INTBAU News Archive 2002

Click on a title to read the news item...
Holidays in Historic Buildings: (Dec 2002)
Dresden Neumarkt Update (Oct 2002)
Prince's Foundation Changes Course (Sept 2002)
Re:urbanism" manifesto launched (Nov 2002)
Flood Damages Czech Archives (Nov 2002)
INTBAU Awarded (Oct 2002)
Design enshrined in Oz (July 2002)
Paris rediscovers the Seine (July 2002)
'New Klassical' launch (June 2002)
London blow to traditional architecture (June 2002)
Dedalo Minosse Prize (June 2002)
Katarxis Again (May 2002)
Prince Speaks Out (May 2002)
Sustainable Sighisoara (May 2002)
TAG On The Move (Apr 2002)
Skyscraper safety doubts (Apr 2002)
Islands of tradition (Apr 2002)
Slovakia heritage alert (Mar 2002)
Trad rads hit ton (Feb 2002)
INTBAU web site is one year old this week! (Feb 2002)
Archive Index

2002

Holidays in Historic Buildings:
Win a holiday and support heritage in the Landmark Trust's fund-raising raffle
(UK residents only)(Dec 2002)

Become a gatekeeper, garrison commander or simply King of the Castle for a few days or weeks. There are 170 Landmarks and they include follies, forts, manor houses, mills, cottages, castles, gatehouses and towers. The Landmark Trust is an independent UK building preservation charity which was founded in 1965 to rescue worthwhile historic buildings from neglect, and then to restore and let them for holidays.
(Right, a tiny Cornish castle, one of the Landmarks)

All monies raised from The Landmark Trust Raffle 2003 will go towards the Landmark Appeal to rescue and restore historic buildings at risk. Each ticket sold will help protect more historic buldings at risk from collapse or neglect.

Closing Date: 28 March 2003 (online entries). The raffle will be drawn on 4 April 2003. First prize is £3,000 towards a holiday in the Landmark of your choice.

Further information on the raffle including an online entry form is available here. General information about the Landmark Trust is available on their website at www.landmarktrust.co.uk/.

Dresden Neumarkt update
Oct 2002)

The Dresden based organisation campaigning for a historical reconstruction of the Neumarkt, Gesellschaft Historischer Neumarkt Dresden (GHND), has collected enough signatures to a petition to demand a referendum if the city council is unwilling to require a historic reconstruction of the Neumarkt area. The necessary 15&perc; of the voters - a total of 58,000 people - have signed the petition.

The city council will now be forced to put the matter to the people. Informal polls have shown that a great majority of the Baroque city's residents are in favour of an accurate reconstruction of the city centre. Most of the city's voters are too young to have known it before the bombing, so this enthusiasm is not simply nostalgia, but reflects a profound failure of Modernism to engage the public's interest.

Prince's Foundation changes course:
Tradition back at the centre of the agenda in Shoreditch? (Sept 2002)

The focus of INTBAU supporter The Prince's Foundation appears to be changing following the appointment of Matthew Line as Chief Executive of the flagship London-based charitable organisation in early September. Line (44), former Editor of Homes & Gardens magazine, replaced David Lunts who is now Director of the Urban Policy Unit at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM, formerly Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions).

Changes at the Foundation appear to go far beyond the redesigned logo (right) with its bright red replacing the previous drab burgundy. The newly appointed Director of Architecture, Ben Bolgar, is a veteran of Robert Adam's London office and a committee member of INTBAU, and the new Director of the Urban Programme, Paul Murrain, is a well-known supporter of traditional urbanism.

Murrain's appointment comes as David Warburton, formerly Director of Development and Regeneration, departs the Foundation to take a position as Head of Sustainable Communities at national regeneration quango English Partnerships. Observers say that the change of personnel reflects a move from regeneration to traditional urban design at the heart of the Foundation programme. Others expect that education programmes directed at practitioners and a new focus on hands on construction should result from the changes.

