A day in Rio

When I was invited to go to Rio de Janeiro for the day I parked my 'we must stop flying' conscience and jumped at the opportunity, the only downside being that I would have only arrived in São Paulo the previous day.  Picked up at 6.00 to drive to the delightful inner city airport where you were treated like a human being. 

We had arrived the previous day in thick fog and drove into town through a dystopian traffic- jammed nightmare; but today there was not a cloud in the sky; so flying out over central São Paulo, it was difficult to believe the number of tight packed towers that have sprung up like thistles do, everywhere, as far as the eye can see with remnants of the old city left in the interstices.

By contrast, flying into the fabulous inner city airport of Rio banking left so you see the whole city centre before you shudder to a halt before tipping into the water - I know it's been done before but so exciting.  Then off to Studio X in what's left of Praça Tiradentes; that is 'Teeth-pulling' in memory of an 18th century Brazilian dentist who led an insurrection against the Portuguese who cut his head cut off and displayed it there. Dentistry is what the City Heritage team under Washington Fajardo are trying to do to save the remaining facades even though many of the buildings behind have collapsed and then encouraging rebuilding behind. 

Praça Tiradentes

Studio X  is a collaboration between the City and Colombia University and run by a great local team - two architects and one cultural producer - who have inserted a steel and timber climbing frame of connected spaces to fit the original facades.  There was a great cycling exhibition and another on 6 projects in Chile.

Pedro Riviera, Junia Santa Rosa, me, Leticia Montes, Washington Fajardo, Nanda Eskes



My job was to explain the legacy of CABE, the work of the Cambridgeshire Quality Panel and the workings of Building for Life 12 to see to what extent they may offer clues for those who want to ramp up the quality of architecture and urban design in Brazil in general and to support the massive popular housing programme My House MyLife (this is a  brief description from 2 years ago). There was a good discussion and I hope this will kick something Brazilian off.  I went on to give a similar talk to two different audiences in São Paulo.

Maggie's Culture Crawl

At 7.30pm on Friday 21st September an enthusiastic team from Cullinan Studio (plus friends) set off from Victoria Embankment Gardens on the Maggie's Culture Crawl. 15 miles and 6 and a half hours later, they were resting their weary feet at the top of 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) - although some of us arrived there a bit later.

The team were exhausted, aching and not looking forward to the journey home at two in the morning, but were happy in the knowledge the walk was done and that they had helped make a difference for those suffering from, or affected by cancer. Thank you to all who sponsored the team who have raised £1,044 so far. You can still sponsor us at: http://www.justgiving.com/CullinanStudio

Some of the team take a break inside the Roca Gallery at Imperial Wharf 

A sign/sigh of relief knowing there is only one more mile to go

Highlights of the walk included a spin on the London Eye;

the Durbar Court in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where a refreshing cup of tea and biscuits was served up by Fortnum and Mason;

Maggie's West London, which is always a welcome stop on the Maggie's night hikes;

a wonderful array of biscuits at the Royal Geographical Society;

the 'apple trees' en route were a welcome treat;

and the spectacular view from the top of The Gherkin...

...some of us got there a little later than others.

Team members: Amy, Andrew, Ashley, Helen, John, Laith, Lucy, Roddy, Sarah and Sanaa.

Having taken part in the event previously, we were proud to be taking part for a fourth time, especially in celebration of Maggie's Newcastle which we completed in May this year.

Container Joy

17 years on the heaving waves, serving The Shipping Corporation of India, now transposed to a dune-side plot, ready for service for three, five, eight years? 

Pure volume of space, 8' wide, 8' high and 20' long, mute but resonant, endlessly adaptable yet utterly fixed.

Double doors at one end open wide to the world, a thick back wall of servant space. Within the bounding steel, no fixings, a temporary and contingent fitting out.

Secure, weather-tightness assured, perfect to store materials as found or as planned, to sort and rack, to prefabricate and transform into a new cabin.

In short, a sheddist's delight!

Are international sporting events unsustainable?

Robin Nicholson writes for Building Magazine:

"Holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should make us question the carbon cost of sport.

The football season has begun again - although, being an Arsenal supporter, things didn't start well. While, as a season ticket holder, entering the lower tier of the stadium never fails to thrill, as an architect I love the way this 60,000-seater has been elegantly inserted into the tight Victorian urban fabric so it is almost invisible from the Holloway Road, with good public transport links. And it was built on time and on budget without any fuss.

Sustainability at Arsenal is more about finance and performance than carbon or energy and I don't lose much sleep about the relatively few fans who fly in from around the globe to watch the Gunners. But bells began to ring when FA chairman Greg Dyke recently challenged the viability of the summer 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Arup will have brought all their brilliance to bear on the design of the five air-conditioned stadiums planned to allow the players and fans some comfort when the local temperature in July can exceed 50 degrees centigrade. Money is clearly not a problem in Qatar but with up to 70% of all energy delivered to air-conditioned buildings being used to power the air-con, how sustainable can such stadiums be? And how will the spaces between the buildings work so spectators, with or without tickets, can mill around in what for many will be unaccustomed heat?

Buildings are only part of the carbon footprint - the spectators have to get there too. I love my sport as much as anyone but I have long wondered about the carbon cost of flying to international sporting events, as we will go to enormous lengths to see Usain Bolt run or our teams play abroad. Many flew into London for the Olympics but how many more will be flying to the next World Cup - 2014 in Brazil, 2018 in Russia and 2022 in wherever. Just what will the carbon price of the 2022 World Cup be if Greg Dyke doesn't persuade Fifa to move it to another country?"