A global archive of independent reviews of everything happening from the beginning of the millennium
Read our Copyright Notice click here
For publication dates click here
The Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields
Part of Robert Adam's Admiralty Screen, Whitehall - an early commission contemporaneous with his work at Hatchlands
Inside the snail, Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, London School of Economics
Inside the new snail, KMSKA, Antwerp
*****
Portico coffering - Royal Exchange building
Christ Church Spitalfields
St Paul's Cathedral
The Pantheon, Paris
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
Brussels stock exchange
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp - KMSKA
WELCOME to the ARCHITECTURE pages of WORLD REVIEWS!
We have the following reviews in this section :
ARCH0012/1022 click here for:
ROYAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ANTWERP - THE BUILDING
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0011/1221 click here for:
PEOPLE NOT LAND
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0010/0419 click here for:
CITY REVISTED
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0009/1117 click here for:
THE RSA HOUSES
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0008/0916 click here for:
OSTERLEY PARK
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0007/0113 click here for:
MANIFESTO
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0006/1011 click here for:
HIERARCHY AND PROFESSIONALISM
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0005/PAOLOZZI click here for :
THE COMMISSIONING OF EDUARDO PAOLOZZI
AT TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD UNDERGROUND STATION
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0004/TRINITY click here for :
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE'S GREAT COURT
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0003/NEWMARKET click here for :
NEWMARKET RACECOURSE
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0002/WOOLNOTH click here for :
ST MARY WOOLNOTH
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
ARCH0001/LLOYDS click here for :
LLOYDS BUILDING, LONDON
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
Snailcase exiting the Courtauld galleries, Somerset House
The Courtauld, through the fortuitous positioning of its entrance, gets a great porte cochère
A fire not so long ago set itself at Sir William Chambers' Somerset House. Some saw the smoke from the railway bridges crossing the river. In the scheme of things, it was not the hardest to put out but you do not want fire taking hold in listed buildings.
From the other side of London, it did not sound as if it would rage. 18th century buildings of this type tend to be of solid masonry and unlikely to be stuffed with some of the prevelant types of wall insulation that can be flammable.
The possible exception is the roofs - because there the materials may have been renewed - and even so, unlike walls, the insulation there is unlikely to be flammable, at least in traditional pitched roofs because there it is likely to be mineral wool. This fire was located at roof level.
What really happened at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Glasgow School of Art 2018 fire though?
What happened there, in the first fire of 2014, was well documented as to its causes.
Of the 2018 fire Wikipedia simply says, despite 20 fire engines reaching the scene of such a famous building, with memory of fire so recent: 'As of January 2022 the cause of the fire was not known.'
However, the fire crews would have surmised causes quickly in order to escalate the response.
The fuel that drove a high temperature inferno of such intensity and completeness surely was not just wood, which was used extensively, but which frequently burns at lower temperatures and begins slower.
No such inferno took hold at Somerset House, in obvious contrast.
Low rise timber frame houses are now cheaper to build than traditional brick ones in Britain. They may not appear to be timber frame as external finishes, like brick, slips may have been applied to the elevations.
The difference between Britain and Scandinavia, where timber frame is traditional, is that flammable insulation is not used within them in Scandinavia.
Post-Grenfell we should not solely be asking ourselves are the finishes - like cladding - non-flammable but is flammable insulation being used within buildings?
The simplest solution is to prohibit any flammable elements within the insulation itself.
This is simple to do by introducing the prohibition within the Building Regulations.
It had been the intention in Michael Gove's time to retest all insulation post-Brexit and this would have included flammability tests. Is this still so?
Nearly all non-mineral wool insulation is imported.
The Glasgow fires did not result in loss of life.
Winter skating in the courtyard of Somerset House
*****
Some people thought the move to combi boilers was a mistake because it deprived homes of a hot water storage tank and the ability to switch off boilers for prolonged periods. Others thought the switch from U-value ratings for building materials to simplistic 'traffic light' ratings (alphabetic) of buildings was regressive. At least there is scope for difference of opinion unless we want a dangerous society to live in.
There are many routes to carbon neutral homes.
The safest, and probably best, stores for excess local production of solar energy are oversized hot water tanks.
Lithium ion batteries for local energy storage are not particularly compatible with timber frame homes.
A country like Britain does not control the supply chain for these batteries, either from an ethical sourcing of raw materials point of view or from a fire risk point of view. Some will always ignite and the larger the batteries the greater the risk should they catch light.
Lithium batteries used in the home are not manufactured to the standards necessary for the automobile industry.
Lithium ion batteries are not compatible with the types of insulation that would not qualify for inclusion in a CEN Euopean Standard or a BSI British Standard - and which would have to have gone for BBA certificate even to have got onto the market. (BBA certificates are often used for newer, innovative or experimental products).
We do not control the supply chain for most of them either though flammability (since they are made principally of crude oil derivatives) cannot be dismissed as a negligible risk.
Low density, thick masonry has superior thermal properties
You cannot keep oxygen away from materials in timber frame so flame has fuel of both kinds - oxygen and flammable materials.
If you want to stick to masonry, there is no need for flimsy foam or plastic insulation - which will be ever on the lookout for a source of oxygen in a fire - and lithium batteries can produce their own oxygen. Simply build with materials with the right U-values.
This will not go away and will generate its own narrative.
Stripping out materials costs an arm and a leg - as the tower blocks with Grenfell issues show. The costs to the country will be many times that of Raac and as much as asbestos. With foam, polystyrene and polyurethane, as there were with Raac, there are doubts as to longevity.
The disaster is not upon us but it soon will be, together with raised insurance premiums for retrofitted property.