"Re:urbanism" manifesto launched:
Calls for "new charter of urbanism" in Britain (Nov 2002)

A group of British rebel urban designers has launched a manifesto, titled Re:urbanism, timed to embarrass the British government's official Urban Summit held on 31 October - 1 November this year in Birmingham, England. The rebel group, led by Kelvin Campbell of London-based consultancy Urban Initiatives and Robert Cowan of the Urban Design Group, has produced a 65-page manifesto signed by 59 urban designers and architects arguing stridently for "joined up" thinking in urban design in the UK. The manifesto calls for a new philosophy to underpin the government's attempts at an urban renaissance in Britain.

Most of the argument is devoted to identifying ten major defects in existing thinking, a solution for which, the authors say, "must be at the heart of a new Charter of Urbanism", though no attempt is made to define the terms of this Charter. Cities, the authors claim, are victims of specialisms; of the planning system; of the pervasive Modernist idea of "bigness"; of a politcal demand for quick fixes; of unchallenged pseudo-truths; of the engineering and planning rule books; of what they call "one-eyed environmentalism"; of the unenlightened client, both private and government; of the loss of streets in much new design; and of the dangerous obsession with the "wow factor", exemplified by the rush by regenerating cities to erect Modernist landmark buildings to rival Bilbao's Gehry-Guggenhem.

Many of the qualities that people value in cities derive from their intensity, yet - the authors argue - anti-urban tendencies are built in to the standard manuals of planning, design and development. These anti-urban standards, they say, are still built into the way in which the next generation of urban professionals is being trained. This explains why so much development today is destroying urban quality - even when it tries for urban design - making places where buildings turn their backs on their surroundings; where segregated single-use enclaves make passers-by feel like intruders; where car parks dominate the urban landscape; where over-engineered roads put pedestrians last; and where urban and rural development sites are wasted by suburban-style development.

Some of the impact of the book's criticism of Modernist megastructures and other follies is lost by its overtly Modernist graphic design (see cover, above right), which works in the arbitrary design language it condemns. The authors are probably correct in targeting it at young Modernist design professionals, who have most to gain from reading it: much of the critique will be familiar to New Urbanists and traditional urbanists. The occasional and unjustified sideswipe at traditional design will keep Modernists reading, but the critique is really of them. The book is available from the website Re:urbanism.com for the price of �15.00 plus postage and packing.

Flood Damages Czech Archives:
Prague architecture archive appeals for funds to save water damaged documents
(Oct 2002)

With the floodwaters of August now subsided and international attention turned elsewhere, the Prague Technical Museum is left with an urgent need for assistance to help save water damaged 19th and early 20th century architectural drawings and models. The architectural archives of the museum were badly damaged in the floods which inundated historic towns along the Danube. The works had been protected to 1 metre above the previous highest flood level (1890), but this summer's flood rose 3 metres above this level, evidence perhaps of the effects of global warming.

Drawings damaged include drawings by Josef Gocar of cubist furniture of 1912-19; sketches for chandeliers and plans for the cubist "House of the Black Mother of God"; drawings and plans for the spa house in Bohdanec (1922), and of a villa in Tychon Street (1912-13), and in Legiobanka, Prague (1922). Other damaged drawings include those by Bedrich Feuerstein, including a proposal for the Zizka monument (1914), a proposal for the Dr Rieger monument (1914), studies for church architecture (1914), and studies for a tea set (1919).
(Right, contemporary photo of the Legiobanka, 1922)

The damaged drawings and models are all from the earliest part of a very fertile period in Czech architecture and design history. Help is needed urgently as damage will worsen without early action, and all damaged works on paper will first be frozen to arrest decay. Material and technical assistance is mostly needed: refrigerated lorries first, and thereafter premises in which to store frozen paper documents, hand-trolleys, cleaning and drying machinery, europalettes, plastic crates, cleansing and conservation products and archive packaging materials. Any assistance on the part of museum professionals, archivists and restorers will also be more than welcome. Every willing hand is desperately needed (right).

