Tag Archives: Gehry

December 31, 2009

2009 – a year in review

By Tim GARRATT

I think as you get older the years just seem to fly by much quicker. But looking back on 2009 as the year draws to a close, I tried to think through the highs and lows of the year. On reflection, many more highs than lows I think. Which can only be a good thing! So here goes:

High Points

1. A great weekend in September at St Andrews celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We stayed in an amazing hotel overlooking the 18th hole at the Old Course. Where did 25 years go? St Andrews is a magical place – I can’t believe we had not discovered it earlier. It helps if you like golf…

St Andrews - and the 18th hole on the Old Course

2. Our son Jack getting 8 GCSE’s and a place at Confetti. This despite his Dyslexia. And then Jade getting a hard-earned place at TeachFirst and working in two challenging schools. Adam worked on another film – the details of which I will spare you, but if I said it was an NHS Information film – that’s enough of a clue!

Jack, Jade and Adam - in the Summer.

3. Lesley and I seeing The Killers at Madison Square Garden (New York) in January. Quite a long way to go to see a gig but they were just brilliant – and then we came home and saw them again at The Arena in Nottingham. Musically the Isle of Wight featured in the calendar again – and was great – especially the infamous toilets & showers… I wasn’t sure about Neil Young though!

The Killers play Madison Square Garden NYC

4. The opening of the Abel Collins ‘Drury Bungalows’ in November – at the end of a three year stint! I think they are great and four couples will move in shortly! The Sheriff of Nottingham and his Lady did us proud on the day – and I think the bungalows are brilliant! Designed by Marsh Grochowski they are ‘of their time’! High green credentials make them highly energy efficient.

The Abel Collins Almshouses - Drury Bungalows

5. My trip with the Sheriff of Nottingham to the USA in September – to research World Class attractions. We visited six cities in 10 days, flying 12,500 miles. It was exhausting but informative – and there was some fun along the way. Highlights – Segway riding, The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Getty Museum in LA, Alcatraz, The High Line in New York and Little Boots in concert – and much more!

The USA tour team - at Top of the Rocks NYC

6. Seeing Jack play his first gig as part of the Hockley Hustle 2009. They were great (I may be a bit biased). That all of their friends turned up was just great to see.

Jack playing drums in his first gig

7. A great holiday in Dartmouth – including an interesting two days sailing – more so for me than Jack – who was none too well! It may have been something he ate – or could it have been the force 7/8 gale?

Dartmouth

Dartmouth Harbour

8. The celebrations in Paris for our friends John & Denise celebrating their 50th birthdays! They are getting old and I am one of the babies of the group. Good to see the gang growing old disgracefully – long may it continue.

The NHR gang do Paris in the Spring!

Low Points

Seeing Nick Hammond and Nick Lewis leave Castle College – both loyal clients over 17 years, but also really nice people & people I regard as friends. I do expect both of them to make returns in 2010!

Nick Hammond in LA (on the right.. in case you wondered)

And that’s it. I wonder what 2010 will bring – hopefully the same split again – or preferably no low points. But already things to look forward to – Minsk in January?, Skiing in February, MIPIM in March and at some point New York (again). I have also agreed to help the Bromley House Library look at the possibility of building an extension / upgrading the wonderful facilities they have!

Lots to look forward to then…. Happy New Year!!

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Business, MIPIM 2010, Nottingham, Robin Hood

December 22, 2009

My favourite building this year!

By Tim GARRATT

As I have blogged about before, I went this year to the USA with the Sheriff of Nottingham to look at World class attractions – in the anticipation that we could transfer some ideas back to Nottingham with a Robin Hood theme. When I looked through the thousands of images I took in the year I wondered what was my favourite building in the year. And the winner was – The Experience Music Project / SciFi Museum in Seattle.

The experience music project - Seattle


The building split the group of us – a marmite moment!

Exterior facade of EMP - Seattle


I loved it.

EMP Seattle - Ghery architecture at its best!


It was designed by Canadian architect Frank Ghery He said “I wanted to evoke the Rock’n'Roll experience without being too literal about it”. His client was Paul Allen (of Microsoft fame). Ghery was the first person to use a computer modeling system called CATIA – which was used in the aerospace industry. As he said – “we did a building by computer for a computer guy”!

400 tons of steel was used – on top of which are laid 21,000 aluminum and stainless steel shingles. At the heart of the centre is the Sky Church – with a 70 ft high ceiling and the worlds largest LED screen it is an amazing place.

I think it is where art and architecture merge. It is challenging – the colours are amazing. And the wow factor is high! We had mixed views about what was inside the building – but that doesn’t take away from the building itself!

