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Context | The month
THE MONTH
Never knowingly underdesigned
John Lewis, shopping mecca of the middle classes, is going a bit trendy. This, designed by Grimshaw, is a ‘shopping pavilion’ intended to tour the retail giant’s flagship stores, starting on 5 September at its Oxford Street HQ.
It’s essentially a pop-up
‘shop-within-a-store’ intended for events and the showcasing of high-design collections. Grimshaw has devised a system of cardboard tubes encased in clear Perspex sheets.
These can be arranged in various configurations for different locations around the UK. HP
Museum in the dock Six years since winning the design competition, and accompanied by a brimming basketful of critical raspberries, the £72m Museum of Liverpool, right on the world Heritage Site of the city’s famous waterfront, has finally opened. Or partly opened, as some galleries are yet to be finished.
The building’s original architect, Kim Herforth Nielsen of Danish architect 3XN, says it remains true to his concept. He was controversially replaced by AEW for the delivery of the project. But while architecture critics mostly gave it the thumbs- down – it even made it to BD’s ‘Carbuncle Cup’ shortlist – the public appears to love it. A quarter of a million visitors passed through its doors in its first month of opening, three times the predicted number of 78,000. HP
Greenwich mean time This month the Part 1 students hoping to go into their second year at Greenwich will hear whether their resubmitted portfolios will win them a place on the course in October. Of the 142 first year
architecture students only 25 were assessed as good enough to continue, according to reports in BD following a story in the Sunday Times.
Could this be down to a more critical eye from new head of school Neil Spiller, previously of the Bartlett? The 80% who failed were given a second chance but the lack of warning about low grades has left the students smarting.
9/11 Memorial to open The day after this September 11, which marks the 10th anniversary of Al Qaeda’s concerted attacks on the USA, architect Michael Arad’s National September 11 Memorial opens to the public. Sited where the foundations of the twin towers once stood, ‘Reflecting Absence’ comprises two huge square water features, of 3,424m2
cascades into a 2,877m2 void, and on all . The water from here
of the 10m deep walls of this are huge bronze panels on which are inscribed the names of the 2,983 people who died in the attacks. Demarcating the demise of the two towers is a square of trees measuring 65m across. The Memorial Museum, the second half of the $700m project, is still under construction and is due to complete mid-2012. CK
A spokesperson said: ‘This is a disappointing pattern of results, which is not typical of previous years. We have arranged extra tutorials over the summer for those students who are resubmitting their portfolios and are supporting them to make sure that they have the best possible chance of carrying on with their studies as usual this autumn.’ EY
WWW.RIBAJOURNAL.COM : SEPTEMBER 2011
AMY DREHER
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