Those interested in helping the appeal should contact Tomas Zykan at the Czech Centre in London on +44-20-7291-9921 (GMT) or by email at Zykan@london.czech.cz. Enquiries and offers of help may also be addressed directly to the museum on povodne@ntm.cz.

INTBAU Awarded:
Website in the PLANetizen Top 50 sites for 2002 (July 2002)

PLANetizen, the US-based urban planning and development website, has named the top 50 most important websites for urban planners and developers from among 475 websites evaluated. The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism is delighted to announce that our website has been selected from over 475 nominated websites as one of the most important urban planning and development websites by PLANetizen.

The full list of websites is available by clicking here.

INTBAU in the news...

Click here to read an article about INTBAU from The Guardian newspaper of 11 February 2002, and here to read an article from Building magazine of 8 March 2002. (You'll have to register to read it, but that's quick and free).

Design enshrined in Oz:
NSW State Government requires architects to design apartment buildings (July 2002)

In what may be a world first for the architectural profession, the New South Wales State Government announced on July 17 2002 that the developers of all "multi-unit residential buildings" - apartment blocks, in other words - must employ a registered architect to design the buildings. The new law has been enacted in response to growing concern at government level over the proliferation of appalling meanly designed blocks of rental dwelling units constructed as free standing pavilions - often separated by a metre or less from neighbouring developments - whose entire ground area is concreted over as parking space. (Above, flats in East Balmain. Photo: M. Hardy)

The regulation will be enforced by a requirement for architects to sign off a statement that the "design integrity" of the building is "intact", no less than three times: at the Development Application stage, when construction drawings are finalised, and prior to final sale and occupation of the apartments. Development applications for residential flat buildings will also be required to be referred to a Design Review Panel (DRP) where these have been established. The new law applies in all municipalities of NSW. Buildings affected are all those above two stories high, or which contain more than three dwelling units.

The new law - State Environmental Planning Policy 65 (SEPP 65) - will be introduced over the twelve months from July 2002, to give unregistered building designers the opportunity to register under the NSW Architects Act. Building Designers, already represented by their own trade federation, will be able to become Architects by examination of a body of built work. It is hoped that the new law will enable a more sophisticated useage of space in urban development. The move should improve the quality of life for the vast majority of Sydneysiders who live in a sprawling low density urban area - as big as London but with a fraction of the population - far from the beautiful harbour which tourists see. (Right, traditional row houses at The Rocks)

Paris rediscovers the Seine:
"Paris-Plage" voted a huge success by Parisians(July 2002)

Photo: M. Hardy

Parisians have been surprising themselves this week as they rediscover the picturesque quays along the Seine, many of which were converted into an expressway in 1967. The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, was initially thought to have been sticking his neck out when he proposed covering the expressways with sand, icecream stalls, sun loungers, palm trees, boulodromes and grass for the month of August, normally the quietest in Paris as citizens head en masse for their holidays.

However, Paris-Plage - an ironic reference both to the typical self-styled seaside resorts of Normandy and to the revolutionary soixante-huitarde slogan sous le pavé, la plage (literally, "under the road, the beach") - has been an outrageous success, confounding the 200,000 aggrieved French motorists who daily speed along the banks of the river. A staggering 3 million visitors - tourists and stay-at-home Parisians alike - have visited the urban "beach" in the first week of this year's four-week trial.

Part of Delanoe's velorution, or bicycle revolution, the inititative may yet lead to a reclamation of Paris from the car-centric policies of the Gaullist post-war period, in which Pompidou built a collar and belt of motorways and Chirac sunk parking stations in every open space. The city of light remains, despite its image of pavements and cafes, one of the most car-friendly in Europe. Already, greater things are planned for summer 2003, with plans to add swimming pools to the popular mix.

'New Klassical' launch:
Klassicists find their place in the sun (June 2002)

Expat New Zealander and classical composer René Gruss, today announced the launch of the New Klassical website. The site claims to be the first online directory of contemporary classicism and a permanent home for the international contemporary classical community.

