Wednesday 6 March 2013

Blessed Un-relief


For about 20 years now the idea that a building can be one single entity has been fiercely resisted in town halls across the land and the 'millenium style' has ruled supreme - you know the thing - bit of brick here, bit of zinc there, few wooden planks etc etc.  Everything else seems a little 'un-relieved' by comparison.

The Warwick Road Estate is exactly the kind of thing that must give planning case officers and local councillors sleepless nights and, housing as it does for a long magnificent stretch along Warwick Road every garbage lorry owned by Kensington & Chelsea Council (ahem, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, excuse me), it also stinks like hell through that brick arabesque.
So I'm guessing it's not a popular structure - what with the stink of garbage, the whiff of the 1970s and the whole thing being so frighteningly unrelieved and all, which is maybe why it has been defaced with all those white trellises and railings on the upper floors - an act of revenge, a declaration of hate...if ever I saw one.

This spectacular double decker bridge, on the on the other hand, flying from one unrelieved block to the next, is clearly a work of divine inspiration.

If you're a modern architect working in this borough looking at RBKC's signage on this building will tell you everything you need to know about the reception your masterpiece is likely to get here.

Image below might be an artwork but I suspect it comes on when they're testing the generators.

Speaking of divine inspiration, and maybe slightly overstating the case but it's a cracker nevertheless...right opposite and completely unloved or cared for we have this:


 which seems much in the spirit of one of Gillespie Kidd & Coia's finest:

Our Lady of St. Francis School, Glasgow