flakes of nuisance » architecture http://mcneillfamily.com paying attention to distractions since 1958 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:49:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Volcano, by Pianohttp://mcneillfamily.com/2010/02/09/volcano-by-piano/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/02/09/volcano-by-piano/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:59:15 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=3607

Like a chameleon, architecture can mimic any natural landscape it sits on. From a Swiss alp, to the British cliffs, to a nearby glacier, to Mexican basalt rock, to a volcano – such as the Renzo Piano Building Workshop has designed for the periphery of Naples. It’s as real estate agents say: context is everything. Whereas iconography usually means a shrinking or blowing-up of an image to fit the scale of the architecture, this enormous building (a shopping mall) has actually the size of a small volcano. This ‘crater’ has a diameter of 150 [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2010/02/09/volcano-by-piano/feed/ 0 Kosmograd: Branding the boroughs 2http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/18/kosmograd-branding-the-boroughs-2/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/18/kosmograd-branding-the-boroughs-2/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:14:57 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1696

hexagonal tiles

In Felix Barber and Ralph Hyde’s superb book London as it might have been, we can read of a Victorian plan to change the structure of the London boroughs, part of a plan to prevent overcharging by cab drivers.

via Kosmograd: Branding the boroughs 2.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/18/kosmograd-branding-the-boroughs-2/feed/ 0 baumraum – baumhäuser in Deutschlandhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/17/baumraum-baumhauser-in-deutschland/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/17/baumraum-baumhauser-in-deutschland/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:58:13 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1583 baumhäuser in Deutschland – which of course means …?

via baumraum – baumhäuser in Deutschland.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/17/baumraum-baumhauser-in-deutschland/feed/ 0 The Seven Laws of Projects, and How to Break Themhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/10/the-seven-laws-of-projects-and-how-to-break-them/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/10/the-seven-laws-of-projects-and-how-to-break-them/#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:54:50 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1438 Over a decade ago, Tom Peters wrote in the popular article The Wow Project: “In the new economy, all work is project work. And you are your projects!”

via The Seven Laws of Projects, and How to Break Them : The World : Idea Hub :: American Express OPEN Forum.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/10/the-seven-laws-of-projects-and-how-to-break-them/feed/ 0 Haggerston Baths restorationhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/08/haggerston-baths-restoration/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/08/haggerston-baths-restoration/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:24:46 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1581 Architectural and Design Team leadership services are required for the restoration of the Haggerston Baths, a public bath house in the London Borough of Hackney

via Haggerston Baths restoration | News | Architects Journal.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/08/haggerston-baths-restoration/feed/ 0 Snowdon cafe complaints concernhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/07/snowdon-cafe-complaints-concern/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/07/snowdon-cafe-complaints-concern/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:32:11 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1553 British Architecture, where function always follows form, does it again.

“Once dubbed Wales’ “highest slum”, concerns have been raised about the cafe at the top of Snowdon following a £8.4m rebuild which opened in June.

Visitors have complained of long queues, litter and poor cleanliness.

The Snowdonia Society wants the National Park Authority, which owns the Hafod Eryri building, to give more details of the negative feedback.”

via BBC NEWS | Wales | Snowdon cafe complaints concern.

]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/10/07/snowdon-cafe-complaints-concern/feed/ 0 well you could push our ignorant arses over with a soft stick – we were correct!http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/09/19/well-you-could-push-our-ignorant-arses-over-with-a-stick-we-were-correct/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/09/19/well-you-could-push-our-ignorant-arses-over-with-a-stick-we-were-correct/#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:02:19 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1190 So according to this we, (the mouthy community described by LBH councillors and officers alike as misguided, fanciful and alarmist), were pretty damn accurate in our calculations for the costs of Clissold Leisure Centre. We said almost £50,000,000 they said, “nowhere near that”.

This figure in the Freedom of Information disclosure won’t include officer-time, precautionary redundancy costs*, auditors’ fees, consultants’ fees, lawyers’ fees, recruitment costs, either! Mr Pipe is not expected to apologise to anyone anytime soon. Can anyone explain why the out-of-court, ‘no-blame’ settlement remains confidential?

(This calculation also makes no mention of the additional £10,000,000 windfall grant [

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]]]> http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/09/19/well-you-could-push-our-ignorant-arses-over-with-a-stick-we-were-correct/feed/ 0 London Fields ‘Swim for Some’ scheme questionedhttp://mcneillfamily.com/2009/09/18/london-fields-swim-for-some-scheme-questioned/ http://mcneillfamily.com/2009/09/18/london-fields-swim-for-some-scheme-questioned/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:06:43 +0000 admin http://mcneillfamily.com/?p=1138 Because it would be so popular with people who live and work in Hackney, if made more affordable, the Council has ring-fenced London Fields Lido as an upper middle-class, swim-snob’s playground.

The Council, dutifully, works hard to support the GLL business model and their ‘seemingly’ low staffing levels. At last people are beginning to wonder about this only to be told, “oh if we did that the Lido would be used too much”.

As the Council has made a mess of swimming pools for so many years and now does whatever its contractor requires to help them withhold [

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