Coffee in the Square

Orchestra Seats

Danièle Thompson's new film, which opened in London this week is a charming evocation of life in a civilised city like Paris.  Though at one point one of the protagonists says that this central quarter is not typical.  A young girls from the provinces comes to work in a street cafe which is next door to a gallery, a concert hall and a theatre.  The actors, the pianist and the galleriestas all meet in the cafe and get to know the girl.  The cafe as a focus for the social life of the city is an excellent example.  The head waiter in the cafe says, "Everyone comes in here - the rich and the poor - they can all afford a cup of coffee."

Lets hear it for the Beeb!

Last night we wandered into the lobby of Broadcasting House on the way from the pub to Pizza Express.  Paul - down from Warrington - wanted to see inside.  Now I don't know how many national broadcasting stations you can actually get into - but at 9.30 on a wet evening the staff were really welcoming and didn't try to shoo us out. 
Broadcasting House is an excellent building and the lobby, which has been recently done up is a tribute to 30's architecture. There is an Eric Gill sculpture above the desk entitled Sower, a man broadcasting seed. There is an inscription below - "Deus incrementum dat" (God giveth the increase, Corinthians, Chapter 3, verse 7).  That's a great motto for broadcasting - remembering that we are not masters of the success of our broadcasting outputs.  The idea that the BBC might become a focus for activity was part of the original re-design.  A new "square" is being constructed which is supposed to have cafes and an exhibition, as well as the BBC bookshops, but I wonder whether it will happen. (Security is paramount in London these days) There is also the minor point that the "Square" on the right in the photo, will be overshadowed by the original building putting it in shade most of the day.

© Janet Hall/RIBA Library Photographs Collection

Working in a town or a theme park - comparing Chiswick Park with Chiswick Mall

A chance visit to Chiswick gave me the opportunity to visit Chiswick Park (constructed 2002) and compare it with Voysey's Sanderson factory, now a workspace and built exactly 100 years earlier in 1902. Chiswick Park is a slick modern development built on brown land in a corner between three railway lines.  Thus it is excellently connected to transportation routes.  However the design, clever though it is, is predicated on the idea that everyone will come to work by car. The scheme is surrounded by parking and the basements are all garages, which have the effect of cutting off the buildings from their hinterland. There is always the annoying chicken and egg situation that developers won't build without parking, employers are scared to buy offices without parking and so employees never get to be encouraged to come to work by public transport here.  The pseudo green iconography of brise soleil and a pond, doesn't convince me.  It's the daily travel to work that really eats up carbon in these offices.  Also because the "estate" (for that's what it is ) is unifunctional it becomes a wasteland at weekends and in the evening.
The architecture and the landscaping are of a high enough quality but I can't help feeling that its cosmetic.  The only lip service that the design pays to its inner London location is to squash up the landscape so that it becomes a mere corridor between the blocks.  It takes a hoard of security guards and CCTV to keep this all going.  The website offers all sorts of fun.  There is a health club and a coffee bar as well as fireworks and goose herding.  What employer can't see that all this is  just a Disney-land version of real life which is available in its real incarnation ten minutes WALK up the road in Chiswick Mall!
Its the isolationary premise that I particularly object to.  I was stopped as I entered the park and CCTV's followed me everywhere. 

By comparison the Voysey building designed for the Sanderson factory and adjacent to the Barley Mow workspaces in Chiswick Mall is a real urban office space.  As far as I can see there is no car parking here at all - and even deliveries have to run the gauntlet of a tiny service road. There is no expensive manicured lawn - but this is right next door to Chiswick Park, no pond and I expect that the insulation is lower.  But people seem to manage to walk to work here and the communal activities like access to health clubs, cafe's ( no no goose herding here!) are public so anyone can join in and the profits from these activities are shared more widely with the community.

Ironically the architecture is rather similar. Both buildings are about the same scale of floor heights with a distinctive lower level and a distinctive roof-line.  Both were designed to provide open floor-plates and both have a very well defined service core.  Both also took advantage of modern scientific advances.  Architects have always loved the technology!
I can't help feeling that the Voysey building has already demonstrated its greater sustainability.  But how do we persuade the hard nosed developer that this is the better option?

