Tuesday 7 December 2010

Nine Elms

Contrary to what I say in the post below I don't think I did previously blog about the building (one of the buildings) knocked down to make way for the American Embassy in Nine Elms so...here it - or it's ghost, courtesy of out-of-date Streetview - is...






I think this building really deserves an architecturally literate critique, which I am not up to providing - although I feel it might have something to do with Jim Sterling...

3 comments:

  1. FYI

    Rival powers. The new HMSO complex at Nine Elms, looks like an architectural alternative to Battersea Power Station; Architects: Great Britain. Department of the Environment. Property Services Agency, landscape architect: John Kelsay
    Building design
    Title: Rival powers. The new HMSO complex at Nine Elms, looks like an architectural alternative to Battersea Power Station; Architects: Great Britain. Department of the Environment. Property Services Agency, landscape architect: John Kelsay.
    Author statement: Article by Deyan Sudjic
    Journal title: Building design
    Citation: no. 577, 1982 Jan 15, p. 14-15.
    Illustrations: Includes photos
    Language/summaries: Text in English.
    Subject: Office buildings: government: Great Britain: England: London: Wandsworth: HMSO
    Designer/Person subj: Kelsay, John
    Designer/Corp. subj: Great Britain. Department of the Environment. Property Services Agency
    Author: Sudjic, Deyan, 1952-

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  2. Thanks very much Merlin - I'm trying to track the article down and will include in a later post if I can turn it up.

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  3. What is lacking is a concept of the whole that is more than a diagram of development sites and reasonably good planning ideas, and the means by which individual projects can contribute to it rather than detract from it. Other cities – Berlin, Amsterdam, New York – manage this better but in Britain public bodies lack the confidence to lead. It is left to developers to act as surrogate mayors and city planners. Some, like Ballymore, might do it better than others, like Treasury Holdings, but in the end it's not their job.

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