The site will focus on the full range of the arts, with the emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaborations, as their logo (right) suggests. NewKlassical's aim is to generate greater public awareness for those working in contemporary classicism. The group looks forward to facilitating communication between its members in the various disciplines, to build up the strength of the community.

"The launch of this new site is a very exciting development for the movement and we anticipate it to be a fertile and creative ground for our members and all those involved", commented Gruss, founder and administratore of the New Klassical movement. INTBAU wishes them every success in the future.

London blow to traditional architecture:
Westminster City Council waters down requirement for new buildings to blend in

Bad news this month for those who love the historic streetscapes of the West End, the best maintained and most coherent in London. The Government's urban design watchdog, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has forced Westminster City Council to review its guidelines for new development. The guidelines, which CABE claimed would involve what they described as "slavish imitation of the past", had required new buildings in historic quarters to "emulate the scale, style, character and materials of neighbouring buildings".
(Right, new commercial building in Piccadilly. Architect: Robert Adam larger image)

The revised guidelines use language designed to advance the case for contrasting Modernist architecture within coherent traditional streetscapes, using the familiar weasel words "contemporary" and "innovative" to describe the architectural style now sought in new developments. Such words are essentially meaningless, as all architecture built now is clearly contemporary, and bespoke buildings are by definition innovative. The terms are typically used to mask outright calls for Modernist architecture. A commentator from a leading Modernist architecture firm welcomed the news, branding much sympathetic development as "semi-pastiche".

Pastiche has , of course, long been a recognised basis for artistic effort, and deliberate copying has enriched the work of artists from Picasso to Warhol. However, it seems that the technique is no longer acceptable for architecture in Westminster, a borough holding over 1100 listed buildings, including the World Heritage listed Palace of Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and other London landmarks. Those wishing to see London looking like London should come before Modernist architects turn it into a facsmile of any other modern city...

Click here to read the inaugural INTBAU Essay, on the Hidden Language of Modernism.

Dedalo Minosse Prize:
Entries close 20 September for the only prize for those commissioning buildings (June 2002)

The organizing committee for the Dedalo Minosse prize for commissioning a building 2002 have announces that, after many requests, the deadline for submission of the entry form and materials has been postponed until September 20th 2002.

The entry form and rules are avaible on the web site of ALA-Assoarchitetti. This idiosyncratic international prize is organised by the Italian association for freelance architects, ALA-Assoarchitetti, in collaboration with L'ARCA, the international architecture and design review.

The Jury will award the Prize, within the terms of the law and the regulations, to Clients who have collaborated harmoniously with an architect to successfully create works of particular value. The Jury will make the following awards:
- The Dedalo-Minosse International Prize 2002, to a client who has commissioned a freelance architect from any country in the world;
- The Dedalo-Minosse International Prize 2002 (Under- 40s), to a client who has commissioned a young freelance architect from any country in the world;
- The ALA-Assoarchitetti Prize, to a client who has commissioned an Italian freelance architect;
- The ALA-Assoarchitetti Prize (Under- 40s), to a client who has commissioned a young Italian freelance architect;
- A special Prize from Caoduro Lucernari S.p.A., to a client who has managed to commission a work having particular quality in the treatment of natural light;
- The Graniti Fiandre S.p.A. special prize to a client who has managed to commission a work which is notable for its technological aspects;
The Jury will also present other awards to supporters and sponsors.

The Dedalo-Minosse International Prize consists of two commemorative silver plaques, made according to the design of Bob Noorda, one of which will be awarded to the client and the other to the architect. In addition, a further plaque made of steel and chrome-plated brass will be mounted permanently on the work which has been awarded the prize. Plaques of smaller dimensions will be awarded to the other prize-winners.

For further information, please contact:
ALA-Assoarchitetti - Secretariat Office
Via Leonardo da Vinci, 14
36100 Vicenza
ITALY
Tel. and fax. +39-0444-235476
Web: www.assoarchitetti.it/dm/index-e
Email: dedalominosse@assoarchitetti.it

Katarxis Again:
Second issue of popular traditional architecture webzine launches (May 2002)

Katarxis, the only webzine entirely dedicated to traditional architecture, launches its second issue this week. Produced for the New School of Traditional Architecture & Urbanism at Viseu in Portugal by Lucien Steil, Katarxis is solid, richly-illustrated website with 40 thematic divisions. The first edition appeared earlier this year.