It was my favourite building in 2009. By a country mile!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Business, Green stuff, Robin Hood

October 17, 2009

USA Trip Slideshow

By Tim GARRATT

This is the slideshow I gave at the Sheriff’s Commission yesterday. The 17 words show what I thought were the differentiation in a world class attraction – and this is explored in photographs. The show finishes with some ideas about how we might transfer some of the ideas to Nottingham We are welcoming comments!

17 words which differentiate a world class attraction

13 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Nottingham, Robin Hood

October 14, 2009

Architecture – the great divide

By Tim GARRATT

After the USA trip it was clear how the group of six of us from the Sheriff’s Commission had very different ideas about architecture.

Today we added a few more attractions to our list (31 in the USA!).

They were The Tate Modern, The Globe Theatre, The Golden Hinde and Borough Market.

So, you can take The ship out of the equation – it was good, but £6 for a ‘self tour’ seems a bit steep. But I liked the idea of kids Pirate parties – and even better ‘sleep-overs’. How cool would that be? Not that we had such things when I was a kid! (adult sleep-overs?- now there’s an idea)

But back to the plot. Tate Modern is just a brilliant re-use of a building in my view. The ramped entrance and space is just great. Big spaces for big ideas. And Borough Market is a remarkable space with a mixture of very old traditional stalls dating back over 100 years to some well executed modern additions which don’t intrude, but add to the area. The coffee shop was ‘open’ and inviting. It had a sort of grungy feel which we saw done so well at Chelsea Market in New York and at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles.

Great open fronted coffee shop at Borough Market London

Great open fronted coffee shop at Borough Market London

And then there was The Globe. Which was (in my humble opinion) just about as close to ‘Disney-fied’ architecture that you can get. It redefined the word pastiche. I was told it was well researched and was a true to the original as they could have made it. But it wasn’t – and that is surely the point. The walls were timber and render fill panels – but they were all perfect. Perfectly straight and neat. And in the 16th Century did they didn’t build like this? No. Precisely. I thought it was awful – but other member of the group thought it was good. But then they didn’t like Frank Gehry’s EMP Building in Seattle. Luddites roam freely – beware!

The Globe Theatre London - pastiche architecture

The Globe Theatre London - pastiche architecture

3 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Nottingham

September 28, 2009

Can Buildings Inspire People?

By Tim GARRATT

Last month I found myself in front of a group of Sudanese college principals, vice principals and senior staff. My task –to explain what I do for my College clients. But also to impart something for them to take back home.

When I thought through what I do for a day job (valuation, landlord and tenant, dilapidations claims and asset management ) i realised it wasn’t going to transfer well. In fact, I quickly realised that much of what I do was just not done in Sudan.

My ‘class’ was incredibly polite and compliant. They listened intently, but were clearly lost – our western world was poles apart from what they do. Trying to explain the complexities of valuing buildings that have no real value in a true market sense was not a great title to start with!

It had been suggested to me that they enjoyed workshop sessions. It took me some time to try and come up with something that I thought I could ‘control’, but also that might give them something to take away!

One of my ‘hobby-horses’ is good architecture. Or at least a dislike of ‘average’ architecture. I think architecture should inspire – always, but particularly in the education sector. I should set the record straight here – I am not a ‘Poundbury’ person!

My question was ‘can a building inspire people’ – and if so, how. Simple really!

There is no doubt that a building can be inspirational. What emerged from the workshop was that you don’t always need to have a Libeskind or Gehry building (that would be great though).

EMP Seattle - Frank Gehry

EMP Seattle - Frank Gehry

Some of the messages that emerged from the discussion was that some simple things could help. The most obvious perhaps is that of ‘colour’. It is well documented that colour can affect mood. It can ‘uplift’ or ‘relax’. This is not an expensive solution and can be incorporated in a building easily. But, we also explored ‘detail’ – concentrating on details can have great payback. Obvious areas including signage and branding – making sure there is a simple consistency can make a difference to a building. And finally, ‘quality’ scored highly. The quality of a finish makes a building user proud.

Paul Smith Store - Los Angeles

Paul Smith Store - Los Angeles

Whilst you cannot always get 100% buy-in from building users (there will always be a disenfranchised group) – constructing or altering a building so that users notice it will generally make them feel good.

And perhaps that is the answer. Great architecture is where the users or occupiers feel good about their surroundings. And that in itself should inspire?

And three simple messages from my Sudanese students – colour, detail and quality. They can make a difference we believed collectively – and they were going to take those things home.

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