Left:
Plan of Chiswick Park - note enhanced colouring of the pond!

Below:
Voyseys original drawing.  The building remains very similar today. 
 

Riding the Green Wave

A couple of experiences last week, one exhilarating and one demoralising has got me thinking about queuing theory in urban design.  Today is the start of the road pricing extension, which I hope works, though I am not too pleased about the prospect of seeing a lot more Chelsea Tractors in my part of Westminster.  When the experiment started a few years ago congestion in my part of town - I live within the old C zone - went down by 30% and for a brief an enjoyable moment I considered starting to cycle around town again!  The streets around here (Fitzrovia) became quite quiet and we even sent a petition to Westminster Council asking them to consider making a home-zone around here.  But of course they refused to countenance such a lefty idea. 
However a little known aspect of the congestion charging has been the fact that Transport for London has changed all the traffic lights around the edge - so that traffic flows more easily round the perimeter routes.  Euston Road, which bounds the congestion zone to the North has (I'm sure of it) been converted to a green wave.  On Friday I had the pleasure of riding that wave all the way along to the A40.  I don't know how they do it, but if you go at about 30 miles an hour along the road you are likely to receive green lights all the way along.  Now children, this does not work during times of congestion and even though some people say that it also works at 60 miles an hour I would not risk the ticket or the injury!  But at 30 miles an hour on a relatively clear day it is one of the small pleasures of London life!
The unpleasant experience of queuing theory was waiting in the freezing cold for my 10.00am appointment until 12.30pm outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square.  I got so angry at one point my mind went back to the anti-Vietnam riots in the square in the sixties.  I was sorely tempted to start one - but I was wearing my high heels so thought better of it and just  made polite conversation with my fellow queue members.  How is it that one of the so-called most civilized nations of the world have such trouble administering a queue that happens the same way every day?  If the 10.00am appointments don't really need to get there until 12.30 why not call it a 12.30 appointment? 
So for anyone who has the misfortune to need an American visa here are my top tips.
1. Book an appointment a few days ahead because the prelims take time.  e.g. you will need a 50mm square picture and to receive fill out , print out and return by email a form from the embassy.
2. Take the 8.00am appointment if at all possible and arrive at 7.30 - thus eliminating all queuing (I suppose)
3. Failing that arrive at the appointed time - make sure the man in the yellow jacket has ticked you off his list - and then toodle off to Oxford Street for a bit of shopping, meet your friends for coffee or have your hair done.
4. However resist all temptations to purchase anything as they don't let in mobile phones, liquids and all your metalwork (including belt buckles) has to be visible in a plastic bag.  There were a lot of embarrassed men in the queue with decidedly drooping drawers!
5. Check and double check that you have everything with you, including passport, photo, copy of form, copy of appointment letter, receipt for visa fee, letter from employer saying they want you to come back and any other salient proofs required.  However I didn't have a letter from my employer (me!) but they let me in anyway.
In true British fashion my queue was good humoured and I'm sure that people make friends for life sometimes.  But it sure is a bad reflection on the lack of organisation or the lack of care on the part of such a powerful nation.  if you really don't want to queue take a stick and gray your hair ......... or better still borrow a wheelchair from somewhere! 
However while we are talking about queuing there are times when bunching people up is just the right approach from an urban design point of view! Take for example the shopping street.  In most cases people tend to design these streets too wide but there is nothing more off-putting than a windy street scene.  In my view it is often the narrower the better.  For example St Christopher's Place located just off London's Oxford Street has an opening that must be less than a meter wide, but it is extremely popular and its little square at the back is always packed at all times of the year with people enjoying the quite and sheltered street life that it offers.  Dublin (above) is also a case in point, its narrow side streets, about 2.5m wide at most are far more attractive than its main shopping streets, and the better shops have tended to congregate in these lanes.

