The Eiffel Tower on the Google Cultural Institute

The latest offering from the wonderful innovators at the Google Cultural Institute has a certain "je ne sais quoi." Paris' most visited monument, The Eiffel Tower has been given the digitial treatment in an exciting new project which, (attention all architects!) educates on the monument's masterful construction.

Three online exhibits blend the Towers's history with an excellent collection of items including rare archival images, photographs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and even reproductions of the original architect's plans by Gustave Eiffel.

The first exhibit explores the birth of the Eiffel Tower while the second provides step-by-step details of the construction of the monument through a showcase of itemised photographs and sketches. A look at the Tower's inauguration and first few visitors lies in the third exhibit. Its social impact was immediately manifest by the visitors' willingness to climb 1710 steps to reach the top! The Google Street View Team have filmed 360-degree views of the monument's architecture and provide the panoramic views seen over Paris on making the ascent.

Constructed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was built as a tribute on the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution. In the same year, Paris held its Exposition Universelle, an exhibition for participating nations to showcase the advancements made in a heavily industrial age. The Tower's construction in two years, two months and five days is still hailed as an architectural achievement and an astonishing feat of French engineering. It remained the highest structure of its kind in the world for 40 years (a tile held today by the Burj Kalifa in Dubai) and continues to attract over 7 million visitors a year. As well as being France's most iconic symbol, this also makes it one of the world's most visited monuments!

We blogged about the marvellous Google Cultural Institute on the GSA Library Art & Design blog when it launched back in October last year. The virtual museum is amassing worldwide acclaim as it gathers momentum with the collections of some prestigious galleries and museums freely accessible to all. This latest project is tremendously exciting for bringing to life the architectural vision of Gustave Eiffel in the late nineteenth century and for the resources capabilities as a valuable educational resource! Vive la Google!

Plans to Demolish B-Listed Building For Commonwealth Development Plans

A 1907 board school designed by architects Thomson & Turnbull is under threat of demolition following plans submitted by Glasgow's Celtic Football Club to replace it with an expanded superstore. The club want to knock down the disused London Road Primary School as part of their plan to regenerate the area around the ground in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Included in the plans is the formation of a landscaped avenue paved with inscribed stones which would run from Dalmarnock Station past several key venues towards the football stadium. Due to financial budgets and time constraints, it seems unlikely the club's full plans could be realised before the start of the games, however the avenue is being heralded as a necessary development to make the area more attractive to the influx of visitors expected next year.

London Road Primary is understood to be Glasgow's sole remaining B-listed school and is a fine example of English Baroque with carved ornamental features and Venetian and circular windows in the pedimented end bays. Historic Scotland are bound to object to the proposed plans, however as the school has been unoccupied for several years, the case could well proceed on the basis of the building being structurally unsound. Councillors are in support of the club's plans, perceiving the school as an unnecessary eyesore making it even likelier that the building will eventually be razed. Indeed, it seems that the financial advantages to be gained from redevelopment in the East End will inevitably outweigh the costs of conserving some of its architecture.

Spomeniks - Lost Between Sculpture and Architecture

Jan Kempenaer's series of photographic works focusing on Spomeniks, the abstract, concrete monuments punctuating the boundaries of the countries once comprising the former Yugoslavia, is available to view here. Kampenaer's work is preoccupied with the 18th century Picturesque tradition and his photographs of these oddly incongruous structures consider the enforcement of societal rules upon the natural landscape. Out of the many hundreds of Spomeniks commissioned in the years following World War II, most have since been demolished or neglected, their location only discoverable through committed research or spontaneous encounter in the wooded, mountainous regions where they were constructed. The isolation of these once magnificent emblems of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia raises interesting questions around the function of architecture which could be thought of as ideologically defunct. Should the Spomeniks be confined to history or should their use be reconsidered, as perhaps Kempenaer's photographs intend.