Click here to view the new edition.

Architecture School:
UK pilot project puts design into secondary curriculum (June 2002)

Research undertaken by the Institute of Education in London has revealed that many teachers teaching Art and Design at secondary level have no subject knowledge of the Built Environment, and as a result, this component of GCSE (year 11) Art & Design is rarely taught.

In an attempt to remedy this, the Institute has partnered with the Prince's Foundation to develop a pilot scheme of work on the Built Environment, to be carried out in four Hackney Schools this summer. The scheme will then be evaluated by both the Institute and the Foundation during a feedback session with the four schools.

The broad teaching of the Built Environment allows students opportunities to participate in activities that embed the teaching of citizenship and cross-curricula learning. The scheme developed by the Foundation creates a valuable education resource providing students with the tools to participate in the shaping of their surroundings and understand the cultural lives of their communities. It is hoped that once delivered nationally this project will have a far-reaching impact.

The project, known as Place Making: Linking the Art of Building to the Making of Community aims to investigate how communities and the built environment develop and evolve over time. The scheme of work is broken up into six units which allows the students to work through the a number of stages from the building of primitive structures, how they work and were developed, aesthetically and functionally, and to appreciate the historical, social and cultural differences in architectural styles and their influence on our surroundings.

The project is structured so that students learn through making, moving from a simple structure to the city. Paper - recycled colour magazines - is rolled into structural members and then assembled to create individual primitive huts for each member of the class. The notion of cladding is then explored, with locally available materials applied to the model. Decoration and meaning are then added to the building in line with the role the individual assumes and the primitive huts are then assembled into a series of simple settlements. This explores the impact of physical arrangement and social order. As cultural and legal activities evolve in the village and public buildings begin to appear to mark cultural evolution, so these orders are explored in the group and public buildings made in groups. The project culminates when all the buildings made over the six sessions are assembled together in the form of a small town which can then be assessed and explored as a physical place.

The project was received very favourably when presented to assembled heads of Art departments at the Institute of Education in London last week by Julia Findlater, Ben Bolgar and Louise Beaumont of the Prince's Foundation. The project is a very practical means of the Foundation's mission statement "to connect the art of building and the making of community".
If you would like to know more about this innovative project please contact:
Julia Findlater
The Prince's Foundation,19-22 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3SG
Tel: +44 20 7613 8523, Fax: +44 20 7613 8599, Email jfindlater@princes-foundation.org

Prince Speaks Out:
Newspaper article opposes demolition of historic London railway structure (May 2002)

Prince Charles has this week joined his name to a heritage battle raging in London. In one of his most outspoken comments on architecture since the famous "carbuncle" speech of 1984, he voices opposition to proposals by the City of London, Transport for London and failed railway company RailTrack to evict all tenants and demolish the 10 acre vaulted brick Bishopsgate goods yard in London's fast-growing city fringe area.

Right, an innovative use of one of the goodsyard arches. Site plan

Writing in the London Evening Standard, the Prince noted that "Within its subterranean depths, now hidden from public view, there are some of the very finest brick arches to be found anywhere in the world, the product of a time when traditional craftsmanship and engineering ambition went hand in hand" and asked "do we really want to destroy one of the city's most astonishing hidden treasures, only to replace it with just another conventional office development?"

Opponents of to the plan see the proposed office blocks and towers - requiring the demolition of the 1839 Braithwaite Viaduct, one of the oldest railway structures in the world - as a poor replacement for the vital community of uses which has spring up under the arches alongside Brick Lane, one of London's most popular local market areas. Together with proposals to demolish 60% of the listed Spitalfields Market nearby, they argue that the proposal represents the City - the richest 4 square miles in Europe - trampling on the needs of the East End, one of the poorest urban areas in Britain.