Of Art and Caffs

A busy day yesterday!  I went down to the South London Art Gallery, one of my favourites in London to see the John Armleder show entitled "About Nothing".   He was a member of the Fluxus Group, but don't let that put you off! This showcases his works on paper and is really a feast for the eye.  I was at first worried about the Royal Academy Style hanging, but as you view the show it does grow on you.  It works because so much of the show is about repetition, and the impossibility of repetition.  The wallpaper, made from 1000 images of unique snowflakes forms a backdrop.  The work itself often relies upon the serendipity of chance, the shape formed by an ink "puddle", a few chance marks on paper or the juxtaposition of marks on objects such as record sleeves or collages.
I could and possibly should have spent three hours in the show - but next time I shall take a step ladder.  I've enclosed a set of images.

The other reason that I went down to South London was to re-visit a great caff there called Tadim, which is located at 41 Church St Camberwell SE5 just down the road from the gallery. It is a smoky and colourful cafe near to Camberwell School of Art. So it's frequented by a motley collection of students and locals. The by line 'the healthy way to eat' can not quite be believed - all that Baklava and Boreci - but my veg stew and salad seemed restrained enough. Vegetarians beware! The stocks used are meaty I reckon but the menu does specify which dishes are guaranteed meat free. Murals of Turkey's tourist spots and woven tablecloths complete the ethnic feel. Definitely a 'caff' but in the multi ethnic way that is unique to South London. An original!

South London Art gallery have got together with other local galleries to publish a rather good guide Art South Central which gives information about the galleries but also travel info and other nice things to do in the area.  I got to hear about the Tadim Cafe from their publication first.  Its a great idea and particularly good for arts and cultural organisations to plug themselves into other activities cultural, leisure and gastronomic, within an area.

Finally I rolled up at Elephant and Castle - which is due to be refurbished or redeveloped and certainly needs it.  I was off to a lecture at South Bank University Lepu (Local Economy Policy Unit) by Andrew Carter of Rocket Science about urban economics.  His premise is that regeneration areas are undervalued and in fact offer the market - generally the development market - larger returns because of the greater potential for improvement.  There ensued a lively debate about how that market uplift could be shared amongst people living in the area.  The view seemed to be that so often regeneration became gentrification.
I instigated a discussion about economic indicators on the micro scale in a totally selfish way to further my research on the matter.  Not much positive advice, but those who were involved in Economic Regeneration in the UK did volunteer that their role and their outputs were ill defined by their political or government masters.
These debates occur on the second Tuesday of each month and if this one is anything to go by I can recommend them. 
The university campus is being intensified, smaller buildings are being pulled down to make way for five to eight storey teaching blocks.  The lack of public open space is marked, but not oppressive.  This is an urban site.   Hopefully the external environment will be improved once the Elephant gets redeveloped.  There is that massive roundabout for a start! David Walburn, director of Lepu remarked in his introduction on the scarcity of shops around the place - and there are certainly no nice caffs here (as far as I found), though the South Bank Uni could become the major cultural/intellectual focus for the Elephant and Castle

The Selfishness of People -Road Pricing

So Downing Street's website is jammed with people complaining about road pricing.  Being a citizen of London and subject to central London's congestion charge - I really can't see what all the bother is about.  True, we in London have excellent public transport and so we are used to leaving our cars at home and using the bus/tube/train.  Also the standard of living in London is high so we can afford public transport which is admittedly costlier than driving.  And here is the nub of the issue.  Drivers currently don't pay the price of their road use or their environmental impact.  Other modes of transport are economically incomparable.  If we want a brighter future we should learn that we all have to make sacrifices in order to achieve it.  This rush to complain of road pricing is just selfishness.
People who live in the countryside should not despair.  These country roads are not overcrowded and the environmental impact of their use is not great.  A short trip to a transport hub should be the order of the day. At the same time the costs associated with smaller, greener cars should be less than the gas guzzlers.  (Benefiting the less well off)
Remember you may have a car now and enjoy its use.  But we will all grow old and at some stage you will be forced to give up driving.  How then will you get around?
I have received a positive response from Westminster Councillor Harvey Marshall, who agrees with me about pedestrians raw deal in Westminster. See my post Feb 9th Westminster's Folly  Unfortunately he tells me he is no longer my councillor and that Cavendish Square is neither in my or his ward - so I suppose we are back to square one.  No news from the New West End Company or the Developers!

