Wednesday, March 30, 2005
A curious award
The Western Mail reports this morning that the Wales Millennium Centre has won a prestigious design award at the property industry's premier international conference in Cannes.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am no great fan of the design of this giant mollusc that has been planted outside my office window. However, nobody can take away from the building the fact that it is an iconic structure or that it has made a substantial impact on the Cardiff Bay. Equally, the interior is both spectacular and beautiful in its design and its appearance.
The architect is quoted as saying that:
"What I like about the design is that there's always something that attracts your interest and curiosity and there are also some deliberate kind of illusions such as the slate stone work at the front of the building which I tried to pass off as a natural cliff face.
"A lot of modern buildings start to look tired after a couple of weeks but this is designed to last a long time, and as it gets older it will look better."
Whereas I can agree that the building is 'interesting' and can heartily congratulate him for winning the award, and whereas I am pleased that Wales is receiving recognition internationally, I cannot so far envisage the building growing on me in quite the way he suggests.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am no great fan of the design of this giant mollusc that has been planted outside my office window. However, nobody can take away from the building the fact that it is an iconic structure or that it has made a substantial impact on the Cardiff Bay. Equally, the interior is both spectacular and beautiful in its design and its appearance.
The architect is quoted as saying that:
"What I like about the design is that there's always something that attracts your interest and curiosity and there are also some deliberate kind of illusions such as the slate stone work at the front of the building which I tried to pass off as a natural cliff face.
"A lot of modern buildings start to look tired after a couple of weeks but this is designed to last a long time, and as it gets older it will look better."
Whereas I can agree that the building is 'interesting' and can heartily congratulate him for winning the award, and whereas I am pleased that Wales is receiving recognition internationally, I cannot so far envisage the building growing on me in quite the way he suggests.
