The Art of Architecture on Sky Arts - Series 3

If you look on the Sky Arts website for the three series of "The Art of Architecture", you will see that the titles of the episodes have changed from Series 2 to Series 3. Before they showed the building but now it's the architect. These latest episodes are far less successful as they look at all the work of the subject and far less on the one building that is the secondary title. I'm going to stick with the original intent to talk about that one design, even though we get much less information.

 Episode 1     Narbo Via, Narbonne

The Narbo Via Museum is dedicated to the huge number of Roman antiquities that were found in the Narbonne district. This is a massive collection of stone blocks and tombstones that were scattered around the city. Norman Foster was commissioned to design a museum to house and demonstrate this collection. The exterior is typical Foster, with an exceptional roof incorporating exposed beams.

So far, so wonderfully engineered. But that is nothing compared with what's inside. The housing of the antiquities is exceptional. The contemporary framework of the steel compartments is fine on it's own.

But it is the interactive cleverness of what is behind that makes the difference. The machine behind moves the blocks and selects more to take their place. Amazing.  We see it in operation and if I was there I could watch for it for ages.

Unfortunately there was very little to say about how the design was developed and how the building was put together, unlike the previous series. It was all about Norma Foster and his vast number of iconic projects. Sorry, not interested. I just wanted to know more about Narbo Via.

Episode 2    The Holocaust Monument of Names, Amsterdam

Again a long run through of projects by Daniel Libeskind. Too numerous to mention but including The Jewish Museum in Berlin and his work on the WorldTradeCenter site in New York. The Holocaust Monument in Amsterdam is not really a building as it is formed of a labyrinth of brick walls.

The memorial for the Dutch who died in the holocaust makes every brick a gravestone, 102,000 of them each with a name, and 100,000 that have no names. 

.We are told that the use of lines, angles and wedges is typical Libeskind.

However, again we find out very little of the materials and their selection and design that was so interesting in the earlier series. These often visited the manufacturers and showed how they were incorporated into the construction. Not here. Instead we get a long section about the designs of the Jewish Museum in Berlin where the zigzagging lines were obviously a reference for Amsterdam as below.

Daniel Libeskind himself takes up far too long with not much about Amsterdam. He just talks about how "architecture is a dialogue with history". These architects constantly talk about dialogue. Pretentious and Boring.

Episode 3   The Highline, NYC

This episode was really about Liz Diller, an architect who described how she originally considered a career in writing design theory and sort of fell into the kind of fringe architecture of which The Highline is a typical example. She won the design competition to transform the old elevated railway and, in her words, "to preserve the other worldliness" of overgrown route. 

I had huge admiration for the fact that only walkers are allowed, no bikes, no dogs, wonderful. It has become an instant tourist attraction and is now a destination for anyone visiting New York. I love the next shot from above as the Highline sneaks into the city. 

And there are places that you can rest. If there was one place I would like to see in New York, it would be here.

And where the Highline meets Hudson Yards, here is The Shed, a movable flexible space also designed by Liz Diller and her team. She said that she took inspiration from Cedric price's The Fun Palace that was never built. 

We heard about Dillers' early life and other projects including the expansion and renovation of Juilliard School at The Lincoln Centre, a new Juilliard School in China, and a park in Moscow. Certainly not a traditional architect, but an intellectual to be sure.

Episode 4  House in the Cotswolds

We were told that Ross Sharpe is one of five directors at Yiangou Archirects in Cirencester. (He also has his own practice according to the internet). We see Ross standing at his drawing board, a pencil and set square, detailing everything by hand. His office, all on CAD, thought he was back in the dark ages. But this is draughtmanship at it's peak, translated into an art form. The houses he designs are based on classical architecture where money is no object. 

Stone is from either the owner's own quarry or one nearby. Classical, yes, but with elements of the 21st century that Ross thinks add a playful touch. We are given no idea where this house might be, except somewhere in the Cotswolds. The location is obviously highly sensitive. You do not get a great idea of the breath-taking design or the imaginative interiors from this one photo, but there are no others online. You would have to see the episode.

Episode 5   Smith House, Nova Scotia

Here on the Shobac Peninsula, a remote settlement next to the bay, is the most recent addition to the small collection of buildings. Smith House, we are told, is a "distillation of 40 years of experimentation" from local architect Brian McKay- Lyons. 

It is actually three buildings, a combination of the old and modern. The house stands on a base of granite walls  where the sea laps around the edge. The settlement was actually abandoned in 1940 when the farms and fisherman had left.

We were told about the glass but nothing about the timber cladding. But we did see the interior with the custom made exposed roof trusses. And that was all. As usual, we here lots about the architect, mostly of little interest. 

Episode 6   Wild Reindeer Pavilion, Norway

Overlooking the mountain of Snohetta in the Dovrafjell National Park in Norway, up a  1.5K trail, is an observation pavilion for the Wild Reindeer Foundation educational programmes. The architect is also called Snohetta, and the first three quarters of the programme focuses, yet again, on their formation and history. Representing the architects is co-founder Kjetil Thorsen. 