Westminster's Folly

Parking in central London can be expensive and a drag.  But I have nothing against small green cars and even these need somewhere to park.  So underground car parks like the one in Cavendish Square just behind John Lewis and Oxford Street should provide a model for other developments.  This was rather miraculously built after the war, managing to maintain the fine Plain trees which now sit on top of the spiral car park.  (There is a similar car park in Russel Square which is one of the oldest squares in London - but that is a double spiral!).  Even on a gloomy day like today Cavendish Square provided a green respite from central London's hustle and bustle.

However the car park itself is gloomy and needs sprucing.  And the square, which is potentially beautiful, is cut off for pedestrians by roads on all sides.  I think that Westminster councillors must hate pedestrians.  They certainly have a fear of pedestrianisation and here the roads and footways have been configured so that there is NO WAY to access the gardens except by taking your life in your hands across traffic lanes.  There are no pedestrian crossing or lights. 
Yet the roads around here are only local distributor roads.  There is no need for traffic around here to go fast!
The New West End Company have obviously recognised the problem and in 2005 they conjured up a scheme with adjoining landowners Marchday Group PLC who are the freeholders of the square.  But since what is reported to have been a positive consultation nothing more has been heard.
It is simple schemes and partnerships like this could progressively improve central London, but Westminster, one of the richest of London Boroughs drags its feet.
What New West End Company realises, and what Westminster Councillors should understand is that Oxford Street is losing out to the dead - but admittedly convenient - hand  of places like Bluewater.  Central London has no God-given right to remain central.  The website gives no credits to the designers of the proposals.  (They probably were not paid anything!)

I'm sending this article to New West End Company and to my councillor - I am a Westminster ratepayer.  So we'll see what response we get.  (If any)

Living with Rats

As I parked my car in the street the other night a humongous rat scuttled out from under the next door car and headed for the next door basement.  Rentokil tell me that my street - because it has lots of restaurants is overwhelmed with them.  "But don't worry about the rats", he said, "You should see the cockroaches"!
All this talk of rodents is due to the fact that this weblog has received a very kind review from Julian Dobson at his humourously named site: Living With Rats.  He is the editor of NewStart magazine, which is one of the few publications around to really get to grips with regeneration in all its complexity.
Catch his 18th December blog about the West Bromwich Cultural Castle which after "£49m of public and lottery money (or £53m, depending on who you talk to) was poured into it" has gone into liquidation.  Surprise surprise.  I could have told you it would not work.  I was subjected to an all singing all dancing Powerpoint about four years ago by the irrepressible  Sylvia King.  And I can remember being very impressed with the graphics, but very confused by how the whole thing would work.  Clearly it was unsustainable from the outset.  It all goes back to my current view that the economics of regeneration are not well understood in this country and places like West Bromwich just didn't really know why they were building this monster.   
Lets hope a new life can be found for it - perhaps a super casino in the next round?  Don't get me started on that one.  Suffice it to say If I were a resident of East Manchester I would not be pleased to be considered as if I were a Navajo Indian on a desert reservation!

London Bed and Breakfast

 
Good B&B in central London are hard to find.  Part of the reason is that London Tourism which is run by the GLA have no system to advertise or manage B&B leaving it all to the agencies.  How does someone know where to find a good one?  Well though I say it myself this - our B&B - can not be beaten.  Its situated ringht in the heart of London 5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus.  We have just one big room with en suite facilities.  Delicious organic breakfasts are served in your room.  Free internet access and Sky TV.  If you want to book go to London B&B who are our agents and mention that you have seen this site.  Its reference A38.

Supermarket Packaging

Further to my January 15th post I have to report no good news from M&S, they seem to be incapable of responding personally to a query and I keep getting sent back to their press release, which does not really answer the question.  Is wrapping food in recycleable packaging enough?  However since M&S came out with their agenda, Asda has now come out with a plan to reduce packaging by 25% by going back to 1950's style display.  Its extroadinary isn't it?  We have to go back to go forward.  Anyway I salute this initiative.  Asda, part of the all pervasive Wall-Mart group, is not my favourite bunny on the block, nor do they have a good record on the environment - so its interesting to see that they seem to have come up with quite an interesting initiative.  (Though it could be band-wagon jumping)  The Independaqnt has also launched an in itiative to reduce waste under the banner Campaign Against Waste so I know I'm not alone.