The Prince's Foundation has organised events to focus opposition to the City fringe proposals.

Click here to read the article on the Prince of Wales's own web site.

UPDATE Sustainable Sighisoara:
Local group formed to oppose out-of-town Transylvanian theme park (May 2002)

Local opposition is growing to the proposal to build a Dracula theme park 500 metres outside the beautiful UNESCO listed mediaeval town of Sighisoara in Transylvania. The proposal, reported on these pages earlier this year, has brought widespread condemnation and triggered a visit to the site by concerned inspectors from UNESCO last month. The site, on the Breite Plateau, a hill top outside the town, is said to be within a reserve for 500 year old oak trees.

Fears that the developers - led by Romanian Tourism Minister Dan Matei Agathon - would simply ride over local and international opposition have grown with reports that Coca-Cola has signed an exclusive deal worth �330,000 to supply soft drinks to the proposed park. Further alrm has been generated by the emergence of a pro-theme park group calling itself "Greenpeace Romania" which has no connections with the well-known international ecological charity. Greenpeace International has instituted legal proceedings against the group.

A new local organisation, Sighisoara Durabila (Sustainable Sighisoara), has now been formed to oppose the proposed theme park. The organisation is currently working on an alternative proposal for a 'soft' development for the city of Sighisora, and will seek examples to demostrate to local residents - many of whom support the theme park as a potential generator of economic activity - by showing them examples of cities that have done similar projects and now are blooming. The aim is to generate development that would promote the economy and support the 35,000 inhabitants of the historic citadel.
Right: a recent protest by the group in Sighisoara. full image

Those interested in supporting Sighisoara Durabila with expertise, funding or other means should email info@sustainable.sighisoara.com or telephone +40-(0)-65-771454 (GMT + 2 hours) in the first instance.

The director of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, the British charity which has been working on whole village restoration projects, argues that Transylvania needs small scale tourism - bed & breakfast, local museums and agritourism - which would provide income directly into the local economy. The Trust has been working for a number of years on a group of medieval Saxon villages which flank Sighisoara, such as Viscri, and will this summer inaugurate several houses which it has renovated for tourist letting.
Right, the mediaeval village of Viscri. full image

A lavishly illustrated booklet, The Saxon Villages of Transylvania, Romania: A Future for the Mediaeval Landscape, is available from the Mihai Eminescu Trust for GBP10 plus postage, Tel. +44 1747 830 834, Fax +44 1747 830 835.
Photos courtesy Mihai Eminescu Trust

UPDATE TAG On The Move:
RIBA Traditional Architects Group gathers 180 members in two months (Apr 2002)

The new RIBA Traditional Architects Group (TAG), formed within the Royal Institute of British Architects early this year, has now attracted 180 members. 50 architects attended group's first meeting in London on 22 March at the headquarters of the RIBA, surrounded by a Modernist exhibition on concrete. Group founder Robert Adam commented:

"Traditional architects in Britain feel that their professional institute does not support or represent them and this new group will act as a pressure group within the profession. It is expected to pay particular attention to professional education (where there is no support at all for tradition), the RIBA awards system and planning control (where there is an increasing tendency to promote Modernism). The group also plans to hold an exhibition of member's work at the RIBA in about a year.
(right, Buckingham Palace Picture Gallery, by TAG member John Simpson Partnership. Photo: Richard John)

Outgoing president of the RIBA Paul Hyett actively supports the formation of the group. Speaking at the meeting, he emphasised that the RIBA was a broad church which welcomed members who felt excluded. He doubted whether the "elite" modernists necesarily represented an architectural establishment, but indicated that he would support architecture of consistent and noted quality within any genre. Nevertheless, he agreed that while there was a wide diversity of Modernist styles, there was little tolerance of traditional architecture amongst many in the profession. TAG, he said, would be able to lobby for skill and knowledge in construction education as well as space and detail which comprised the bulk of present teaching.

Tim Gough, Chairman of the Practice Committee, noted that few members of RIBA had said that they felt at home there, and said that he thought that TAG had a "vast amount to contribute". Architects would now be able to add "interest in traditional architecture" to their entry in the database of RIBA's Client Advisory Service.