So we are nearly at the end of this episode before we see this, "their most iconic building"? A glass facade looks out at the landscape and the animals and we are told about straight lines and curved lines. Is that all? I would have loved to see how the wood was made and installed. no such luck.

Episode 7   Serpentine Pavilion, London

The following excerpt from the Serpentine website is a far better introduction than that given in the programme. 

Since 2000, Serpentine has commissioned internationally renowned and emerging architects to create their first built structure in England. The aim of our Pavilion commission is to choose architects who consistently extend the boundaries of contemporary architectural practice and to introduce these practitioners to wider audiences. We invite the architects to design a Pavilion that is used as a meeting space and café by day and a forum for learning, debate and entertainment at night. The Serpentine Pavilion series was the first scheme of its kind worldwide at this level of ambition and presents commissions that push the boundaries of contemporary architectural practice.

Instead we are introduced to Sumayya Vally of Counterspace,  the youngest architect to be invited. She stayed over during the pandemic to oversee the 2021 pavilion. "A whole city under one roof" as the Guardian puts it. yes, we hear about it's inspiration:

The Pavilion’s design is based on past and present places of meeting, organising and belonging across several London neighbourhoods significant to diasporic and cross-cultural communities, including Brixton, Hoxton, Tower Hamlets, Edgware Road, Barking and Dagenham and Peckham, among others. Responding to the historical erasure and scarcity of informal community spaces across the city, the Pavilion references and pays homage to existing and erased places that have held communities over time and continue to do so today. 

Did I get any of that in the design? Unfortunately not.

Episode 8   Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge

At last, a proper architectural masterpiece by Niall McLaughlin Architects. And, I found out later, winner of this year's Stirling Prize for Architecture (this country's top award). The programme focuses on Niall who explains his vision and looks at the buildings his practice has designed at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, a huge body of work.

The new library at Magdalene College, Cambridge is situated  in a sensitive location overlooking the Fellow's' Garden and surrounding ancient buildings. The tall brick chimneys actually provide natural ventilation.

We hear about the choice of brick and how the contractor Cocksedge saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to produce beautiful walls that would stand for four hundred years.

The interior is equally impressive, the art of creating calm was described in words too abstract for me. But I got the idea. One important feature is the range of study spaces, some with shared zones for group study, and some have private niches.

There is even one below like a crow's nest, to see and be seen.

It deserves it's Stirling Prize. Just a shame that only students are ever let inside.

Episode 9  Neue Nationalgallerie, Berlin

I had already posted on the 3rd November 2021 about a programme on the architect of the gallery Sir David Chipperfield. But that was on the Imagine series when he talked to Alan Yentob about all his work and particularly the Neues Museum in Berlin. So he already had form in this city. The gallery is actually a £140 million refurbishment of the original iconic building designed by Mies van der Rohe fifty years ago. The six years of restoration took six years to complete.

The original "dysfunctional, puddle strewn" gallery (according to the Guardian) we were told was not loved, didn't work and was showing it's age. 

Once components of the original building were exposed, it seemed to be all falling apart. There was far more needed to be done than originally imagined. The brief was simple, it had to look as if it had been untouched. We were told about the glass and steel craftsmanship and how nine months were spent working out how to duplicate the original window frames. Modern day requirements would have needed them to be ten times bigger. However we were not informed about their resolution.

What was missing from the programme was the actual process of the restoration. I had to go on the net to find this photo of glass replacement.

I would have loved to see some of the restoration process, but instead, as is usual for this series, we get too much on the architect's other projects. What a shame. But here is something from www. smb.museum that has more construction photos.

The aim of the Neue Nationalgalerie technical overhaul was to rectify safety issues, construction flaws, and damage to the structure. Priorities included updating the fire-prevention system , refurbishing the building envelope, eliminating the causes of glass breakage, renovating the structural concrete and renewing the building services. Another focus of the project was to fulfill the requirements of a modern museum regarding air conditioning, safety, lighting, storage facilities and visitor services.

Episode 10   Dolunay Villa, Turkey

Why oh why do we get another Norman Foster building. This villa looks like the residential equivalent of the museum in the first episode. All "wood stone and metal" as the programme said. Forgetting about glass! Overlooking the Aegean Sea on the coast of Turkey, we were told it was "one of the most spectacular modern homes in Europe". If you like that sort of thing. 

There are glimpses of the next door neighbourhood and this residence seems totally out of place. We are shown lots about the models used for the project. We see a tenth size edge detail when I have seen full size mock ups for some buildings. The timber roof is quite incredible and the stair is in solid Portuguese limestone. Otherwise boring pretentious materials.

 In this series we only ever see the finished building and nothing about it's construction. I will not be watching another series.