delicate-yet-brutish facade...for which we salute her!