It has been a while now, in fact it has been a long while now since I spotted the words 'Foster & Partners' delicately painted on the black site boarding next to East Croydon train station. This large site perched directly next to the railway line has been idle for some time now and the residents of Croydon have seen plenty in the way of poetic master-plans desperately attempting to raise the areas architectural glory to that of Dubai. But only when I was confronted by the name Foster did I become concerned, not even the ridiculous idea of including good old french brasseries to the master-plan could have prepared me for this immense disappointment.
Norman Foster, probably the single most famous living British architect, has found success around the world designing buildings ranging from London's very own phallic giant that is the Swiss RE building to the sensitive Reichstag dome project in Berlin. So the real question, to be thoroughly honest, is what is an architect of Foster's stance and influence, who is currently gunning for permission to design and construct a new London airport in the Thames estuary doing proposing a master-plan for a locally confined area in South London?
It is hard to say for sure, but my guess is experimenting or simply an opportunity to gain more work. With Foster & Partners slaving away night and day on projects like London's new airport, which in reality is a master-plan of East & South-East London, can the practice really apply their best to this redevelopment of just East Croydon? Regrettably I do not think they can. I do not say this simply because Fosters' is a practice of large nature and influence and so is frequently critisised for its proposals of seemingly massive scale and aggressive impact, but more because unfortunately I believe the practice has out-grown this scale of project and consequently can no longer effectively communicate with the local community and social networks, which is so vital in designing a master-plan like that required at East Croydon.
tW
Norman Foster, probably the single most famous living British architect, has found success around the world designing buildings ranging from London's very own phallic giant that is the Swiss RE building to the sensitive Reichstag dome project in Berlin. So the real question, to be thoroughly honest, is what is an architect of Foster's stance and influence, who is currently gunning for permission to design and construct a new London airport in the Thames estuary doing proposing a master-plan for a locally confined area in South London?
It is hard to say for sure, but my guess is experimenting or simply an opportunity to gain more work. With Foster & Partners slaving away night and day on projects like London's new airport, which in reality is a master-plan of East & South-East London, can the practice really apply their best to this redevelopment of just East Croydon? Regrettably I do not think they can. I do not say this simply because Fosters' is a practice of large nature and influence and so is frequently critisised for its proposals of seemingly massive scale and aggressive impact, but more because unfortunately I believe the practice has out-grown this scale of project and consequently can no longer effectively communicate with the local community and social networks, which is so vital in designing a master-plan like that required at East Croydon.
tW
No comments:
Post a Comment