The next exercise of TAG will be to develop a Charter. Those members of the RIBA interested in joining the group - or anyone else who would like information about TAG - should contact Jan Maciag, email janmaciag@netscapeonline.co.uk, tel: +44 01733 230 816 (GMT).

Skyscraper safety doubts:
WTC collapse leads to questioning of conventional design criteria for tall buildings (Apr 2002)

A series of unrelated design assumptions about structure, fire proofing and escape - some dating from the 1920s - exacerbated the World Trade Centre collapse, it was claimed last week. Giving evidence on 6 March to the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Dr Arden L. Bement, Jr, Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the US Department of Commerce, explained some of the issues which NIST would examine if commissioned to undertake a National Building and Fire Safety Investigation.

"Current building design practice does not consider fire as a design condition. Instead, structural fire endurance ratings are prescribed in building codes using standard tests on individual components [...] based on work carried out at NIST in the 1920s. They do not represent real fire hazards in modern buildings. They also do not consider the fire performance of structural connections or of the structural system as a whole, or the multiple performance demands on fire proofing materials", Bement explained. Continuing, he argued that progressive collapse had become a problem in modern structures because of their smaller margin of safety. Many lacked the reserve capacity to accommodate abnormal loads, ironically due to increased efficiency in the use of building materials and refinements in analysis techniques.

New York's fire chief long ago warned against the use of lightweight steel floor trusses and sprayed fire protection¹ (both thought to have been used at the WTC). Many firefighters are said to believe that they are safer fighting fires in traditional early 20th century buildings - which have durable concrete fire protection to steel elements - than in flimsy "semi-combustable" modern tower blocks.

In other news, New York business circles report that tenants are leaving the Empire State Building, now the tallest in that city. The question being asked by planners and developers around the world is how keen tenants will be to rent space in their city's tallest building. The question being asked by engineers worldwide is whether tall buildings could ever be made safe from attack by aircraft.

1. Source: John O'Hagan (New York Fire Commissioner), High Rise/Fire and Life Safety, Pennwell, 1977; ISBN 0878149260.
Click here to read more about the WTC collapse in the New Yorker of 19 November 2001.
Click here to read about skyscraper fire safety in Spectacle, a US webzine.

Islands of tradition:
Greek government acts to require traditional style for new buildings (Apr 2002)

Greek Minister of the Aegean Nikos Sifounakis is to be applauded for recently enacted laws which require all new buildings in historic island towns be in local traditional style. Previous regulations tended not to differentiate the particularities of place, and thus all island buildings were required to be white-washed like those on Santorini or Mykonos, though the local tradition might call for unplastered surfaces or other colors. The new regulations were formulated by asking every municipality to list what they thought made their area's traditions special, and pay much more attention to the particularities of local traditions.

Richard Economakis, architect of the Centre for Classical Studies on Nisyros in the Dodecanese (above right) , contributed to research underlying the regulations for that island. He has recently published a book on its architecture in English, Nisyros: History and Architecture of an Aegean Island, ISBN No. 960204232X. The last chapter of the book discusses the role of new traditional architecture in Greece.

The author argues that much remains to be done on the mainland. In Greece many architects will build in a 'traditional' manner when building in protected traditional settlements, especially the islands, but most do so only because they are required by planning law and building codes. Elsewhere these architects normally revert to Modernism, accepting tradition only as part of an all too familiar Modernist 'museum' attitude to historic towns. Much work must also be done in the islands, Economakis notes, to educate architects and builders on proper applications of traditional materials and techniques.

Slovakia heritage alert:
Appeal underlines precarious condition of built fabric in Eastern Europe (Mar 2002)

The parlous state of much of the built heritage of Eastern Europe has recently been drawn to public attention by events in Romania (see below). But the problem is widespread and is increasingly international in its scope, as tourism and industrial development begins in areas undisturbed for more than half a century. In many areas, listed buildings and places remain without practical means of support. The problem is particularly acute in rural areas far from major cities, many of which are increasingly depopulated both with the growth of employment in cities and by the increase in mechanised agriculture on the Western model.

