The Highlands

[Butterfield]

Nice photos. I've been to Luss each time I've been on the way to the Fort William area as it's a nice place to stop off at after Glasgow. It's nice for a stroll around the village and down to the shore of Loch Lomond - although there were clouds of midges on the beach last time I went! I always think of Luss as the gateway to the Highlands as it's where you first start to see mountains, even if they aren't quite officially in the Highlands.

[maccoinnich]

Speaking of Luss, stv had their top 30 best loved shows countdown yesterday. There were protests in George Square when they canceled High Road!

[Monkey9000]

Dubai ruler gets go-ahead for lavish Highlands lodge
Councillors reject planners' advice that proposed 16-bedroom building overlooking Loch Duich would be an eyesore

The billionaire ruler of Dubai has been given permission to build a new 16-bedroom holiday home in the Highlands after councillors rejected official advice that the proposed design was an eyesore best suited to a business park... continues here

Seems again its politics before planning.

[maccoinnich]

Huh, first I'd heard of this. Anyone know who the architects are?

Some friends of mine have worked for him, doing cleaning and housework etc. They get paid a fortune for it. To the extent that their boyfriends jokingly question them about what it is that they do...

[belle]

It's by the Johns Practice in Newmarket. You can read the planner's report and view the drawings here.

[maccoinnich]

Wow. I just skim read the report. The planners couldn't really have more damning, could they? And yet, the local councilors roll over.

[maccoinnich]

I'll probably upset Gweilo with this comment, but every time I see something done by the New Urbanists, I always think that I'd be able to take them so much more seriously if they stopped denying the presence of the last 100 years. From Architecture Scotland:

Tornagrain born again
16 Jan 2009



A planned new town at Tornagrain near Inverness could welcome some 5,000 new homes, five schools and parkland to cater for the expansion of Europe's fastest growing city.

Located on the A96 corridor close to the airport between Inverness and Nairn the town enjoys excellent transport links.

The vision is being financed by Moray Estates with planning consultant Andres Duany taking the design helm.

Duany advocates a return to traditional town planning, moving away from sprawling suburbs with few facilities. As such the town will be built to a high density with a walkable environment and plentiful shops and services.

Highland Council are in receipt of a planning application for the site which, if approved, could see construction commence in 2013.

Tornagrain Website.

[maccoinnich]

And, argh, I'm actually kind of angry about this. It is possible to design in such a way that takes account of the local vernacular and traditions in buildings, without slavishly pretending to emulate it. Here's a project in Plockton for Skye & Lochalsh Housing Association—why is it that Housing Associations are doing the best building in Scotland over the last few years?—due to start construction any day now:



And another couple of buildings in the same village, by the same architect, for the same client. Completed last year:

[IMG]http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/plockton_houses_ruraldesign200508_1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/plockton_houses_ruraldesign200508_3.jpg[/IMG]

And sadly delayed until 2010, but if the Highland Housing Fair/Scottish Housing Expo ever goes ahead, I'll be very happy:







...but no, we have to put up with the Duany Plater-Zyberk shite.

[belle]

astragal a-go-go!
Cadell2 seem to manage rural settlment plans as well without resorting to new urbanist aesthetic (I know, I know there is no set aesthetic, it's just a coincidence that its always pastche). To be fair, the timber clad crescent with a copper roof proposed could be interesting.....

[gweilo]

Groan.... ok I know I'm rising to the bait but I jeez I just can't help myself.

We've spoken about this before maccoinnich and you know my opinion on the matter i.e. that collectively the New Urbanists really need to do some decent PR in the UK.

Coming over here and preaching about the 64 things UK architects gets wrong in building new developments ain't gonna help cause it looks so holier than thou and gets peoples backs up.

New Urbanism is, officially, style neutral however it is a broad church and one that is still debating the issue of style with some quite vocal pro and anti camps. However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.

The New Urbanists problem is that all one ever sees of it in the UK is either images from the Truman show, half of which was a Hollywood stage set, selective highlights of Seaside that helpfully miss out any building that isn't vaguely classical, and Kentlands in Maryland. Consequently UK architects get a very stereotyped view of it from the architectural media. But... the style of a New Urbanist community can and does vary. It's just seems to be easier for Londoncentric journalists to keep lazily peddling these stereotypes as presumably it suits their agenda.

If they bothered to look a bit further they might realise that the Truman Show image is not the whole story.

For instance the design code for Kentlands came about through discussions with a largely conservative community in the surrounding hinterland hence the style or language they opted for there. That is their choice.

However if one were to go west (pardon pun) one would find that tastes change and people can be, and are, more adventerous.

Check out this new town near Denver called Prospect which was masterplanned by Duany Plater-Zyberk and had a more contemporary design code because that's what the locals wanted.

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/...8/nu/prospect/

OK the individual buildings can be hit and miss but is it not significantly better than your typical developer led suburban development here with minimal architect involvement? Additionally many of the lots and houses within this new town were specifically designed for their owners and the comissions went to a pool of young architects. What a better way to get a break and a leg up for up and coming talent? Is anyone aware of any UK developers who would be quite so adventerous? Who gets the better deal at the end of the day? Our approach or this? So why is it that the architectural press in the UK can't report on stuff like this?

And...Duany Plater-Zyberk don't design buildings. They do masterplans not architecture!!!

Finally having had the pleasure of working with both Caddell2 and DPZ I'd chose DPZ any day as they are a lot more fun.

[maccoinnich]

Honestly, I wasn't trying to you annoy with this.

But, I'm not optimistic about Tornagrain.

Yes, any objective reading of the New Urbanist Manifesto would say that at the most all does is maybe nudge towards the vernacular. And yeah, of course even Seaside has the building by Steven Holl (but then Leon Krier accuses that building of ruining the whole town.) And yes, the Colorodo scheme you link is better than the average new housing in Scotland, and some of it actually looks pretty sophisticated.