We Made That! London's Architecture & Design Practice

We Made That is a young, London-based architecture and design studio that works in a broad range of contexts - predominantly delivering public works for community use. Interest has been growing in the firm for some time, not least since it scooped the 2011 Architecture Foundation-organised Three Mills contest to design a new play space next to the Olympic park in London. The contest's organisers praised the 'Wild Kingdom' project design for its combination of imaginative vision and down-to-earth approach, a sentiment echoed in the studio's mission to produce work that is at once considered, pragmatic and charming.

Co-founders Oliver Goodhall and Holly Lewis who studied at the Royal College of Art and the Bartlett School of Architecture, London respectively, place a great amount of importance on conservation and collaboration in their projects. These have included 'Beach Hut' on the Lincolnshire Coast and 'Unlimited Edition,' a series of speculative newspapers, complied using the snapshot contributions of artists, designers and community members living in the A11 postal area of London. Have a look here:

http://www.wemadethat.co.uk/index.html

Charles Jencks' Desert Island Discs

For those not able to attend the recent Charles Jencks' event at the Mitchell Library, it is still possible to listen to the famed architect in conversation with Kirsty Young as part of Radio 4's popular Desert Island Discs series. The forty-five minute run-through of Jencks' musical cherrypickings can be accessed on BBC iPlayer. The title of the show seems apt given Jencks' career in creating idyllic, and iconic, landscapes. Listen to the music that sculpted his career whilst speculating how he would have formed his own cosmic environment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01k9n81/Desert_Island_Discs_Charles_Jencks/

Shortlist of Architecture Firms for George Square Re-design

Six architecture firms have been shortlisted in the design competition to redevelop Glasgow's iconic George Square. The £15m project attracted 35 international submissions from far flung places including Australia and Sweden. The winner will be commissioned with the crucial task of redesigning Glasgow's most famed urban space. Given the scale of the proposed transformation, all statues and monuments with the exception of the Cenotaph could be removed, at least on a temporary basis. It is anticipated that the project will be carried out in two stages with the first stage being completed before the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Details of the finalists can be found at the link below. All six designs are expected to be displayed in the Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Design and Architecture, in early January.
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/exeres/72027756-AC38-4923-AC26-C53D4A696530,frameless.htm?NRMODE=Published

Charles Jencks Event at the Mitchell Library

One of architecture's most significant theorists Charles Jencks is to speak at the Mitchell Library next Saturday 1st December as part of Book Week Scotland. American-born Jencks is perhaps most well-known for his public landscape piece 'The Garden of Cosmic Speculation' near Dumfries as well as having helped to steer the design of Maggies Cancer Caring Centres.  He has written extensively on the topic of postmodernism, speculating on what this movement has meant for the field of architecture in its shift from modernist design. Many of these titles are held on the GSA catalogue if you wish to do some swotting around the event. Given Jencks' affinity with Scotland via his Scottish ancestry and time spent living in the country, this is likely to be an informative, yet personal account of a highly influential designer's career.

http://events.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/book-week-scotland-2012-charles-jencks

Power to the People

Historic Scotland recently held a conference to celebrate the achievements of Scottish architects and engineers in pioneering the generation of hydroelectricity in the UK. An associated free book can be downloaded from the Historic Scotland website which traces the development of the industry and assesses the contribution of a number of distinguished pre- and post-war architects. A gazetteer provides an overview of the existing infrastructure in Scotland.

The mother of all open space?

I'm just back from a trip to Berlin, where I visited the former Tempelhof Airport, which ceased operating in 2008. Described by Norman Foster as 'the mother of all modern airports', its vast runways have recently been turned into a quite astonishing public space. Curiously, official information about this unique site and its possible future - in English at least - is surprisingly hard to find, and coverage in the architectural press is virtually non-existent.

Community green

New research from CABE reveals that large areas of open space around social housing estates are not being used because of their poor quality. Its report, 'Community green', argues that there is a major opportunity to tackle inequality and improve health in inner cities. It highlights particular barriers to the use of public green space by black and minority ethnic people.

Link: http://www.cabe.org.uk/news/community-green

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