The problem is illustrated in an appeal for assistance received recently by INTBAU. A small group in Slovakia attempting to restore a 200 year old wooden house in Orava (above right, and detail below right), 300 km from the capital Bratislava. The house is listed and designated as cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture of Slovakia, but it appears that there are no funds available from official sources, both national and international. Roman Ondrusõ, owner of the company set up to restore the building, writes:

"The original owners moved to America in early 19th century and the whole family died out. The owners were famous makers of different folk musical instruments (mainly violins) and also popular local musicians at the time of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. The house is located in a remote community of 8 wooden houses that is far in woods. The closest village is approximetly 10 km away. Our house is the only one designated as the cultural heritage. We bought it 1 year ago and already that time it was on the brink of collapse. Previous owners had neglected the site completely and did not take care about it [...] It is very difficult to get any support here to preserve such cultural places. Neither the Slovak state [nor] local fundations could allocate some funds for such activities. But I do not give up. I established together with my wife company that will take care about the restortion of a place. Till now we have financed everything on our own. We have spend already cca USD20.000,- for the architectural project, permits, purchase of the wood and terrain works etc. [...] I live with my family in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, [...] 300km far from the restoration place in Orava. [...] I was born in Orava that is why I have such deep connection to that place.

We are eager to protect the location so that it can be enjoyed by all visitors and be preserved for future generations. We would like to do a complete restoration of the site that is now virtually at the brink of collapse. We would like to bring the rural atmosphere and life back to the community where the house is located. The region of Orava has got very high rate of unemployment and we would like to give some opportunities to those who are looking for a job while restoring and taking care about the site. We would appreciate any donation or any help to salvage the site."

Further information
Anybody with suggestions for sources of funding, expertise or assistance in kind, or any ideas as to how the group can advance its cause, should contact:
Mr Roman Ondrusõ
Cierny chodnik 23
Bratislava
831 07
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Tel: +421-903-268-768 (GMT +1 hour)
Email: romanondrus@yahoo.com

Trad rads hit ton:
RIBA Traditional Architects Group gathers 100 members in first month (Feb 2002)

A new organisation calling itself the Traditional Architects Group (TAG), formed within the Royal Institute of British Architects, has this week reached 125 members. The success of the group reflects a perceived need amongst alternative architects to challenge the dominance of the Modernist establishment - closely allied with the centreist Blair government - which stymies exploration of traditional design in British architecture. TAG organiser Jan Maciag comments:

"Contemporary architectural practice is often portrayed in somewhat Stalinist terms as a monolithic completely radical/modernist entity. This is clearly not the case. There are various and large groups of architects who feel that the RIBA is too focused on a small group of famous names and their cult following. They sell only one brand of architecture. [...] Architects have acquired a reputation for extravagance and wackiness that the majority of ordinary practitioners resent! It actually interferes in our work and we in TAG wish to redress some of the balance and counter some of the propaganda that our own trade organization heaps upon us."
(right, Buckingham Palace Picture Gallery, by TAG member John Simpson Partnership.
Photo: Richard John)

The group will have its first meeting at the RIBA in London on 22 March. Those members of the RIBA interested in joining the group - or anyone else who would like information about TAG - should contact Jan Maciag, email janmaciag@netscapeonline.co.uk, tel: +44 01733 230 816 (GMT).

One down...
INTBAU web site is one year old this week! (Feb 2002)

INTBAU's website was launched in February last year as a tiny three page site. Since then it has grown considerably. Over the last year the site has received over 40,000 hits during more than 6,000 individual visits. It is strongly supported by the leading search engines.

We would like to thank all those who have visited our site over the last twelve months. Particularly valuable have been all your comments and suggestions. Without you this site would not have grown.

Click here to read an articleabout INTBAU from The Guardian newspaper of 11 February.

Views expressed in articles are those of the author and not necessarily of INTBAU

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