But back to Tornagrain specifically - if they are going to be style neutral there, why does the published imagery so specifically evoke the Poundbury? Now, the Highland Housing Fair may well wind up being a bit of an architectural zoo, but then I guess there's no way to avoid that, when the brief calls on everyone to be innovative. If Tornagrain winds up being a town that at least avoids the urban planning mistakes of the 21st century, while including buildings by architects as intesting as, say, NORD, Graeme Massie, Rural Design, Brennan and Wilson, StudioKAP... all while achieving a modicum of visual continuity... I won't say a bad thing against it again.

But what reason have I to be optimistic?

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by gweilo

However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.

And just to take this way off topic, but for what it's worth, I don't disagree. I'm vaguely considering moving to Portland, Oregon, and I've spent far too much time recently reading and reminiscing about it online. It's a wonderful city, and that's in large part due to the quality of the planning. They have an expanding regional light rail system, and dense bus network. The blocks are a short 200'x200'. New developments in downtown, or large apartment blocks anywhere, are required to have ground floor retail. Much of the city is specifically zoned to encourage mixed use development. Their farmer's market runs three days a week at different locations. They haven't had an 'iconic' building built since Michael Graves' Portland Public Service Building... and they're all the better for it.

[gweilo]

Sorry folks changed my mind I'll PM this instead.

[belle]

Gweilo, I agree that pastiche isn't necessarily pejorative but the illustrations of Tornagrain do not appear to be examples of well executed pastiche.

[crusty_bint]

http://www.tornagrain-newtown.co.uk/Illustrations.asp

This allowed participants to visualise not just architecture, as this was down to the choice of the illustrator, but more importantly scale, relationship of buildings to the street and to each other.

[gweilo]

How would you know Belle? The illustrations are merely one perspective artist's idea of what a traditional Scottish town looks like. It doesn't mean that it will look like that. How can anyone judge whether what the illustrations represent is a well executed pastiche or not. It still has to be translated into built form, will be done so by numerous hands, and there are still 35 years left in which to do that. Though I imagine it will be traditional in the sense that you will have vertical mixed use in the town centre, buildings addressing and enclosing streets etc, who knows what Tornagrain will ultimately look like?

For instance DPZ's images of the Prospect new town near Denver had a very neo-traditional aesthetic when the masterplan was drawn up back in 1994 whereas the end results more than a decade later (the link to which I posted below) have a more contemporary design ambition and flavour.

And anyway of course labelling a building as pastiche nowadays is pejorative! The majority of architects intend it as a put down! It's just that, at the risk of turning into Leon Krier when I actually I find this whole thing thoroughly bemusing, why is it no one bands about the word pastiche with regards to the likes of Malcolm Fraser's Princess Gate development? Rather, this is viewed as a 'homage' to heroes of Scottish modernism Morris and Steadman.

Why is a scheme that echoes the language of Princess Margaret Rose Hospital and also refers to the Sillitto House praiseworthy whereas someone seeking to adopt a parallel approach with a vernacular or classical building either laughed at or has opprobrium and scorn heaped on them? Is Princess Gate not a clever pastiche (or is it? Might it not be a coarser version?)?!

If Malcolm is deliberately imitating Morris and Steadman what does that mean for his artistic integrity and credibility? After all is he not guilty of copying and thereby producing something that lacks originality? How is the poor viewer not to know they are in fact looking at a reproduction of 1960's modernism? Is that not a bit of a faux pas when viewed in Modernist terms? Borrowing from history is borrowing from history after all whether it be 40 or 400 years ago. Therefore is Princess Gate's receipt of a variety of architectural awards either a case of double standards or a celebration of Malcolm's sheer good taste?!

[crusty_bint]

woho! take that beyatch!

(sorry for lowering the tone of debate!)

[belle]

Malcolm regularly speaks of reclaiming the word pastiche from its current negative status so I don't imagine he would have a problem with his work being described as a pastiche of the architects he admires (although he's not as successful in my opnion).

It would seem that my criticisms should be levelled at the landowner for permitting the project to be promoted by an ill informed illustrator. I apologise if my criticism of the illustration distressed you

Sheesh, you poke a New Urbanist....

[legslikeaspider]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

And just to take this way off topic, but for what it's worth, I don't disagree. I'm vaguely considering moving to Portland, Oregon, and I've spent far too much time recently reading and reminiscing about it online. It's a wonderful city, and that's in large part due to the quality of the planning. They have an expanding regional light rail system, and dense bus network. The blocks are a short 200'x200'. New developments in downtown, or large apartment blocks anywhere, are required to have ground floor retail. Much of the city is specifically zoned to encourage mixed use development. Their farmer's market runs three days a week at different locations. They haven't had an 'iconic' building built since Michael Graves' Portland Public Service Building... and they're all the better for it.

I was thinking of you yesterday dude. I have a cousin just back from a backpacking tour of the USA and Canada and he mentioned that he had visited Portland along with every major city on the west coast. In light of your descriptions, I was awaiting a tale of a visit to some sort of urban nirvana, instead all I got was; 'Portland? It's a total shitheap!' I couldn't believe it -first time I've ever heard a negative description of the place. Nevertheless, I still intend to visit when on in-law duty later this year and I will make up my own mind then.

[maccoinnich]

A total shitheap? Whaaaat?

Granted, it doesn't have much in the way of tourist attractions. There's no equivalent to Pier 39, Alcatraz or the Cable Cars (San Francisco), or the Space Needle and Pike Place Market (Seattle)... so it's difficult for me to imagine what somebody who visits it for a just a day or two might think... but a shitheap? No way.